Australian award-winning soprano, Cathy-Di Zhang, is an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in London where she completed her studies on full scholarship from 2010-2015. She graduated with a Master of Arts (Vocal Studies) - Distinction, Dip.RAM and Advanced Diploma in Opera Performance.
Cathy-Di returned to Australia in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and has since performed with most of Australia’s leading performing arts companies. In 2026, Cathy-Di will be joining the ensemble and covering Madame Giry in Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour The Phantom of the Opera for Opera Australia (OA), joining the cast of “Gilbert and Sullivan - A Musical Celebration” as part of OA’s Melbourne season directed by Stuart Maunder, performing Zerlina for the OA National Tour and singing Frasquita in State Opera South Australia (SOSA’s) new production of Carmen by Laura Hansfrod under the baton of Dane Lam. In recital and concert, Cathy-Di is appearing in various recitals for the Bendigo Chamber Music Festival, appearing with mezzo Helen Sherman and pianist Thomas Victor Johnson for an Opera Gala as part of the Snow Concert Hall series in Canberra and is the soprano soloist for the Bach Magnificat and Vivaldi Gloria with the Willoughby Symphony Choir.
creating the role of Nancy in Siegfried and Roy — The Unauthorised Opera by Luke Di Somma for Sydney Festival, directed by Constantine Costi. For Opera Australia, she will appear as Paquette in Dean Bryant’s production of Bernstein’s Candide, as Mercury in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas in collaboration with Circa, directed by Yaron Lifschitz and she will return as Musetta for the second year of Opera Australia's National Tour of La bohème, also directed by Dean Bryant. Cathy-Di returns to Pinchgut Opera in May for Purcell’s Fairy Queen directed by Netia Jones and makes her Sydney Philharmonia Choirs Debut as the soprano soloist in Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem at the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall.
For Sydney Festival in 2025, Cathy-Di created the role of Nancy in Siegfried and Roy — The Unauthorised Opera by Luke Di Somma directed by Constantine Costi to critical success.
Previously for Opera Australia, has appeared with Reuben Kaye in Opera Up Late and sung the roles of Amore/Euridice (Orpheus and Eurydice), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Musetta (La bohème), Rosina (The Barber of Seville), Micäela (Carmen) and Paquette (Candide). For State Opera South Australia, she has appeared in recital at UKARIA alongside Paul O’Neill in “Passionate Puccini” and sang Mimi (La bohème) in Bohème on the Beach for over 6000 people directed by Stuart Maunder. For Victorian Opera, Cathy-Di created the role of Zhu Yingtai in Richard Mills’ new opera The Butterfly Lovers directed by Ivan Heng, for which she was nominated for a Green Room Award for Outstanding Performance in a Lead Role. She reprised the role in a subsequent sold-out season at Wild Rice Theatre in Singapore. For Pinchgut Opera, Cathy-Di appeared in Purcell’s Fairy Queen directed by Netia Jones, and has performed the roles of L’amour/La Folie in Neil Armfield’s acclaimed production of Rameau’s Platée, Créuse in Charpentier’s Médée in a production by Justin Way and also the roles of La Conversation/Eurilla in their Charpentier double bill Les Plaisirs des Versailles.
In concert, Cathy-Di has appeared as a soloist with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Willoughby Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and Perth Symphonic Chorus. She has also appeared in chamber music with Opera Australia at Uluru, and in recital at Ukaria with ACO and given recitals for the Castlemaine Festival.
In 2023, Cathy-Di appeared in the Sydney Opera House’s 50th anniversary celebrations in a new song and music video by Tim Minchin. She is also a guest broadcaster with ABC Classic Radio and is a pre-concert speaker for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
Pre-pandemic whilst based in Europe, Cathy-Di sang the role of Mädchen in Weill’s Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny in a new production by Ivo van Hove for Festival d’Aix-en-Provence under Esa-Pekka Salonen and for Dutch National Opera under Markus Stenz. Other opera credits include Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Massenet’s Cendrillon, Lauretta and Nella (Gianni Schicchi), Gretel (Hansel and Gretel) and Lisa (La sonnambula).
Abroad, she has performed as a soloist with the Xi’an Symphony Orchestra, the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Opéra de Liége - Wallonie, at Victoria Hall with the Orchestre de Chambre de Genève and with the Orchestre Symphonique d’Orléans.
Cathy-Di also performed extensively across Italy in chamber music (trio and quartet) at the Stadttheatre “Teatro Puccini” in Merano, at the Teatro E. Novelli for the Sagra Musicale Malatestiana in Rimini, at the Teatro Umberto Giordani in Foggia, at the Teatro Accademico in Castelfranco Veneto and for the Interludio Festival in Pesaro.
As a young singer, Cathy-Di participated in both Georg Solti Accademia masterclasses - The Solti Peretti Repetiteurs’ Course at the Fondazione Cini in Venice, Italy and the singer’s bel canto course in Castiglione della Pescaia and then went with the Accademia to the Verbier Festival Academy in Switzerland. She also participated as a young artist in the Mozart Residency at Festival Aix-en-Provence in France, was part of the iSing! International Young Artists’ Festival and furthered her training on the ENO “Opera Works” Programme at English National Opera. She was also a Pacific Opera Young Artist from 2007-2009 here in her hometown of Sydney prior to studying in the UK.
She also holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance and Accounting) with Distinction from the University of New South Wales, Australia.