Karen Cargill is a Scottish mezzo-soprano born in Arbroath who trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. She won the Kathleen Ferrier Award in 2002 and has since built an international career spanning the Metropolitan Opera, Glyndebourne, the Royal Opera House and the Edinburgh International Festival. Equally at home on the concert platform, she works regularly with conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Daniel Harding and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and has been nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Operatic Recording.
Cargill performed Mahler's Rückert-Lieder with the YMCG Orchestra under Daniel Harding in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Macao.
Cargill sang Judith in Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto with the Canadian Opera Company.
Cargill sang Marguerite in Berlioz's The Damnation of Faust with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal under Rafael Payare.
Cargill is scheduled to appear as Klytämnestra in Strauss's Elektra at Den Norske Opera in Oslo, with performances running from September to October 2026.
Cargill sang at the National Service of Thanksgiving and Dedication for King Charles III following his Coronation.
