Doris Soffel

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Doris Soffel (Born in Hechingen, Germany on 12 May 1948) is a German mezzo-soprano.

Doris Soffel first played the violin, then switched to singing at the Munich Conservatory. She was member of the Stuttgart Opera ensemble from 1973 to 1982. Her international breakthrough wa as Sesto in Mozart's La clemenza di Tito at the Royal Opera House, London in 1982. She sang Fricka in the Bayreuth Festival 1983 and was the only German coloratura mezzo with an international career, singing in works by Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti and Vincenzo Bellini. She sang world premieres by contemporary composers like Aribert Reimann and Krysztof Pendereckiand had performances worldwide of Gustav Mahler's vocal works. From 1994 more dramatic roles like Judith in Béla Bartok's "Duke Bluebeard's Castle", Eboli in Giuseppe Verdi's Don Carlo and Amneris in Verdi's Aïda. Since 1999 she belongs to the most important interpreters of operas by Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss (e.g. Ortrud, Kundry, Fricka, Herodias and Amme). In 2007 she sang the female principal part (Marfa) in the Modest Mussorgsky opera Khovanshchina in Munich. She appears on about 60 CDs and several DVDs on the international market.