Lyric mezzo-soprano Megan Kahts, originally from South Africa, has established herself as a compelling artistic voice within Vienna’s rich musical culture, where she has lived and worked for over fifteen years following her studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. Admired for her interpretive subtlety, musical depth, and the distinctive warmth and flexibility of her lyric mezzo-soprano voice, she performs internationally in opera and concert repertoire. After years of dedicated exploration of baroque and contemporary opera, she now turns toward the German Romantic Fach, a repertoire that resonates deeply with her expressive sensibility and refined musicianship.
Megan Kahts’ second album for the Munich-based label Solo Musica was released internationally in August 2025. The portrait recording pays tribute to the legendary Baroque singers Faustina Bordoni and Giovanni Carestini, featuring a programme of operatic arias by Handel and Hasse, recorded with the Orchestra Wiener Akademie under the musical direction of harpsichordist Jeremy Joseph. The album was selected as CD of the Day by Radio Klassik Stephansdom and was presented on both Ö1 and BR Klassik.
In the same year, Megan Kahts made her role debut as Rosina with Cape Town Opera and toured Portugal and Austria with the Wiener Concert-Verein in works by composer Nuno Côrte-Real, amongst others, including performances at the Vienna Musikverein.
Upcoming engagements and projects include two Lied albums for the label Quinton with pianist Florian Krumpöck: one recital juxtaposing works by Robert and Clara Schumann with selected songs by Johannes Brahms, and another of Hugo Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch in collaboration with Grammy Award–winning baritone Dietrich Henschel. In addition, these programmes will be presented in numerous recital appearances in Austria and Germany, including her debut in Berlin. Also in 2026, a portrait album featuring Mozart’s most celebrated mezzo-soprano arias will be both performed in Italy and on tour in concert, and released on CD, with the Orchestra Friuli Venezia Giulia under the direction of Florian Krumpöck. Furthermore, Megan Kahts is preparing her role debut as Octavian in Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier for a complete reconstruction of the Dresden world premiere performance, directed by the acclaimed director Sven-Eric Bechtolf.
Megan Kahts’ debut album In dolce abbandono, also released by Solo Musica, was nominated for the German Record Critics’ Award (Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik). The programme features solo cantatas by G. F. Handel and Joseph Haydn, recorded with the Carestini Ensemble Wien on period instruments.
Recent engagements include Susanna with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra in Israel and the role of Ofuku in Panisello’s Die Judith von Shimoda for Neue Oper Wien and the Bregenz Festival.
Shortly after the pandemic, Megan Kahts appeared as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro and as Ruggiero in Handel’s Alcina at Cape Town Opera, sang the title role in Vivaldi’s Il Giustino at the Drottningholm Court Theatre, and toured Japan with the Morphing Chamber Orchestra. She also toured South Africa, giving song recitals and masterclasses together with German pianist Daniel Heide.
During her studies, she already appeared in numerous roles for Neue Oper Wien as well as for Teatro Barocco in Laxenburg and Altenburg, including Susanna, Despina and Bastienne (Mozart), Tisbe in Hasse’s Piramo e Tisbe, Costanza in Haydn’s L’isola disabitata, and Timaea in Ernst Krenek’s Pallas Athene weint, among others.
Megan Kahts was born in South Africa and has been based in Vienna since 2009. She holds two Master’s degrees with distinction in Opera and in Lied and Oratorio Solo Performance under the tuition of KS Robert Holl from the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and she specialises in Historically Informed Performance Practice.
A passionate concert singer, she is a first-prize winner of the International Hugo Wolf Lied Duo Competition in Sofia, Bulgaria, and a prizewinner at the International Lied Duo Competition in Enschede.
Megan Kahts began her musical training at an early age, studying piano and music theory from the age of eight. At eleven, she made her concert debut as a singer with the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra in Durban, South Africa, performing Mozart’s Exsultate, jubilate (“Alleluia”). At the same age, she signed a recording contract and released two CDs as a child artist. Already as a child, she appeared regularly with South African orchestras and musicians and performed on various television programmes.
C. Monteverdi, L’incoronazione di Poppea (Nerone)
J. B. Lully, Armide (Armide)
A. Vivaldi, Il Giustino (Giustino
G.F. Händel, Alcina (Ruggiero)
G.F. Händel, Rinaldo (Rinaldo)
G.F. Händel, Ariodante (Ariodante)
G.F. Händel, Giulio Cesare (Sesto)
G.F: Händel, Oreste (Oreste)
G. B. Pergolesi, La serva padrona (Serpina)
J .A. Hasse, Piramo e Tisbe (Tisbe)
J. Haydn, L’isola disabitata (Costanza)
W.A. Mozart, Le Nozze di Figaro (Cherubino & Susanna)
W. A. Mozart, Cosi fan Tutte (Despina & Dorabella)
W.A. Mozart, Don Giovanni (Zerlina & Donna Elvira)
W. A. Mozart, La Clemenza di Tito (Sesto & Annio)
W. A. Mozart, Bastien und Bastienne (Bastienne)
G. Rossini, Il barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina)
G. Rossini, La Cenerentola (Angelina)
E. Humperdinck, Hänsel und Gretel (Hänsel)
C. Gounod, Romeo et Juliette (Stephano)
C. Gounod, Faust (Siébel)
R. Strauss, Der Rosenkavalier (Oktavian)
R. Strauss, Ariadne auf Naxos (Der Komponist)
D. Shostakovich, The Nose (Ossipovna & Sales Lady)
E. Krenek, Pallas Athene weint (Timaea)
Wolfram Wagner, Maria Magdalena (Martha von Bethanien)
And various other operatic arias and scenes
A. Vivaldi, In Furore Iustissimae Irae, RV 626
A. Vvialdi, Salve Regina, RV 617
J. S. Bach, Johannespassion (BWV 245), Matthäuspassion (BWV 244), Weihnachtsoratorium (BWV 248), Messe in h-Moll (BWV 232) – Alto-Solos
G. F. Händel, Salve Regina (HWV 241), Te Deum (HWV 283), Messiah (HWV 56) – Alto-Solos
J. Haydn, Arianna a Naxos, Hob XXVlb:2
J. Haydn, Große Orgelsolomesse (Hob. XXII:4), Missa brevis in F (Hob. XXII:1) – Alto-Solos
J. Michael Haydn, Leopoldimesse (MH837), Missa Sancti Gabrielis (MH17) – Alto-Solos
W.A. Mozart, Requiem (RV626), Exultate Jubilate (KV165), Krönungsmesse (KV317), Piccolominimesse (KV258), Missa solemnis (KV337), Orgelsolomesse (KV259) – Alto-Solos
Leoplod Mozart, Missa in A (Alto-Solo)
F. Schubert, Messe in G (D167), Messe in C (D452)
F. Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Lobgesang
F. Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Psalm 42
C. Gounod, Messe solenelle de Sante-Cécile
R. Schumann, Frauenliebe und –leben, Op. 42: Liederkreis, Op. 39, Myrthen, Op. 25
J. Brahms, Zigeunerlieder, Op. 103
H. Wolf, Italienisches Liederbuch
G. Mahler, Rückert-Lieder, Des Knaben Wunderhorn
R. Strauss, Mädchenblumen
A. Zemlinsky, Walzergesänge nach toskanischen Volksliedern
E. W. Korngold, Five English Songs, Op. 38
M. de Falla, Siete canciones populares españolas
A. Dvorak, Liebeslieder, Op. 83
F. Poulenc, Métamorphoses
S. Barber, 4 Songs Op. 13, Hermit Songs Op. 29
L. Bernstein, I hate Music! A Cycle of Five Kid-Songs
Hubert du Plessis, Vier Slampamperliedjies
Peter Klatzow, Three Sonnets for voice and piano; Landscapes of the Heart (Song cycle)
German Lieder by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Wolf, Mahler, R. Strauss, Ullmann, R. Schollum, etc.
French Mélodies by Debussy, Duparc, Faure, Poulenc, Ravel, Hahn etc.
English songs by Britten, Haydn, Ives, Barber, Bernstein etc.
A. Vvialdi, Salve Regina, RV 617 (with violin solo)
M. A. Ziani, Alma redemptoris mater (with violin solo)
G. F. Händel, Armida abbandonata (with violin solo)
G. F. Händel, Neun deutsche Arien (with various instruments)
L. Spohr, Sechs deutsche Lieder, Op. 103 (with clarinet)
F. Lachner, Fünf Lieder für Singstimme, Violoncello und Klavier
L. von Beethoven, Scottisch songs (with various instruments)
Schubert, Der Hirt auf dem Felsen (with clarinet)
Andre Previn, Vocalise for soprano, cello and piano
Etc.





