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In July 2014, Karlene made her role debut as CioCio San in Opéra de Baugé's production of Madama Butterfly in France. Roles she has sung with the company include Despina Cosi Fan Tutte, Miss Wordsworth Albert Herring, Clorinda La Cenerentola, Cupidon Orfee Aux Enfers, Cretan Woman, Idomeneo, Page Rigoletto, Madchen Alfonso und Estrella, Papagena Die Zauberflote. 

Karlene was Suor Genovieffa Suor Angelica, and Larry (Lauretta) Gianni Schicchi for Carmina Priapea's Il Trittico production at the Kings Head Theatre in 2022. She sang CioCio San/Kate Pinkerton in her debut with the Olivier-award winning company Opera Up Close in their 2020 UK tour of  their new production of Madam Butterfly.

 

Other roles include Rosalinde Die Fledermaus at Wilton's Music Hall, Musetta La Boheme with New London Opera Players, Adina L'Elisir D'Amore UP Opera Season, Adele Die Fledermaus,  Mercedes Carmen and Pamina The Magic Flute with Brent Opera, Lola Markham Gallantry Camden Fringe Festival, Donna/Female Officer/Lisa Morritt The Face The Honourable Society Gray's Inn, Governess in Britten's The  Turn of the Screw at the London Horror Festival, Marzelline for the New London Opera Players production of Beethoven's Fidelio in Kent, and CioCio San with Secret Opera's Madama Butterfly on tour and ODB on tour at the Rose Theatre in Kingston.

 

She was also one of the singers for Clod Ensemble's Silver Swan at the NOW Gallery, a contemporary work featuring seven unaccompanied singers, set to Paul Clark’s acclaimed score. It has been performed at venues including Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall, V&A’s Raphael Room and McEwan Hall, Edinburgh.

In concert, she was soprano soloist for Chorale Contrepoint Handel's Messiah in Angers and Saumur, France, Beethoven's 9th Symphony with the London Beethoven Project, Bruckner's Te Deum with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, Serenade to Music by Vaugan Williams and Faure's Requiem with Thurrock Choral Society

Karlene is a member of the Philharmonia Chorus and has performed at the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Rheingau Festival in Germany, Easter at King's College Cambridge BBC Radio 3 Broadcast, the Orchestre National de Lille in France and St. Paul's Cathedral.

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Originally from Manila, Karlene was granted a full scholarship to the Philippine High School for the Arts as a voice major before she graduated Magna cum Laude from the University of the Philippines with a Bachelor's degree in Music in Voice.

 

She continued her post graduate training at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and on the Advanced Performer's Studio opera course with The Associated Studios in London.

Karlene  attended the Rencontres Musicales Internationales in Belgium, Junge Oper Schloss in Weikersheim, Germany and Accademia Bel Canto in Austria where she performed in masterclasses under Christa Ludwig and Angelika Kirchschlager.

She was a prize winner in the National Music Competitions for Young Artists (NAMCYA), recipient of the Gil Rodriguez Scholarship & a National Commission for Culture and Arts Grant, and represented the Philippines as a soprano soloist at the Eurofolk International Festival in Erba, Italy and Puchon International Folk Art Festival in Korea.

As a soprano chorus singer in the Philippines, she joined many goodwill and competition choir tours that brought her to the US, continental Europe, Canada, Korea, Japan, China and Russia. She was a member soprano of an a cappella ensemble that won the European Choral Grand Prix for Choral Singing in 2007. 

Karlene  is also founder and conductor of award-winning mixed adult ensemble Haraya Choir. She works as a soloist/cantor in London and mentors music students of all ages in her teaching studio.

 

 

 

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