Ekaterina Gubanova is one of the finest mezzo-sopranos to appear in recent generations. Past and future appearances include engagements at such opera houses as the Metropolitan Opera, the Teatro alla Scala, the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, the Bayerische Staatsoper, the Wiener Staatsoper, the Berliner Staatsoper, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Teatro Real in Madrid and the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. Gubanova was born in Moscow and began her musical studies as a pianist. An honorary graduate in choral conducting, Ekaterina studied opera singing at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatoire and the Sibelius Academy  (Helsinki) before becoming a member of the Young Artists programme at the Royal Opera House in London.

In 2005 she sang as Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde at the Opéra National de Paris to tremendous critical acclaim. She has since reprised the role in Baden-Baden, Rotterdam, Paris, Berlin, Tokyo, St.  Petersburg and Munich, collaborating with such conductors as Daniel Barenboim, Valery Gergiev, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Semyon Bychkov and Kent Nagano. She has sung as Fricka in both Das Rheingold and Die Walküre under Daniel Barenboim at the Berliner Staatsoper and the Teatro alla Scala.

Her Japanese debut came with a performance in Verdi’s Requiem in Tokyo conducted by Riccardo Muti. With Muti, Ekaterina made her Italian debut as Clitemnestre in Iphigénie en Aulide at the Opera di Roma.

In Russia, she has sung as Princess Eboli in Don Carlo at the Stars of the White Nights festival in St.  Petersburg, where she later returned as Lyubasha in Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tsar’s Bride and as Marguerite in Berlioz’ La Damnation de Faust. In 2007 she sang as Olga at the Salzburg Festival in a new production of Eugene Onegin conducted by Daniel Barenboim.

Following her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in Prokofiev’s War and Peace, she began a fruitful collaboration with that theatre, singing as Giulietta in a new production of Les Contes d’Hoffmann under James Levine, Eboli in Don Carlo during the 2011 tour of Japan and Giovanna Seymour in Anna Bolena – the opening production of the 2011-2012 season. In the 2009 season she made her debut as Amneris in Aida at the Bayerische Staatsoper under Daniele Gatti and later under Daniel Barenboim for the Teatro alla Scala’s tour to Japan and Israel. Gubanova also sang the role in the 2011 season at the Chorégies d’Orange, receiving standing ovations from the public and rave reviews from the press.

In concert, she has sung the role of Jocasta in Oedipus Rex in London and Stockholm under Esa-Pekka Salonen. Gubanova has also been invited to perform Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde in Paris, Moscow, Seoul and Dublin; she has also sung the composer’s Rückert-Lieder in Wiesbaden. She returned to Rotterdam to sing Das Lied von der Erde at the opening of the 2008 festival, while at the 2009 festival she presented songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn. She also performed this work with the Sydney Opera and at the BBC Proms under Mark Elder. She sang Verdi’s Requiem under the baton of Daniel Barenboim with both the Teatro alla Scala and the Berliner Staatsoper as well as with Gustavo Dudamel in Los Angeles.

Recent engagements include Rossini’s Stabat Mater in Vienna, The Tsar’s Bride at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Oberto, Conte di San Bonifacio at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, Les Contes d’Hoffmann at the Teatro alla Scala and revivals of Anna Bolena at the Metropolitan Opera, Tristan und Isolde at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia and Don Carlo at the Berliner Staatsoper.

Plans for future seasons include Don Carlo at the Teatro alla Scala, the Metropolitan Opera and the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Adriana Lecouvreur in London, Tristan und Isolde in Munich and Madrid, Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Teatro alla Scala and in Berlin, Aida at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and Norma in Barcelona.