Diana Damrau
Encyclopedia
Diana Damrau is a German lyric coloratura soprano
of the opera
tic stage.
, Bavaria, Germany, and began her operatic studies with Carmen Hanganu at the Musikhochschule in Würzburg
. After graduating from music conservatory she worked in Salzburg with Hanna Ludwig. Her first operatic engagements were in Würzburg and subsequently the National Theatre Mannheim and Oper Frankfurt. Since then, she has sung throughout the world at venues such as the Vienna State Opera
, the Metropolitan Opera
New York, the Royal Opera House
, the Bavarian State Opera
and the Salzburg Festival
. She was invited to sing the title role in Antonio Salieri
's Europa riconosciuta
at the re-opening of La Scala
, Milan in 2004, under the baton of Riccardo Muti
.
The Queen of the Night from Mozart's The Magic Flute
has been Damrau's most frequently performed role to date, as she has been engaged to perform it in over 15 productions at houses including Covent Garden, the Salzburg Festival, the Vienna State Opera, Oper Frankfurt and the Bavarian State Opera, Munich. Damrau made Metropolitan Opera history in the 2007/2008 season by appearing as both Pamina and Queen of the Night in the same run, but different performances. Other coloratura roles in her repertoire include Zerbinetta, Lucia, Elvira, Rosina, Gilda, Adina, Marie and Aminta. She also performs roles in the lyric repertoire including Manon, Donna Anna, Gretel and Pamina.
After the birth of her first child in October 2010, Damrau returned to the stage in January 2011 to perform the role of Elvira in a new production of Vincenzo Bellini
's bel canto opera I puritani
at the Grand Théâtre de Genève
, Geneva, followed by a return to the Metropolitan Opera, New York, for a new production of Rossini's comic opera Le comte Ory
and the title role in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor
for the company's tour of Japan. The up-and-coming 2011/2012 season promises further exploration of the bel canto repertoire as Damrau assumes the title role in Donizetti's Linda di Chamounix
at the Liceu
in Barcelona. The soprano will return to the Metropolitan Opera as both Adina and Rosina and bring her portrayal of Donizetti's Lucia to Berlin and Vienna. Damrau is scheduled to play all four heroines in Offenbach
's Les contes d'Hoffmann
in a new production at the Bavarian State Opera.
As well as performing in operas, Damrau is a regular on the concert stage. She has performed Lied
er repertoire at Vienna's Musikverein, at Carnegie Hall
, Wigmore Hall
, La Scala, the Schubertiade
in Schwarzenberg, Austria
, and both the Munich and Salzburg Festivals. Her concert repertoire includes Carl Orff's Carmina Burana
, Mozart's Great Mass in C minor, Requiem
and Exsultate, jubilate
as well as Handel's Messiah
. She has performed with such esteemed conductors as James Levine
, Zubin Mehta
, Lorin Maazel
, Sir Colin Davis
, Christoph von Dohnányi
, Leonard Slatkin
, Pierre Boulez
, Nikolaus Harnoncourt
and Jesús López-Cobos
.
/Virgin.
Previous recordings include Mahler
's Des Knaben Wunderhorn
, and Schumann
's Myrthen, Op. 25, with the Telos label and live recordings of her summer 2005 Liederabend at the Salzburg Festival and her summer 2006 Liederabend at the Schubertiade are released on the Orfeo label. Damrau also appears on Deutsche Harmonia Mundi's release of Mozart's Zaide
in the title role, and performs alongside Adrianne Pieczonka
on mezzo-soprano
Elīna Garanča
's first solo release with Deutsche Grammophon
; together, they perform the trio finale from Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier
.
Coloratura soprano
A coloratura soprano is a type of operatic soprano who specializes in music that is distinguished by agile runs and leaps. The term coloratura refers to the elaborate ornamentation of a melody, which is a typical component of the music written for this voice...
of the opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
tic stage.
Biography
Diana Damrau was born in 1971 in GünzburgGünzburg
Günzburg is a Große Kreisstadt and capital of the district of Günzburg in Swabia, Bavaria. This district was constituted in 1972 by combining the city of Günzburg—which had not previously been assigned to a Kreis —with the district of Günzburg and the district of Krumbach.Günzburg lies...
, Bavaria, Germany, and began her operatic studies with Carmen Hanganu at the Musikhochschule in Würzburg
Würzburg
Würzburg is a city in the region of Franconia which lies in the northern tip of Bavaria, Germany. Located at the Main River, it is the capital of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. The regional dialect is Franconian....
. After graduating from music conservatory she worked in Salzburg with Hanna Ludwig. Her first operatic engagements were in Würzburg and subsequently the National Theatre Mannheim and Oper Frankfurt. Since then, she has sung throughout the world at venues such as the Vienna State Opera
Vienna State Opera
The Vienna State Opera is an opera house – and opera company – with a history dating back to the mid-19th century. It is located in the centre of Vienna, Austria. It was originally called the Vienna Court Opera . In 1920, with the replacement of the Habsburg Monarchy by the First Austrian...
, the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
New York, the Royal Opera House
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
, the Bavarian State Opera
Bavarian State Opera
The Bavarian State Opera is an opera company based in Munich, Germany.Its orchestra is the Bavarian State Orchestra.- History:The opera company which was founded under Princess Henriette Adelaide of Savoy has been in existence since 1653...
and the Salzburg Festival
Salzburg Festival
The Salzburg Festival is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer within the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart...
. She was invited to sing the title role in Antonio Salieri
Antonio Salieri
Antonio Salieri was a Venetian classical composer, conductor and teacher born in Legnago, south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice, but who spent his adult life and career as a faithful subject of the Habsburg monarchy....
's Europa riconosciuta
Europa riconosciuta
Europa riconosciuta is an opera in two acts by Antonio Salieri, designated as a dramma per musica, set to an Italian libretto by Mattia Verazi.The opera takes place in Tyre and tells a story of love, violence and political discord in ancient times...
at the re-opening of La Scala
La Scala
La Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala...
, Milan in 2004, under the baton of Riccardo Muti
Riccardo Muti
Riccardo Muti, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI is an Italian conductor and music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.-Childhood and education:...
.
The Queen of the Night from Mozart's The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue....
has been Damrau's most frequently performed role to date, as she has been engaged to perform it in over 15 productions at houses including Covent Garden, the Salzburg Festival, the Vienna State Opera, Oper Frankfurt and the Bavarian State Opera, Munich. Damrau made Metropolitan Opera history in the 2007/2008 season by appearing as both Pamina and Queen of the Night in the same run, but different performances. Other coloratura roles in her repertoire include Zerbinetta, Lucia, Elvira, Rosina, Gilda, Adina, Marie and Aminta. She also performs roles in the lyric repertoire including Manon, Donna Anna, Gretel and Pamina.
After the birth of her first child in October 2010, Damrau returned to the stage in January 2011 to perform the role of Elvira in a new production of Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His greatest works are I Capuleti ed i Montecchi , La sonnambula , Norma , Beatrice di Tenda , and I puritani...
's bel canto opera I puritani
I puritani
I puritani is an opera in three acts by Vincenzo Bellini. It was his last opera. Its libretto is by Count Carlo Pepoli, based on Têtes rondes et Cavaliers by Jacques-François Ancelot and Joseph Xavier Saintine, which is in turn based on Walter Scott's novel Old Mortality. It was first produced at...
at the Grand Théâtre de Genève
Grand Théâtre de Genève
Grand Théâtre de Genève is an opera house in Geneva, Switzerland.As with many other opera houses, the Grand Théâtre de Genève is both a venue and an institution. The venue is a majestic building, towering over Place Neuve, officially opened in 1876, partly destroyed by fire in 1951 and reopened in...
, Geneva, followed by a return to the Metropolitan Opera, New York, for a new production of Rossini's comic opera Le comte Ory
Le comte Ory
Le comte Ory is an opéra written by Gioachino Rossini in 1828. Some of the music originates from his opera Il viaggio a Reims written three years earlier for the coronation of Charles X...
and the title role in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucia di Lammermoor is a dramma tragico in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor....
for the company's tour of Japan. The up-and-coming 2011/2012 season promises further exploration of the bel canto repertoire as Damrau assumes the title role in Donizetti's Linda di Chamounix
Linda di Chamounix
Linda di Chamounix is an operatic melodramma semiserio in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. The Italian libretto was written by Gaetano Rossi. It premiered in Vienna, at the Kärntnertortheater, on May 19, 1842.-Performance history:...
at the Liceu
Liceu
The Gran Teatre del Liceu , or simply Liceu in Catalan and Liceo in Spanish, is an opera house on La Rambla in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain...
in Barcelona. The soprano will return to the Metropolitan Opera as both Adina and Rosina and bring her portrayal of Donizetti's Lucia to Berlin and Vienna. Damrau is scheduled to play all four heroines in Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach was a Prussian-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann Strauss, Jr....
's Les contes d'Hoffmann
Les contes d'Hoffmann
Les contes d'Hoffmann is an opéra by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Jules Barbier, based on short stories by E. T. A...
in a new production at the Bavarian State Opera.
As well as performing in operas, Damrau is a regular on the concert stage. She has performed Lied
Lied
is a German word literally meaning "song", usually used to describe romantic songs setting German poems of reasonably high literary aspirations, especially during the nineteenth century, beginning with Carl Loewe, Heinrich Marschner, and Franz Schubert and culminating with Hugo Wolf...
er repertoire at Vienna's Musikverein, at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
, Wigmore Hall
Wigmore Hall
Wigmore Hall is a leading international recital venue that specialises in hosting performances of chamber music and is best known for classical recitals of piano, song and instrumental music. It is located at 36 Wigmore Street, London, UK and was built to provide London with a venue that was both...
, La Scala, the Schubertiade
Schubertiade
A Schubertiade is an event held to celebrate the music of Franz Schubert.-History:During Schubert's lifetime, these events were generally informal, unadvertised gatherings, held at private homes...
in Schwarzenberg, Austria
Schwarzenberg, Austria
Schwarzenberg is a village in the Bregenzerwald, Vorarlberg, Austria, part of the district Bregenz. As of 2002 it has a population of 1,805. The village center is heritage-protected for its clapboard houses....
, and both the Munich and Salzburg Festivals. Her concert repertoire includes Carl Orff's Carmina Burana
Carmina Burana (Orff)
Carmina Burana is a scenic cantata composed by Carl Orff in 1935 and 1936. It is based on 24 of the poems found in the medieval collection Carmina Burana...
, Mozart's Great Mass in C minor, Requiem
Requiem (Mozart)
The Requiem Mass in D minor by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was composed in Vienna in 1791 and left unfinished at the composer's death. A completion by Franz Xaver Süssmayr was delivered to Count Franz von Walsegg, who had anonymously commissioned the piece for a requiem Mass to commemorate the...
and Exsultate, jubilate
Exsultate, jubilate
Exsultate, jubilate K. 165, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was written in 1773.This religious solo motet was composed at the time Mozart was visiting Milan....
as well as Handel's Messiah
Messiah (Handel)
Messiah is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel, with a scriptural text compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. It was first performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742, and received its London premiere nearly a year later...
. She has performed with such esteemed conductors as James Levine
James Levine
James Lawrence Levine is an American conductor and pianist. He is currently the music director of the Metropolitan Opera and former music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Levine's first performance conducting the Metropolitan Opera was on June 5, 1971, and as of May 2011 he has...
, Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta is an Indian conductor of western classical music. He is the Music Director for Life of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.-Biography:...
, Lorin Maazel
Lorin Maazel
Lorin Varencove Maazel is an American conductor, violinist and composer.- Early life :Maazel was born to Jewish-American parents in Neuilly-sur-Seine in France and brought up in the United States, primarily at his parents' home in Pittsburgh's Oakland neighborhood. His father, Lincoln Maazel , was...
, Sir Colin Davis
Colin Davis
Sir Colin Rex Davis, CH, CBE is an English conductor. His repertoire is broad, but among the composers with whom he is particularly associated are Mozart, Berlioz, Elgar, Sibelius, Stravinsky and Tippett....
, Christoph von Dohnányi
Christoph von Dohnányi
Christoph von Dohnányi is a German conductor of Hungarian ancestry.- Youth and World War II :Dohnányi was born in Berlin, Germany to jurist Hans von Dohnányi and Christine Bonhoeffer. His uncle on his mother's side was Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran pastor and theologian/ethicist...
, Leonard Slatkin
Leonard Slatkin
Leonard Edward Slatkin is an American conductor and composer.-Early life and education:Slatkin was born in Los Angeles to a musical family that came from areas of the Russian Empire now in Ukraine. His father Felix Slatkin was the violinist, conductor and founder of the Hollywood String Quartet,...
, Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez is a French composer of contemporary classical music, a pianist, and a conductor.-Early years:Boulez was born in Montbrison, Loire, France. As a child he began piano lessons and demonstrated aptitude in both music and mathematics...
, Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Nikolaus Harnoncourt is an Austrian conductor, particularly known for his historically informed performances of music from the Classical era and earlier. Starting out as a classical cellist, he founded his own period instrument ensemble in the 1950s, and became a pioneer of the Early Music movement...
and Jesús López-Cobos
Jesús López-Cobos
Jesús López-Cobos is a Spanish conductor.López-Cobos was born in Toro, Zamora, Castile-León, Spain. He studied at Complutense University of Madrid and graduated with a degree in philosophy...
.
Key performances
- La ScalaLa ScalaLa Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala...
: Europa riconosciuta (Europa), The Marriage of FigaroThe Marriage of FigaroLe nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by...
(Susanna) - Metropolitan OperaMetropolitan OperaThe Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
: The Magic Flute (Queen of the Night and Pamina), Ariadne auf Naxos (Zerbinetta), Il barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina), Die ägyptische Helena (Aithra), Die Entführung aus dem SerailDie Entführung aus dem SerailDie Entführung aus dem Serail is an opera Singspiel in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German libretto is by Christoph Friedrich Bretzner with adaptations by Gottlieb Stephanie...
(Konstanze), Lucia di Lammermoor (Lucia), Rigoletto (Gilda), La fille du régiment (Marie), Le comte Ory (Adèle) - Royal OperaRoyal Opera, LondonThe Royal Opera is an opera company based in central London, resident at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Along with the English National Opera, it is one of the two principal opera companies in London. Founded in 1946 as the Covent Garden Opera Company, it was known by that title until 1968...
: The Magic Flute (Queen of the Night), ArabellaArabellaArabella is a lyric comedy or opera in 3 acts by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, their sixth and last operatic collaboration. It was first performed on 1 July 1933, at the Dresden Sächsisches Staatstheater....
(Fiakermilli), Ariadne auf Naxos (Zerbinetta), 1984 (Gym Instructor / Drunken Woman), Hänsel und Gretel (Gretel), L'elisir d'amoreL'elisir d'amoreL'elisir d'amore is an opera by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. It is a melodramma giocoso in two acts...
(Adina) - Vienna State OperaVienna State OperaThe Vienna State Opera is an opera house – and opera company – with a history dating back to the mid-19th century. It is located in the centre of Vienna, Austria. It was originally called the Vienna Court Opera . In 1920, with the replacement of the Habsburg Monarchy by the First Austrian...
: Die FledermausDie FledermausDie Fledermaus is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée.- Literary sources :...
(Adele), Rigoletto (Gilda), Ariadne auf Naxos (Zerbinetta), Der Riese vom Steinfeld by Cerha (Small Woman), The Marriage of Figaro (Susanna), Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Konstanze), The Magic Flute (Queen of the Night), Il barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina), Manon (Manon) - Salzburg FestivalSalzburg FestivalThe Salzburg Festival is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer within the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart...
: Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Blondchen / Konstanze), Ascanio in AlbaAscanio in AlbaAscanio in Alba, K. 111, is a pastoral opera in two parts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Giuseppe Parini...
(Fauno), The Magic Flute (Queen of the Night), The Marriage of Figaro (Susanna) - Bavarian State OperaBavarian State OperaThe Bavarian State Opera is an opera company based in Munich, Germany.Its orchestra is the Bavarian State Orchestra.- History:The opera company which was founded under Princess Henriette Adelaide of Savoy has been in existence since 1653...
, Munich: Les contes d'Hoffmann (Olympia/Antonia/Giulietta/Stella), Die schweigsame Frau (Aminta), The Magic Flute (Queen of the Night), Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Konstanze), Arabella (Zdenka), Ariadne auf Naxos (Zerbinetta), Rigoletto (Gilda), The Marriage of Figaro (Susanna), Der Rosenkavalier (Sophie), FidelioFidelioFidelio is a German opera in two acts by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto is by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly which had been used for the 1798 opera Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal by Pierre Gaveaux, and for the 1804 opera Leonora...
(Marzelline), Der FreischützDer FreischützDer Freischütz is an opera in three acts by Carl Maria von Weber with a libretto by Friedrich Kind. It premiered on 18 June 1821 at the Schauspielhaus Berlin...
(Ännchen), Die Fledermaus (Adele)
Discography
Damrau has an exclusive recording contract with EMIEMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
/Virgin.
- Arie di Bravura, her first release is a recital of Mozart, RighiniVincenzo RighiniVincenzo Maria Righini was an Italian composer, singer and kapellmeister.- Biography :Righini was born at Bologna and studied singing and composition with Padre Martini in his home town. Initially he performed as a singer in Florence and Rome , however, according to Fétis he made his debut as a...
and Salieri arias with Le Cercle de l'Harmonie, conducted by Jérémie Rhorer. - Donna (November 2008) is a collection of Mozart opera and concert arias and is a return collaboration with Rhorer and Le Cercle de l'Harmonie.
- COLORaturaS (November 2009) is a collection of arias with which the soprano is most closely associated and features the Munich Radio OrchestraMunich Radio OrchestraThe Munich Radio Orchestra is a German symphony orchestra based in Munich. It is one of the two orchestras affiliated with the Bavarian Radio , the other being the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra....
conducted by Dan Ettinger. - Poesie (January 2011) is a collection of Richard StraussRichard StraussRichard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
' orchestral songs recorded with the Munich Philharmonic under the baton of Christian ThielemannChristian Thielemann-Career:Thielemann studied viola and piano at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin and took private lessons in composition and conducting before becoming répétiteur aged 19 at the Deutsche Oper Berlin with Heinrich Hollreiser and working as Herbert von Karajan's assistant...
. - Liszt Lieder (October 2011) is a collection of classical songs by Liszt, accompanied by pianist Helmut Deutsch.
Previous recordings include Mahler
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
's Des Knaben Wunderhorn
Des Knaben Wunderhorn
Des Knaben Wunderhorn is a collection of German folk poems edited by Achim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano, and published in Heidelberg, in the Grand Duchy of Baden, between 1805 and 1808...
, and Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
's Myrthen, Op. 25, with the Telos label and live recordings of her summer 2005 Liederabend at the Salzburg Festival and her summer 2006 Liederabend at the Schubertiade are released on the Orfeo label. Damrau also appears on Deutsche Harmonia Mundi's release of Mozart's Zaide
Zaide
Zaide is an unfinished opera, K. 344, written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1780. Emperor Joseph II, in 1778, was in the process of setting up an opera company for the purpose of performing German opera. One condition required of the composer to join this company was that he should write a...
in the title role, and performs alongside Adrianne Pieczonka
Adrianne Pieczonka
Adrianne Pieczonka, OC is a Canadian soprano opera singer. Pronounced AY-dree-in pyeh-CHON-kuh .She was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, and grew up near Toronto in Burlington and graduated from the Opera School of the University of Toronto. She also graduated from the University of Western Ontario...
on mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...
Elīna Garanča
Elina Garanca
-Biography:Garanča was born in the Latvian city of Riga into a musical family, her father a choral director, mother a lieder singer and singing teacher. Her mother Anita is a professor at the Latvian Academy of Music, an associated professor at the Latvian Academy of Culture, a vocal music teacher...
's first solo release with Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon is a German classical record label which was the foundation of the future corporation to be known as PolyGram. It is now part of Universal Music Group since its acquisition and absorption of PolyGram in 1999, and it is also UMG's oldest active label...
; together, they perform the trio finale from Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel Les amours du chevalier de Faublas by Louvet de Couvrai and Molière’s comedy Monsieur de Pourceaugnac...
.
Videography
DVDs are available of her performances in the following operas:- Verdi's Rigoletto (Semperoper Dresden)
- Strauss's Rosenkavalier (Baden Baden)
- Humperdinck's Hansel und Gretel (Covent Garden)
- Mozart's The Magic Flute (Covent Garden, Salzburg Festival)
- Mozart's Ascanio in Alba (Salzburg Festival)
- Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Oper Frankfurt)
- Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro (La Scala)
Honours and awards
- 1999: Prizewinner at the 7th International Mozart Competition, Salzburg
- 1999: Voted "Young Singer of the Year" in a critics' survey in the magazine OpernweltOpernweltOpernwelt is a monthly German magazine for opera, operetta and ballet.The magazine covers news about current performances; it presents portraits of composers and performers, articles about opera houses and performance spaces, and about contemporary and historical subjects from the world of opera...
- 2004: Recipient of the "Star of the Year" by the Munich AbendzeitungAbendzeitungThe Abendzeitung , sometimes abbreviated to AZ, is a liberal morning tabloid newspaper from Munich, Germany. A localized edition is published in Nuremberg. The paper is published six days a week; the masthead of the Saturday edition is held in light blue...
- 2005: Recipient of the "Rose of the Year" by the Munich Tageszeitung (tz)
- 2006: Performed alongside Plácido DomingoPlácido DomingoPlácido Domingo KBE , born José Plácido Domingo Embil, is a Spanish tenor and conductor known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range...
at the Three Orchestras Gala in Munich to mark the opening of the 2006 FIFA World Cup2006 FIFA World CupThe 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six...
in Germany - 2006: Named "Bavarian of the Year" by the Bayerischer RundfunkBayerischer RundfunkBayerischer Rundfunk [Bavarian Broadcasting] is the public broadcasting authority for the German Freistaat of Bavaria, with its main offices located in Munich. BR is a member of ARD.- Legal foundation :...
- 2007: Awarded the EON prize for culture
- 2007: Awarded title of Bayerische KammersängerKammersängerKammersänger , abbreviation: "Ks.", literally means "Chamber singer." It is a German honorific title for distinguished singers...
in in in Munich on 10 July 2007 by Arts Minister Thomas Goppel - 2007: Featured on the cover of both March 2007 edition of Opera NewsOpera NewsOpera News is an American classical music magazine. It has been published since 1936 by the Metropolitan Opera Guild, a non-profit organization located at Lincoln Center which was founded to support the Metropolitan Opera of New York City...
and May 2007 edition of OperaOpera (magazine)Opera is a monthly British magazine devoted to covering all things related to opera.Based in London, the magazine was founded in 1950 by George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood. It was launched at the house of Richard Buckle, under the imprint 'Ballet Publications Ltd'... - 2008: Named "Singer of the Year 2008" by the magazine Opernwelt, appearing on the cover of the magazine's 2008 yearbook
- 2008: Awarded the German Record Critics' Award ("Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik") for her album Arie di Bravura
- 2010: Awarded the Bayerischer Maximiliansorden – the highest recognition awarded by the State of Bavaria for artistic merit. The number of living holders of the award is limited to 100.
- 2011: Awarded the Echo Klassik award for her album "Poesie"