Carole Wilson

Carole Wilson is widely recognised for her exceptional versatility and stagecraft, with a repertoire that spans from Mozart and Rossini to Sondheim and Gerald Barry. Equally at home in comic and dramatic roles, she remains a compelling presence across both traditional and contemporary repertoire.

Carole's recent and upcoming appearances include her return to The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as The Witch in Anthony McDonald's production of Hänsel und Gretel conducted by Giedrė Šlekytė; she will also appear at Opera Oviedo as Countess Adelaide Arabella conducted by Corrado Rovaris at the Teatro Real Madrid as The Babarikha in Dmitri Tcherniakov’s production of The Tale of Tsar Saltan; she will return to the Staatsoper Hamburg as Filipyevna in a revival of Eugene Onegin and she will make her debut at the Finnish National Opera as Grandma in Mark-Anthony Turnage's opera Festen.

Carole Wilson’s engagements last season included her return to La Monnaie, Brussels as Mrs Grose in Andrea Breth’s production of Turn of the Screw and as The Babarikha in Dmitri Tcherniakov’s production of The Tale of Tsar Saltan, she  also returned to Theater an der Wien as Gertrude in Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette and she appeared with the London Symphony Orchestra as the Grandmother Burya in concert performances of Jenůfa conducted by Sir Simon Rattle.

Carole’s recent appearances include: Susanna Khovanshchina at the Opéra national de Paris; Grandmother Burya Jenůfa for the Grand Théâtre de Genève; La Nourrice Ariane et Barbe-bleue for the Opéra national de Lorraine; Annina Der Rosenkavalier for the Staatsoper Stuttgart and La Monnaie, Brussels; The Babarikha The Tale of Tsar Saltan for the Opéra national du Rhin and Mother Goose The Rake’s Progress for the Glyndebourne Festival.

Elsewhere, Carole has appeared at the The Royal Opera House as the White Queen/Cook/Oyster in Gerald Barry’s Alice Underground, Hata The Bartered Bride and Dame Marthe Faust; Mrs Lovett Sweeney Todd and the Babarikha The Tale of Tsar Saltan for La Monnaie; The Witch Hänsel und Gretel for the Opéra national de Lorraine; Auntie Peter Grimes for Opéra de Monte Carlo and Deutsche Oper am Rhein; Annina Der Rosenkavalier at the Festspiele Baden Baden conducted by Sir Simon Rattle; Bobylicka Snegurotchka for the Opéra national de Paris and she made her role debuts as Herodias Salome and Adelaide Arabella at the Wiener Staatsoper. 

Carole has been particularly associated with the role of Aksinya in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, performing this role at La Scala, Milan; Teatro San Carlo di Napoli; Opéra national de Paris; Teatro Real, Madrid; The Royal Opera House; Bayerische Staatsoper; Staatsoper Hamburg; Opéra Monte Carlo and Dutch National Opera.

Carole performed as a Mezzo Soprano soloist at the Wiener Statsoper (2014-2016) she made her debut as Mary Der fliegende Holländer conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin; other roles included Jezibaba Rusalka; Gertrude Roméo et Juliette; Annina Der Rosenkavalier; Berta Il barbiere di Siviglia.

Carole made her debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 2002, and has returned many times, notably as Aksinya in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk - a role which marked Carole’s debuts for the Opéra national de Paris; La Scala, Milan; Teatro Real, Madrid; Hamburg Staatsoper; Dutch National Opera; Teatro Sao Carlo, Napoli and the Bayerische Staatsoper. Carole appears regularly at Opéra Royal de La Monnaie, Brussels where her recent engagements included Mrs Lovett Sweeney Todd; Ježibaba Rusalka, Gertrude Roméo et Juliette, Stařenka Buryjovka Jenůfa and Annina La Traviata.

On the operatic and concert stages Carole has appeared under the baton of the worlds leading conductors, including: Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Antonio Pappano, Sir Andrew Davis, Nikolas Harnancourt, Bernard Haitink, Semyon Bychkov, Kirill Petrenko, Adam Fischer and the late Sir Charles Mackerras.

On the concert platform, Carole has appeared with many of the world’s finest orchestras: the Berliner Philharmoniker; Wiener Philharmoniker, London Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. 

Biography not for publication, for an up to date version please contact Oliver Clarke.