Ekaterina Gubanova

Gubanova’s many highlights of the 2024/25 season see her star in three new productions: as Fricka Das Rheingold at the Bayerische Staatsoper; The Foreign Princess Rusalka at Teatro di San Carlo in Naples; and Venus Tannhäuser at Wiener Staatsoper. She also appears as Eboli Don Carlos at Opéra national de Paris and as Brangäne Tristan und Isolde and Kundry Parsifal at the Bayreuther Festspiele. On the concert platform she appears in the New Year’s concert at Wiener Konzerthaus with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony; Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder at Teatro di San Carlo; Bluebeard’s Castle with Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Houston Symphony Orchestra; the 2nd Act of Tristan und Isolde in Monte Carlo; Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, Valencia; and Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn with LA Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel.

Last season she appeared as Eboli Don Carlos at Staatsoper unter den Linden; Ortrud Lohengrin and Herodias Salome at Opéra national de Paris; Venus Tannhäuser at the Metropolitan Opera; her role debut as Santuzza Cavalleria rusticana at Greek National Opera and Staatsoper Hamburg; and as Adalgisa Norma at Teatro di San Carlo in Naples. She also returned to the Bayreuther Festspiele as Kundry Parsifal and Venus. In concert, Gubanova sang Verdi’s Requiem in Atlanta with Nathalie Stutzmann and Mahler’s Second Symphony with Jaap van Zweden and New York Phil.

Some of her most notable engagements include Brangäne Tristan und Isolde at Opéra national de Paris, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Staatsoper unter den Linden and in Tokyo; Fricka in Wagner’s Ring Cycle at Teatro alla Scala, Staatsoper unter den Linden and Bayerische Staatsoper; Amneris Aida at the Bayerische Staatsoper, on tour to Japan with Teatro alla Scala and Daniel Barenboim and Choregies d’Orange; and Venus Tannhäuser at Bayreuther Festspiele and Royal Ballet & Opera, where she also starred as Lyubasha The Tsar’s Bride. Gubanova made her Metropolitan Opera debut in Prokofiev’s War and Peace and went on to star as Giulietta in the new production of Les Contes d’Hoffmann; Eboli Don Carlo on tour with the company to Japan; Adalgisa Norma; Amneris Aida; and Venus Tannhäuser. She also featured in three season opening productions at the company: as Giovanna Seymour in Anna Bolena in the 2012/13 season, as Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde in the 2017/2018 season and as Néris in Medea in the 2023/23 season.

Much sought-after on the concert platform, she works regularly with renowned orchestras and conductors such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Riccardo Muti, Gustavo Dudamel, Sir Simon Rattle, Zubin Mehta and Semyon Bychkov. Gubanova’s concert repertoire includes works such as Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, Des Knaben Wunderhorn, Rückert Lieder, his Second and Third Symphonies, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Verdi’s Requiem and works by French and Russian composers.

Born in Moscow, Gubanova began her musical studies as a pianist. An honorary graduate in choir conducting, she studied opera singing at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatoire and Sibelius Academy (Helsinki) and was a member of the Jette Parker Artists Programme at the Royal Opera & Ballet in London.