ALINKA KOZÁRI
Soprano
B i o g r a p h y
Hungarian born soprano Alinka Kozári, now also a British citizen, is a graduate of the Franz Liszt Music Academy, Budapest, the Birmingham Conservatoire and the National Opera Studio, London. She also has a Qualified Teacher Status in the UK and has been teaching one-to-one since 2003.
After receiving her Master’s degree in Hungary Alinka was awarded the Weingarten Scholarship to attend the Birmingham Conservatoire where she was the winner of the Mario Lanza Opera Prize and the St. Clare Barfield Memorial Bowl for Operatic Distinction. She was also a holder of an Independent Opera Postgraduate Voice Fellowship, the Simon Fletcher Trust Award and the prestigious Hungarian State Eötvös Scholarship. Since she moved to London, Alinka has been working with Lillian Watson.
Alinka has participated in master classes with Sir Thomas Allen (Samling), Malcolm Martineau at Crear, Leo Nucci (George Solti Accademiadi Bel Canto, Italy), José Cura (London) and Thomas Quasthoff (Verbier Festival Academy, Switzerland). She has also sang in a charity gala with Bryn Terfel arranged by British Youth Opera at Drapers’ Hall, London.
Operatic roles include Donna Anna Don Giovanni and First Lady Die Zauberflöte for British Youth Opera and Diva Opera, Adina L’elisir d’amore for Anghiari Festival, cover title role Mirandolina and Fiorilla Il Turco in Italia for Garsington Opera, (where she was awarded the Garsington Opera Cover Award), Walter La Wally and Berta Il barbiere di Siviglia for Opera Holland Park, Countess The Marriage of Figaro for English Touring Opera, Gilda Rigoletto and the title role in Händel’s Agrippina for Iford Arts Festival, Berenice L'occasione fa il ladro for Minatour Opera. For English National Opera she covered the role of Phoebe Castor and Pollux.
She made her début in the role of Violetta La Traviata for Iford Arts Festival then she sang the role in France and in Drapers’ Hall, London for Diva Opera. In Hungary Alinka sang the role of Donna Anna Don Giovanni for Miskolc National Theatre, Miskolc, in Erkel Theatre, Budapest as part of the Primavera Festival and in Pilsen, Czech Republic representing Hungary as part of the European City of Culture 2015 Opera Festival.
Recent years’ operatic engagements include singing the role of Violetta La Traviata for Duchy Opera at the Minack Theatre, Cornwall, the role of Rosalinde in Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus with Fulham Opera and the role of Zerbinetta in New Palace Opera's concert performance of Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss at St. John's Church, Waterloo, London. She has participated in a concert series in the Viennese operetta theme at Highgate, London with the Classical Encounters and for several years now she has been singing in St Mary’s Church Christmas opera gala concerts in Stamford, Lincolnshire.
Alinka has also been active in contemporary repertoire as Princess Caraboo in Malcolm Williamson’s English Eccentrics in the Crescent Theatre, Birmingham and Lucille The Sofa for Independent Opera at Sadler’s Wells (recorded by Chandos). She created the role of Sally Bones in Varjak Paw by Julian Philips for The Opera Group, performed on tour in the UK and in Linbury Studio, Royal Opera House.
Alinka performed the soprano solo in George Benjamin’s Into the Little Hill for the Budapest Spring Festival at the Budapest Music Centre, Hungary. She sang the role of Babette in Independent Opera's production of Biedermann and the Arsonists by Šimon Voseček with the Britten Sinfonia in the Lilian Baylis Studio at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London.
On the concert platform Alinka has performed in Italy, France, Spain, Hungary and the UK including John Rutter's Magnificat, Mendelssohn's Christmas Cantata, Bach’s Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen cantata, Mozart's Exsultate, Jubilate and the soprano solo in Vivaldi's Gloria with the Choir & Orchestra Collegium Musicum Costa del Sol, Spain, the soprano solos in Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Rossini’s Stabat Mater both for Stamford Choral Society and the Leamington Spa Bach Choir.
Her recent engagements were singing the soprano solo in Verdi’s Requiem with Salford Choral Society and the Piccadilly Symphony Orchestra in the Royal Northern College of Music Concert Hall in Manchester and singing in an opera gala concert including excerpts from Bizet Carmen and Gounod Faust with the Royal Leamington Spa Bach Choir.
In recent years Alinka had been touring with the European Baroque Ensemble singing in the Magical Mozart by Candlelight concerts around the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands and in Ireland.
In the summer 2019 Alinka made her Hungarian Opera House debut as Oscar in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera.
The same year's autumn engagements included joining Opera North in their new production of Martinů’s The Greek Passion, operatic concerts at Arundells, Salisbury, in Scotland, in Devon and in Stamford, Lincolnshire.
Alinka's Hungarian Opera House's commitment to sing the role of Konstanze in a new production of Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail was cancelled due to the Covid pandemic.
In spring 2022 Alinka joined Opera North again for their new concert staging of Wagner's Parsifal then she reprised the role of Oscar in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera at the Hungarian Opera House in the summer.