Kristine Opolais

With her intense stage presence and emotionally charged interpretations, Kristine Opolais has earned international acclaim as one of today’s most compelling singing actesses. 

She has appeared at The Metropolitan Opera, Wiener Staatsoper, Staatsoper Berlin, Bayerische Staatsoper, Teatro alla Scala, Opernhaus Zürich, and the Royal Opera House, and collaborates with renowned conductors including Daniel Barenboim, Sir Antonio Pappano, Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Mark Elder, Andris Nelsons, Fabio Luisi, and Kirill Petrenko. 

In the 2025/26 season, Opolais returns to the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Andris Nelsons for concert performances of Puccini’s “Tosca” at the Tanglewood Festival, a role she also performs with Boian Videnoff and the Mannheimer Philharmoniker later in the season.

She brings her acclaimed portrayal of Katerina Ismailova in Shostakovich’s “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” to the Enescu Festival with the Romanian Radio National Orchestra under Giancarlo Guerrero, and appears in Poulenc’s “La Voix Humaine” at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège, conducted by Karen Kamensek. 

Richard Strauss’ “Four Last Songs”, a cornerstone of her lyrical-dramatic repertoire and a work closely associated with her expressive artistry, feature prominently in her concert appearances. 

Last season, Opolais returned to Oper Leipzig for “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” as part of the Gewandhausorchester’s Shostakovich Festival under the baton of Andris Nelsons – a “commanding” performance in which she “held the entire stage” (Bachtrack). She also performed Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 14 with the Finnish National Opera alongside bass Mika Kares and conductor Roderick Cox, having previously recorded the work with the Boston Symphony Orchestra for Deutsche Grammophon. 

Further highlights included a season-opening gala with the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra under Kerem Hasan, where she showcased her versatility in arias by Cilea, Dvořák, Verdi, Ponchielli, and Puccini, as well as a recital tour to China with pianist Agnese Eglina. The duo had also appeared in a recital series across Latvia, Hungary, and Brazil the previous season. Kristine Opolais has been celebrated for her distinctive performances at The Metropolitan Opera, including “La bohème”, “Madama Butterfly”, and new productions of “Manon Lescaut and Rusalka”, broadcast internationally as part of the Met’s Live in HD cinema series. 

In 2018, she returned to the Met as “Suor Angelica”, a role she previously recorded for the Orfeo label. Famously in 2014, she made MET-history with two role debuts in 18 hours, singing “Madama Butterfly” followed by a matinée of “La bohème”, which was broadcast to cinemas around the world. 

Her appearances at the Royal Opera House in London – where The Telegraph hailed her as “the leading Puccini soprano of today” – include the title roles in “Tosca”, “Manon Lescaut”, and “Madama Butterfly”. Opolais also has a long-standing relationship with the Bayerische Staatsoper, where she made her debut in 2010 as “Rusalka” in Martin Kušej’s new production. She has since sung “Manon Lescaut”, “Madama Butterfly”, “Tatjana” in “Eugene Onegin”, “Margherita” in “Mefistofele”, and “Vitellia” in “La Clemenza di Tito” in Munich. 

Opolais has appeared at major concert venues and festivals including the Salzburg Festival, BBC Proms, Tanglewood Festival, Musikverein Wien, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Royal Opera House Muscat, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, and Carnegie Hall. She has performed with leading orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Concertgebouworkest, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Filarmonica della Scala, and the NHK Symphony Orchestra. 

Her extensive discography includes a DVD of Tosca from Baden-Baden with the Berliner Philharmoniker under Sir Simon Rattle.