Katalin Halmai originally trained as a pianist. She obtained her singing and teacher's diploma at the Franz Liszt Music Academy. As a winner of numerous prizes at international singing competitions, she has taken an active role in the Hungarian and international music scene since 1990. She is a regular guest performer with the Bach Academy and has toured with the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic. She has worked with such conductors as Helmuth Rilling, Sir Roger Norrington, Leopold Hager and Herbert Blomstedt. Since 1995, she has been a soloist at the Vienna Staatsoper and the Volksoper where she has sung the finest lyric mezzo-soprano roles: Rosina, Cindarella, Cherubin, Zerlina, Annius and Siebel.

  She has also established a reputation for herself as a lieder and chamber music singer. Katalin Halmai is a regular guest at the Budapest Spring Festival and the Sopron Ancient Music Days.   Since 2002, she has taught voice training and chamber music at the singing faculty of the Budapest Franz Liszt Music University. (fotó: Harold Schiffman)