Australian soprano Rachelle Durkin is one of opera's most striking young artists performing at major houses worldwide to critical acclaim.

"The spirited, bright-toned Rachelle Durkin brought tremendous vivacity to her role as the evil sorceress Armida" says The Australian, "demonstrating accuracy, agility, and a strong upper register in her many florid coloratura showpieces." Fresh from her triumphant appearance in the title role of Opera Australia's new production of Handel's Alcina Ms. Durkin is currently thrilling sold-out audiences in the MET's new production of Phillip Glass's Satyagraha. She has also triumphed in Perth once again with a concert of bel canto favourites accompanied by the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and Melbourne with a reprise of her seductive Alcina. In the upcoming season she will be returning to Opera Australia for Donna Anna in a new production of Don Giovanni and the sultry Angelica in a new production of Handel's Orlando, make her debut with the State Opera of Australia as Gilda in Rigoletto, her role and house debut as Constanze in The Abduction from the Seraglio with Hawaii Opera Theater, and appear with several Symphony Orchestras across Australia in the world premiere of Richard Mills' Passion. Future projects include returns to the New York Metropolitan Opera and Opera Australia, among others.

Fall 2006 saw her debut as Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto with the opera in Bilbao, Spain. In spring 2006 she performed in the Metropolitan Opera's Parsifal (First Flower Maiden) and at the Joseph Volpe Gala which was nationally televised. She then made her debut with the Auckland Philharmonia in Mozart's Exsultate Jubilate and as Madame Herz in Mozart's Der Schauspieldirektor. She then made her debut with the Hong Kong Philharmonic for their New Year's Concerts followed by Beethoven 9th with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. She also recently performed the Beethoven 9th Symphony and Bruckner's Te Deum with the Greensboro Symphony.

After winning the 2001 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Ms. Durkin joined the Metropolitan Opera's Lindeman Young Artists Development Program. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut as the First Handmaiden in Sly and has subsequently appeared as Clorinda in La Cenerentola, Young Girl and Naked Virgin in Moses und Aaron, Barena in Jenufa, Teresa in Benvenuto Cellini, Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Masha in Pique Dame, Elvira in L'Italiana in Algeri, and First Flower Maiden in Parsifal, which she performed at the Salzburg Festival as part of the Met tour with Maestro Levine.

In the past two season, Ms. Durkin performed a variety of repertoire including Armida in Rinaldo and Countess Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro with Opera Australia, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with West Australian Opera and with the Lyric Opera of San Antonio, Cunegonde in Candide with the Bellingham Festival of Music and the Perth International Arts Festival, Clorinda in La Cenerentola with the Metropolitan Opera, and her Carnegie Hall debut as the Soprano Soloist in Handel's Messiah.

Other recent acclaimed portrayals include Donna Anna with Opera Queensland, appearing in concert with Jose Carreras in Perth, and Corinna in Chicago Opera Theater's production of Il Viaggio a Reims, about which the Chicago Tribune exclaimed, "Ms. Durkin.... juggled the men in her life as easily as she juggled Rossini's virtuoso vocal writing; her gleaming soprano made a noble effect in the poetess' final eulogy."

Ms. Durkin is also a distinguished oratorio artist with repertoire ranging from the early works of Handel, Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven to the more recent works of Bernstein, Gershwin, and Sondheim. She has appeared with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the New Choral Society of Central Westchester, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, the Baroque Consort, the Perth Pops Orchestra, as well as the Philharmonic Orchestra of Western Australia.

Ms. Durkin's recordings include recitals for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in their "Sunday Live" and "Young Australia" programs, and she has also been heard in the Metropolitan Opera Broadcast of Sly, in ABC Radio National Broadcasts with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and in Lieder Recitals, and has appeared twice on A&E's "Breakfast with the Arts".