Currently based in Valencia, Japanese mezzo-soprano Nozomi Kato is in demand at leading opera houses in Italy, Spain, Japan and beyond. In particular, she has made a name for herself internationally as Suzuki in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, which she has sung most recently at Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Argentina (cond: Jan Latham Koenig / dir. Livia Sabag), Cincinnati Opera (cond: Keitaro Harada / dir: Matthew Ozawa), and Teatro Petruzzelli di Bari, Italy (cond: Giacomo Sagripanti / dir: Pier Luigi Pizzi).

Based in Europe since 2013, she made her debut in Italy in 2014 as Clarina in Rossini’s La cambiale di matrimonio at Teatro Regio di Parma. Further appearances in Italy include Suzuki at Teatro Magnani in Fidenza (2015) and Teatro Municipale di Piacenza (2016), Enrichetta in Bellini’s I Puritani (2017, 2023 revival), Siébel in Gounod’s Faust (2018), Bersi in Giordano’s Andrea Chenier (2019), and Suzuki (2022) at Teatro Comunale di Modena.

In 2016, she took part in Accademia del Belcanto of the Festival della Valle d’Itria, where she was selected to sing Ismene in Mayr’s Medea in Corinto with Fabio Luisi conducting. She was invited back to the festival the following year as Dorabella in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, also conducted by Luisi. She has also appeared at the opera houses in Bari and Trieste, as well as at several major music festivals in Italy.

In Spain, she participated in the Opera (e) Studio of Opera de Tenerife in 2013, and in 2014 made her house debut there as Smeton in Donizetti’s Anna Bolena conducted by Sebastiano Rolli. At Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia, she has appeared as Celia in Handel’s Silla (cond: Fabio Biondi), Hermia in Britten’s Midsummer Night’s Dream (cond: Roberto Abbado / dir: Paul Curran), and Mrs Grose in The Turn of the Screw. In the 2017/18 season, she appeared in three productions, as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, Lisetta in Haydn’s Il mondo della Luna, and Annio in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito, and was awarded “la Mejor cantante revelación” of the season by the AOA (asociacion de Amigos de la ópera y de las artes). In May 2018, she sang the role of Adalgisa in Bellini’s Norma at ABAO Theatre in Bilbao (cond: Pietro Rizzo / dir: Davide Livermore), and in 2020 she appeared in Oviedo as Suzuki.

In Japan, Nozomi’s performance as Maddalena in Verdi’s Rigoletto (Tokyo Nikikai production) in 2015 was enthusiastically received and highly praised by the conductor Andrea Battistoni. In 2016, she made her first appearance in NHK Television’s annual New Year Opera Concert, which is broadcast nationally. In 2019, she made her role debut as Carmen in Yokohama’s Kanagawa Kenmin Hall, a role which she will reprise with the Tokyo Nikikai Opera Theatre in February 2025. In 2023, she sung Eboli in Verdi’s Don Carlo with Tokyo Nikikai Opera Theatre (cond: Leonardo Sini / dir: Lotte de Beer) and Bersi in Andrea Chenier with Mikawa Opera (cond: Ryuichiro Sonoda / dir: Misa Takagishi). She is a member of Tokyo Nikikai.

Future engagements include Suzuki at Teatro Cervantes de Malaga (November 2024), Tokyo Nikikai Opera Theatre (February 2025), Pittsburgh Opera (March 2025), and Vancouver Opera (May 2025). She will also sing the role of Leonora di Guzman in Donizetti’s La Favorita at Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, Italy (June 2025).

On the concert stage, her repertoire includes Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Rossini’s Stabat Mater, Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri, Dvorak’s Stabat Mater, and Verdi’s Messa da Requiem.

She has had much success in competitions, winning First Prize (Milan Award) at the 43rd Concorso di Lirica Italiano in Tokyo and becoming finalist in the opera section of the Renata Tebaldi International Voice Competition in 2015. Most recently she was a semi-finalist in the final rounds of Plácido Domingo’s Operalia in 2017 and was chosen to participate in the final rounds of the Belvedere Singing Competition in 2019.

Nozomi Kato studied singing at Tokyo University of the Arts, receiving her bachelor’s degree in 2010 and master’s degree in opera studies (with honours) in 2013. While a student, she received several awards and grants, and was selected to take part in the prestigious Yomiuri Newcomers’ Concert. In 2013, she went to study at the conservatory “A. Boito” in Parma with a scholarship from the Meiji Yasuda Cultural Foundation. In 2016, Nozomi became the first Japanese singer to join the Advanced Training Academy “Centre de Perfeccionament Plácido Domingo” in Valencia, where she successfully completed the two-year programme and was chosen to sing in the gala concert celebrating the Academy’s 10th anniversary in March 2019.

Updated August 2024