Jessie Sumner Scholarship (RCM) (2021)

Sylvia Harris Award (RCM) (2019)

Cedric Thorpe-Davie Memorial Prize, University of St Andrews (2018)

"Catherine Hooper portrayed a temperamental and playful Lieschen, with confidence and charisma familiar to audience members who watched her in multiple previous productions, such as the Byre Opera’s Cunning Little Vixen." - Owl Eyes Magazine (2018)

"Hooper undeniably dominated the “stage” both with her confident arias and with the barely noticeable mannerisms she attributed to Liesgen. This aspect was certainly a highlight of Coffee Cantata, as many of her shrugs, eye-rolls and gazes in the distance would have been lost in a wider theatrical space." - The Saint (2018)

"Leading the way was Catherine Hooper in the title role. The opera's most famous aria, largely known as Handel's Largo, opens the opera, but she had far more complicated arias to get round, peaking in the last act with an aria of fire and fury straight out of the top drawer." - The Courier (2018)

"The real treats came from the newcomers, with some impressive young singers, led by a sweet, fresh-voiced Vixen from Catherine Hooper." - Seen and Heard International (2017)

"[...] a hugely impressive piece of work for such a young group of performers. [...] Chris Huggon as Quint and Catherine Hooper as Miss Jessel, darkly attired, caught the attention. [...] Caroline Taylor, Catherine Hooper and Rebecca Anderson gave beautifully sung and strongly characterised performances." - Opera Scotland (2016)

"[...] a very elegant compact touring version [...]. Even better, the singers have the characterisation to match, as well as the mime skills. The manifestation of Quint (Chris Huggon) and Miss Jessell (Catherine Hooper) here are very real." - Herald Scotland (2016)

"Catherine Hooper, is still an undergraduate at St Andrews, and gave a performance of astonishing maturity, tackling the role's difficult, exposed lines with ease." - Opera Scotland (2016)

Catherine is currently studying for a master's at the Royal College of Music, where she is the Jessie Sumner Scholar and taught by Rosa Mannion and Bryan Evans. She is generously supported by Help Musicians, Olgarhythm, the Mario Lanza Educational Foundation and the Kathleen Trust, and she is a SongEasel Young Artist. So far at the RCM, she has covered the Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflöte) with the RCM Opera Studio and looks forward to covering Controller in the RCM's summer production of Flight. She has also performed extracts from various roles for opera scenes, including Countess (Le Nozze di Figaro), Phyllis (Iolanthe) and Alcina (Handel), and will sing Donna Anna in scenes in the spring.

During her undergraduate degree at the University of St Andrews, Catherine was heavily involved in the musical life of the university and town and graduated with the Cedric Thorpe-Davie Prize for contributions to music. She sang four times with Byre Opera in St Andrews, most notably as the title role in Xerxes (Handel), Vixen Sharp-Ears (The Cunning Little Vixen) and Miss Jessel (The Turn of the Screw). Catherine founded and led the University of St Andrews Opera Society, with whom she sang Belinda (Dido and Aeneas), Juno (Orpheus in the Underworld) and Lieschen (Coffee Cantata), in an interactive production in a local coffee shop. During her postgraduate degree at Cambridge, Catherine sang with the Cambridge University Opera Society and Cambridge Baroque Ensemble, with roles including La Musique in Charpentier's Les arts florissants.

Catherine has performed widely in concert, making her professional concert debut in 2016 as Judit in Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle with the Edinburgh Symphony Orchestra. She particularly enjoys contemporary music and in 2018, she premiered Emily Doolittle's 'Conversation' for soprano and chamber orchestra, funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and later toured this work to Orkney with the St Andrews New Music Ensemble. She also commissioned and performed two new song cycles by Rebecca Nisco and Jasmine Morris for the RCM's inaugural diversity festival, FestivALL in 2021. Catherine has sung with Dame Emma Kirkby and Dowland Works in the St Andrews Voices Festival, worked with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra as a soloist in a concert of Jeremy Thurlow’s music, and performed as a soloist for a number of major works, including Fauré's Requiem, Handel's Messiah, St John Passion (Bach), Mass in D Minor (Dvořák), and Rejoice in the Lamb (Britten). She has also given recitals in St Andrews, Cambridge, and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

In 2020, Catherine embraced the world of virtual singing. She recorded Egon Wellesz's rarely-performed song cycle Kirschblütenlieder in association with the Austrian Cultural Forum. She sang in two broadcasted concerts for RCM's celebration of Black History Month, performing songs that are particularly dear to her by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Errollyn Wallen and others. She looks forward to returning to the physical stage in the near future.

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