Recognized for her work in the baroque repertoire, Canadian soprano Karina Gauvin sings Mahler, Britten and the music of the late 20th and 21st centuries with equal success. She has received prestigious distinctions, including the title of “Soloist of the Year” awarded by the Communauté internationale des radios publiques de langue française, First Prize in the CBC Radio competition for young performers, and the Virginia Parker Prize and Maggie Teyte Memorial Prize in London. Ms. Gauvin has sung with the world’s greatest symphony orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, and San Francisco Symphony. She has performed under the direction of maestros Charles Dutoit, Bernard Labadie, Kent Nagano, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Sir Roger Norrington, Masaaki Suzuki, and Michael Tilson Thomas. Gauvin has an extensive discography – over 30 titles – and has won numerous awards, including a Chamber Music America Award and several Opus Prizes.

Celebrated Canadian soprano Karina Gauvin, “a soprano with true star quality” (Opera Today).

Recognized for her work in the baroque repertoire, Gauvin sings Mahler, Britten and the music of the late 20th and 21st centuries with equal success. She has received prestigious distinctions, including the title of “Soloist of the Year” awarded by the Communauté internationale des radios publiques de langue française, first prize in the CBC Radio competition for young performers the Virginia Parker and Maggie Teyte Memorial Prizes in London. 

Gauvin has sung with the world’s greatest symphony orchestras, including the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, San Francisco Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, as well as baroque orchestras such as the English Concert, Les Talens Lyriques, the Venice Baroque Orchestra, Accademia Bizantina, Il Complesso Barocco, the Akademie Für Alte Musik Berlin, Musica Eterna, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Les Violons du Roy. She has performed under the direction of maestros Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Charles Dutoit, Michael Tilson Thomas, Teodor Currentzis, Matthew Halls, Bernard Labadie, Kent Nagano, Sir Roger Norrington, Masaaki Suzuki, Helmuth Rilling, Christophe Rousset and Alan Curtis. In addition, she has sung in recital with pianists Marc-André Hamelin, Angela Hewitt, Michael McMahon, and Roger Vignoles.

Notable opera successes include Vitellia in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and Teatro Real in Madrid; Vénus in Rameau’s Dardanus with Opéra National de Bordeaux; L’Eternità/Giunone in La Calisto with the Bayerische Staatsoper; the title role in Armide with De Nederlandse Opera; Armida in Handel’s Rinaldo at the Glyndebourne Festival; the title role of Handel’s Alcina in Versailles and Brno; and Ariadne in Georg Conradi’s Die Schöne und getreue Ariadne for the Boston Early Music Festival. She performed the title role in Vivaldi’s Tito Manlio in Brussels and at the Barbican in London; Fulvia in Handel’s Ezio in Paris and Vienna; Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare in Paris and Vienna; and Vagaus in Vivaldi’s Juditha Triumphans with Andrea Marcon at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. She has also sung Seleuce in Handel's Tolomeo with Alan Curtis, with whom she recorded Handel operas on ARCHIV/Deutsche Grammophon, Virgin, and Naïve labels, among others. Her recorded performances with the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra have earned her three nominations at the Grammy Awards.

Most recently, Gauvin made appearances in the United States and Canada as soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and the National Arts Centre Orchestra, in Vaughan Williams’s A Sea Symphony with Colorado Symphony and Calgary Philharmonic. Past performances in the US and Canada have included Messiah with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Houston Symphony, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, and Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra. She also toured widely in Europe, giving concerts and recitals in France, Italy, Switzerland, Spain and Britain, including recitals at the Wigmore Hall in London.

On the concert stage, memorable performances include the Princess in Ravel’s L'enfant et les sortilèges with the Rotterdam Philharmonic under Yannick Nézet-Séguin; Bach’s St. John Passion and Handel’s Alcina and Solomon with Les Violons du Roy; Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Debussy’s The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.

Gauvin has an extensive discography- nearly 60 titles—and she has won numerous awards, including a Chamber Music America Award for Fête Galante with pianist Marc-André Hamelin and several Junos and Opus Prizes. Other recording projects include Britten’s Les Illuminations with Les Violons du Roy under the direction of Jean-Marie Zeitouni and most recently an important participation in the recording of the complete songs of Jules Massenet for the ATMA label.  

During the pandemic, Ms. Gauvin worked on a personal project; Marie Hubert, fille du Roy. The project tells the story of a group of young women sent by King Louis XIV to populate the new world in the 17th century. Among them, Marie Hubert, Karina’s ancestor. Using new and reworked harmonizations of French and French Canadian folk songs, Gauvin tells the story of the hardships of these pioneering women. The album received a 2025 Juno Award nomination.  

9/2026 – PLEASE DESTROY ANY PREVIOUSLY DATED MATERIALS.