World renowned mezzo-soprano Karen Cargill debuts at the Carnegie Hall in New York this April.
It is the latest prestigious venue for the Arbroath woman who credits her home town’s music festival as the spark for her exceptional international career.
The 39-year-old, who delighted her “ain folk” when she declared: “Well hello Arbroath” from the stage of the Webster Theatre a few years back, is undoubtedly one of the Angus town’s finest exports.
She earned wonderful reviews on her debut at New York’s Metropolitan Theatre, where in 2013 she excelled in the vocally-demanding role of Waltraute in Gotterdammerung, the last of Wagner’s Ring Cycle.
Her Carnegie Hall appearance will perhaps be a little less demanding and less dramatic than vocalising the fall of Valhalla.
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The concert takes the form of a recital with piano.
Karen told the Scots Magazine: “Whatever venue I am in, I’m grateful for the chance to share my music with others.
“Carnegie Hall is a very special venue and I cannot wait to perform there.”
The celebrated diva had her first singing lesson aged nine, after her parents recognised her interest in music.
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Her aptitude for arias came when she was older, but it was local music teacher Molly Robb, who encouraged her through Scots songs, as well as songs for concert parties.
She said: “Arbroath Music Festival was a seminal moment. It was there I realised the power of music, of singing.
“It was fantastic to stand up and do something I loved and have people in the audience enjoy it so much.”
Karen went on to study at the Roal Scottish Academy for Music and Dance, as well as the University of Toronto, and the National Opera Studio in London.
She lives in Bearsden, near Glasgow, with her husband Nick and son Adam.
Karen Cargill sings Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra at the Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, on January 29, and at City Halls, Glasgow, on January 30.