The mezzo-soprano Tania Kross was born on Curaçao (formerly in the Netherlands Antilles) and represented the Netherlands at the Cardiff Singer of the World competition in 2003. At the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam she was named newcomer of the 2004/05 season, when she gave recitals in Amsterdam, Paris, Salzburg, Vienna, Athens, Birmingham, Cologne and at Carnegie Hall in New York. Tania Kross has performed in productions at Hannover State Opera, Hamburg State Opera, Stuttgart State Theatre, the National Touring Opera, and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam (where she was Bersi in André Chénier). At Nederlandse Opera she gave her debut as Lola in Cavalleria Rusticana under the musical direction of Carlo Rizzi, and returned for the revival of the Monteverdi cycle and for Tan Dun's Marco Polo. In 2008 she made her debut at the Théâtre de la Monnaie as Tolomeo in Handel's Giulio Cesare conducted by René Jacobs, after which she was to be seen in The Rake’s Progress in 2009. At the Glyndebourne Festival she sang the title role in Carmen and performed in the rediscovered Dutch Baroque opera Granida by P.C. Hooft. In November Tania Kross was invited to sing at the gala concert celebrating the 120th anniversary of the Concertgebouw along with Michiko Uchida and under the conductor Mariss Jansons. She records exclusively for the Philips label. Her first CD Corazón, featuring little known Latin American and Caribbean music, won an Edison award for the Best Classical Music CD of the year.