About Katy
Scottish soprano Katy Thomson performs in opera, song and contemporary music.
Read biographyOperatic career
Scottish Soprano Katy Thomson is a graduate of Durham University and The Royal College of Music. She was awarded the Worshipful Company of Musicians Silver Medal upon graduating from the Royal College of Music Opera Studio in September 2020, for her outstanding talent and contribution to life at the College. She was a Britten Pears Young Artist (2021–2022), Garsington Opera Alvarez Young Artist (2021 & 2022) and an Oxford Song Young Artist (2022–2023).
At Garsington Opera in 2021, she stepped in to make her debut as the Marschallin in Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier and won the Helen Clarke Award. Other recent operatic engagements include Woglinde (cover) in Das Rheingold with English National Opera, Lady Dunmow in Lennox Berkeley’s A Dinner Engagement and the title role in Sāvitri (Holst) with Opera Cameratina, as well as featuring as a guest artist with If Opera and Scottish Opera.
Song & concert work
Katy’s “delicious Soprano” is as in-demand on the concert platform as on the operatic stage, in a wide range of repertoire. Recent concert performances include Strauss’ Vier Letzte Lieder, Mahler’s 2nd Symphony, Respighi’s Il Tramonto and Shostakovich’s Seven Romances on Poems by Alexander Blok. Katy regularly features at the Oxford International Song Festival and in Schubert & Co concerts, curated by Sholto Kynoch.
Her song collaboration with pianist Rustam Khanmurzin includes recitals, contemporary premieres and education projects with Oxford Song.
Contemporary music
Passionate about contemporary music, Katy is known for her exceptional musicianship and creative curiosity.
World premiere performances include:
- Oliver Tarney’s The Cloths of Heaven (Odiham Music Festival, May 2026)
- Lliam Paterson’s Sherlock Holmes and The Sign of Four (Northern Opera Group, Leeds Opera Festival 2024)
- Toby Hession’s In Flagrante, with libretto by Emma Jenkins (Scottish Opera Autumn Highlights Tour 2023)
- Peter Foggitt’s What happens if she eats the pear and Emily Hazrati’s Mother Love, both with texts by Venetia Bridges, in a recital inspired by the Grimm fairytale The Girl with no Hands (Oxford International Song Festival, Spring 2023)
- Omri Kochavi’s Nahar Amok (Aldeburgh Festival 2022), in a programme that also included Judith Weir’s On the Palmy Beach and Shostakovich’s Seven Romances on Poems by Alexander Blok
Earlier premieres include Oliver Tarney’s St. Mark Passion at the 2019 St. Endellion Easter Festival, and soprano solos for Welsh National Opera in Rebecca Dale’s Materna Requiem at the 2018 North Wales International Music Festival. John Webb’s commissioned The Lamp is forthcoming at Oxford Song in October 2026.
Festival leadership & research
An experienced creative director and event manager, Katy was Festival Director of the St. Endellion Easter Festival for five years (and part of the larger team for a decade). She has also worked as a researcher, including projects on Dr. Ruth Gipps and contributing to an RCM catalogue of vocal chamber works composed by women. She is currently a Trustee for the Sir George Dyson Trust and The Berners Trust.
Event biographies
This biography is not to be published elsewhere. Please contact Katy directly if you require a biography for a specific event.