Diana Damrau

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Ks. Diana Damrau (born May 31, 1971 in Günzburg an der Donau, Germany) is a coloratura soprano of the operatic stage.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Career

She began her studies with Carmen Hanganu at the Musikhochschule Würzburg, then, after graduating from the aforementioned conservatory, worked in Salzburg with Hanna Ludwig. Her first operatic engagements were in Würzburg and subsequently the Nationaltheater Mannheim and Oper Frankfurt. Since then, she has sung throughout the world at venues including the Vienna State Opera, the Metropolitan Opera New York, Covent Garden, the Bavarian State Opera, Munich and the Salzburg Festival. She was invited to sing the title role in Antonio Salieri's 'L'Europa riconosciuta' at the re-opening of La Scala, Milan in 2003, under the baton of Riccardo Muti.

Mozart's Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflöte) has been Damrau's most frequently performed role to-date, having been engaged to perform it in over 15 productions at houses including Covent Garden, the Salzburg Festival, the Vienna State Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, Oper Frankfurt and the Bavarian State Opera, Munich. Other coloratura roles in her repertoire include Konstanze, Blondchen, Zerbinetta, Rosina, Gilda, Norina, Europa, Olympia and Oscar. She also performs roles in the lighter lyric repertoire including Sophie, Adina, Susanna, Zaide, Gretel, Ännchenn, Marzelline, Leïla and Zdenka.

As well as opera, Damrau is a regular on the concert podium having performed Lieder repertoire at Vienna's Musikverein, the Kissinger Summer Festival, the Schubertiade, Schwarzenberg and both the Munich and Salzburg Festivals. The soprano's concert repertoire includes Carl Orff's 'Carmina Burana', Mozart's C minor mass, Requiem and Exsultate, Jubilate as well as Handel's 'Messiah'. She has performed with such esteemed conductors as Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel, Sir Colin Davis, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Adam Fischer, Dennis Russel Davies, Leonard Slatkin, Wolfgang Rennert, Andrew Parrott, Ivor Bolton, Pierre Boulez, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Jesús López Cobos, Peter Schneider and Marcello Viotti.

In 2007 she sang the role of Aithra in Die ägyptische Helena by Richard Strauss at the Metropolitan Opera, New York and Susanna in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro at the Salzburg Festival, and sang recitals at Carnegie Hall, New York and La Scala, Milan. The 2007-08 season also saw her assuming both the role of Pamina and that of the Queen of the Night in the same run, but different performances of Mozart's 'Die Zauberflöte' at the Metropolitan Opera. While she is the fourth soprano to sing both roles at the Met (she was preceded by Lucia Popp, Colette Boky and Mary Dunleavy), she has the distinction of being the first to do so within a single run.

Both Damrau and Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez revealed in a joint interview on New York Radio Station WNYC, November 2006 during their run in Gioachino Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Metropolitan Opera, that they have been scheduled to perform together in several operas in the USA and Europe over the next few years including Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto in Dresden, 2008 and Donizetti's La fille du régiment in San Francisco, 2009.

Damrau was on the cover of the March 2007 edition of Opera News magazine. In the interview therein, she stated that she seeks to perform the bel canto roles of Donizetti's Lucia from Lucia di Lammermoor, Anna Bolena, and Elizabeth I from Roberto Devereux in the future, along with such roles as the four heroines in Jacques Offenbach's Les contes d'Hoffmann and the title role in Massenet's Manon.

In July 2007 Diana Damrau was awarded the title Bayerische Kammersängerin in ackowledgement of her successful career with the Bayerische Staatsoper, spanning 10 roles and 75 performances in 7 years. It has been announced that she will play the role of Zerbinetta in a new production of Ariadne auf Naxos at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Summer 2008, directed by Robert Carsen with Adrianne Pieczonka in the title role.

[edit] Lucia di Lammermoor

It has been announced that Damrau will be replacing the pregnant Anna Netrebko in the title role of the Metropolitan Opera House's first revival of Donnizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor in October 2008, directed by Mary Zimmerman. The production, then fronted by Natalie Dessay opened the 2007-08 season of the New York house. This will be Damrau's first assumption of the role of Donizetti's most well known heroine based on the Walter Scott novel, The Bride of Lammermoor.

[edit] Key performances

  • La Scala: L'Europa riconosciuta (Europa), Le nozze di Figaro (Susanna)
  • The Metropolitan Opera: Die Zauberflöte (Queen of the Night), Die Zauberflöte (Pamina), Ariadne auf Naxos (Zerbinetta), Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina), Die ägyptische Helena (Aithra), Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Konstanze)
  • Royal Opera: Die Zauberflöte (Queen of the Night), Arabella (Fiakermilli), Ariadne auf Naxos (Zerbinetta), 1984 (Gym Instructor / Drunken Woman)
  • Vienna State Opera: Die Fledermaus (Adele), Rigoletto (Gilda), Ariadne auf Naxos (Zerbinetta), Der Riese vom Steinfeld by Cerha (Small Woman), Le nozze di Figaro (Susanna), Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Konstanze), Die Zauberflöte (Queen of the Night)
  • Salzburg Festival: Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Blondchen / Konstanze), Ascanio in Alba (Fauno), Die Zauberflöte (Queen of the Night), Le nozze di Figaro (Susanna)
  • Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich: Die Zauberflöte (Queen of the Night), Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Konstanze), Arabella (Zdenka), Ariadne auf Naxos (Zerbinetta), Rigoletto (Gilda), Le nozze di Figaro (Susanna), Der Rosenkavalier (Sophie), Fidelio (Marzelline), Der Freischütz (Ännchen), Die Fledermaus (Adele)

[edit] Recordings

Damrau has signed an exclusive recording contract with EMI/Virgin. Her first release, now available, is a disc of Mozart, Righini and Salieri arias entitled 'Arie di Bravura'. The orchestra supporting Ms. Damrau is 'Le Cercle de l’Harmonie', conducted by Jérémie Rhorer. From the art song repertoire, she has recorded Mahler's 'Des Knaben Wunderhorn', and Schumann’s 'Myrten' 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 guests alongside Adrianne Pieczonka's on mezzo-soprano Elina Garanca's first solo release with Deutsche Grammophon. Together, they perform the trio finale from Richard Strauss' 'Die Rosenkavalier'. DVDs are available of her performances in Mozart's 'Die Zauberflöte' (Covent Garden, Salzburg Festival), 'Ascanio in Alba' (Salzburg Festival) and 'Die Entführung aus dem Serail' (Oper Frankfurt).

[edit] Honours and Awards

  • 1999: Voted 'Young Singer of the Year' in a critics' survey in Opernwelt magazine
  • 1999: Prizewinner at the 7th International Mozart Competition, Salzburg
  • 2004: Recipient of the “Star of the Year” by the Münchner Abendzeitung
  • 2005: Recipient of the ‘Rose of the Year’ by the Münchener Tageszeitung
  • 2006: Named "Bavarian of the Year" by the Bayerischer Rundfunk
  • 2006: Performed alongside Plácido Domingo at the Three Orchestras Gala in Munich to mark the opening of the World Cup 2006 in Germany.
  • 2007: Featured on the cover of both March 2007 edition of 'Opera News' and May 2007 edition of 'Opera'.
  • 2007: Awarded title of Bayerische Kammersänger in in Munich on July 10th 2007 by Arts Minister Thomas Goppel.
  • 2007: Awarded the EON prize for culture.
  • 2008: Awarded the German Record Critics' Award ("Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik") for her disc 'Aria di Bravura'

[edit] External links / References