Claron McFadden

American soprano Claron McFadden, who graduated with honors from the prestigious Eastman School of Music in Rochester, has lived in the Netherlands since 1984. Known for her rich repertoire, which ranges from baroque to contemporary music, McFadden has sung on the most important international stages, under conductors such as Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Frans Bruggen and Sir Andrew Davies. McFadden has appeared as Zerbietta in Ariadne Auf Naxos and Sister Constance in the Dialogue of the Carmelites, and as Dido in Cavalli’s La Didone at La Scala in Milan with Fabio Biondi. In 1990 she made her debut at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence in Les Indes Galantes and returned the following year in Castor et Pollux, both works by Rameau conducted by William Christie. McFadden is a regular at the Opéra de Lyon and the English National Opera, where she sings, among others, the works of Michel van der Aa, in their world premiere.

Passionate about interdisciplinary projects, McFadden has collaborated with directors such as Alain Platel (VSPRS/Pitié!), David Marton (Dido Revisited), and Marcus Lindeen (L’Aventure Invisible), and made a notable appearance in Leos Carax’s latest film Annette. She has participated in the creation of numerous shows by composers Kris Defoort and Fabrizio Cassol, as well as by Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Jörg Widmann, and Hilda Paredes.

As an artist-in-residence at Muziektheater Transparant, Claron began to develop his own interdisciplinary projects, including Lillith; Secrets; Façade: The Last Days of Mata Hari; Harriet (based on the life of Harriet Tubman), and Nachtschade: Aubergine.

Claron McFadden was nominated for a Grammy in 2002, received the Amsterdam Prize for the Arts in 2007, and her 2010 Tedx talk was selected by the prestigious TED.com. In 2020, Claron was made a Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau.

Photo Credit: Erik de Jong