Mezzo Carolyn Holt, praised for her “effortlessly effusive vocal power” (The Stage), is from a farming background in Ireland. In the 2022-23 season, for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, she performed the role of Bianca in The Rape of Lucretia, covered the role of Mrs Sedley in Deborah Warner's 5-star production of Britten's Peter Grimes, and returns to cover the role of Margret in Deborah Warner's production of Wozzeck, conducted by Antonio Pappano. Elsewhere in the UK, she was seen as Mrs Grose in Britten's The Turn of the Screw for Garsington Opera, to great critical acclaim – Opera Today wrote “Her voice shone with a maturity perfectly matching the role." Previously for Garsington Opera, she has performed the role of Madame Larina in Eugene Onegin as an 'Opera First' Alvarez Young Artist. In Ireland, she performed the role of Charlotte in Lyric Opera Ireland's production of Werther at the National Concert Hall, Dublin, and the role of Annina in Irish National Opera’s production of Der Rosenkavalier.  She has covered and performed with the Royal Opera House, Garsington Opera, Scottish Opera, Welsh National Opera, and Irish National Opera, 

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She sang the role of Sister Helen Prejean in the UK staged premiere of Dead Man Walking in Glasgow to great critical acclaim. Opera Magazine wrote: “Carolyn Holt’s Sister Helen was impeccably sung, sensitively acted and never less than sincere”. She was a Garsington Alvarez Young Artist 2020-2022, covering Kitchen Boy in Dvořák's Rusalka, Coryphee Dame Rossini's Le Comte Ory, Madame Larina in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin (with performance) and performing Mrs Grose in Britten's The Turn of the Screw.

 

She was the winner of the Dermot Troy Prize for the best Irish singer in the 2019 Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition, a competition which in 2020 again awarded her a €5000 prize in their inaugural bursary.

Despite being struck with cancellations due to Covid-19 in 2020 and 2021, she reached the live final rounds of the 2021 Tenor Viñas Contest, and was a semi-finalist in the 2021 Zenith Opera Competition, 2021 Offenbach Grand Prix, and the 2020 Premiere Opera Competition, which were all held online. She was also a semi finalist in the 2019 Grange International Singing Competition and was awarded second place at the Bampton Opera Young Singers' Competition 2019. Carolyn has previously had success in competitions in the UK and Ireland including first prize in the inaugural Irish Heritage Bursary, the Audience Prize in Northern Ireland Opera Festival of Voice, the Trench Award and Bursary, the Geraldine McGee Bursary, the Mahler Prize and the P.J. Geoghegan Memorial Cup in the ESB Feis Ceoil.

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Carolyn regularly performs at home with Irish National Opera, notably recently singing Annina in Der Rosenkavalier and The Voice (Mother) in Offenbach's Tales of Hoffman, for which she again received excellent critical acclaim (Bachtrack wrote “Carolyn Holt as the voice of Antonia’s mother stood out with her rich and seductive mezzo-soprano”.)