Ezgi Kutlu

Turkish mezzo-soprano Ezgi Kutlu received her vocal training at Bilkent University in Ankara, at Juilliard School of Music in New York, as well as at Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. She attended master classes with Elly Ameling, Marilyn Horne and Christa Ludwig. Ezgi Kutlu is a prizewinner of several vocal competitions such as Licia Albanese Competition and Metropolitan Opera National Auditions and was granted the Marian Anderson Award.

She was a member of the young artists programs at Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Opera North in New Hampshire and took part in the first Salzburg Festival's Young Singers Project 2008. As a part of the ensemble of Staatstheater Nürnberg for two seasons, she performed Dorabella in Così fan tutte, Maddalena in Rigoletto, Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, as well as Sinaïde in Rossini's Moïse et Pharaon, and the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos.

Other engagements include her debut at the Garsington Opera Festival as Angelina in La Cenerentola, Clotilde in Norma at Salzburger Festspiele, her successful debut as Annio in La clemenza di Tito at Staatsoper Stuttgart and her return there as Ragonde in Le Comte Ory, Elisabetta in Maria Stuarda, Il Piacere in Händel's Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno, as well as Fenena in Nabucco (Rome and St. Petersburg, under Riccardo Muti), her debut as Publia in Rossini's Aureliano in Palmira with London Philharmonic Orchestra at Royal Festival Hall, London, Solo Concert with Opera High Lights (Noordnederlands Orkest, The Netherlands), Penelope in Odysseus (Komische Oper Berlin), Carmen (Deutsche Oper am Rhein and Komische Oper Berlin), and Annina in a new production of Der Rosenkavalier, directed by Christoph Waltz (Opera Vlaanderen and Luxembourg).

In 2015/16 she appeared as Cornelia in a new production of Händel's Giulio Cesare in Egitto and Amastre in Xerxes both at Komische Oper Berlin, followed by her return to Garsington Opera Festival as Isabella in L'italiana in Algeri.

Upcoming engagements include Zauberflöte at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Rigoletto (Maddalena) and Nabucco (Fenena) at Staatsoper Stuttgart, a new production of L'enfant et les sortilèges (Komische Oper Berlin) and Ezgi Kutlus Debut at the Oper Frankfurt as Giuditta in W. A. Mozarts Betulia Liberata.