|
The German soprano, Diana Damrau, began her operatic studies with Carmen Hanganu at the Hochschule für Musik Würzburg. During her studies, she developed an edema on a vocal fold. After consulting with several doctors, she decided to undergo an alternative therapy without surgery. The treatment lasted about one and a half years. 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 been performing on the world’s leading opera and concert stages for two decades, including the Wiener Staatsoper, the Metropolitan Opera New York, the Royal Opera House London, the Bavarian State Opera and the Salzburg Festival. Her vast repertoire spans both lyric soprano and coloratura roles including the title roles in Lucia di Lammermoor (La Scala, Bavarian State Opera, Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House), Manon (Wiener Staatsoper, Metropolitan Opera) and La Traviata (La Scala, Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, Opéra National de Paris and Bavarian State Opera) as well as Queen of the Night in W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte (Metropolitan Opera, Salzburg Festival, Wiener Staatsoper, Royal Opera House).
Invested as Kammersängerin of the Bavarian State Opera (2007) and holder of the Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art (2010), Diana Damrau has forged close links with the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich where she has been seen in new productions of Lucia di Lammermoor, Les contes d’Hoffmann (the four heroines), Ariadne auf Naxos (Zerbinetta), Die schweigsame Frau (Aminta), W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte (Queen of the Night) and Rigoletto (Gilda). Other high profile appearances have included La Traviata (Violetta Valéry), Der Rosenkavalier (Sophie) and W.A. Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Konstanze).
The soprano has performed her signature roles at The Metropolitan Opera and has been featured in broadcasts in HD in cinemas worldwide. She has also made seven role debuts since her own debut there as Zerbinetta in 2005. Highlights have included new productions of Rigoletto (Gilda), Il barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina), Le comte Ory (Adèle) and Georges Bizet's Les pêcheurs des perles (Leïla). Other engagements have included the title roles in Lucia di Lammermoor, La Traviata, Manon, La Sonnambula and La Fille du Régiment. She was also the first singer in Metropolitan Opera history to perform the roles of Pamina and Queen of the Night in different performances of the same run in W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte.
Diana Damrau has twice participated in the annual inaugural performance at La Scala di Milano; in 2004 in the title role of Salieri’s Europa Riconosciuta at the house’s grand reopening and in 2013 as the heroine in a new production of La Traviata. She has also appeared there as Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor as part of Milan’s Expo in 2015. In 2005 she had her role debut as Susanna in a new production of W.A. Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro and returned in 2016 in another new production of the piece, but on this occasion as the Countess.
The soprano has also performed contemporary works in roles written especially for her, most notably as the title role in Iain Bell’s operatic adaptation of Hogarth’s A Harlot’s Progress (Theater an der Wien, 2013) and as the Drunken Woman/Gym Instructress in Lorin Maazel’s 1984 (Royal Opera House, 2005).
Diana Damrau has established herself as one of today’s most sought-after interpreters of song, regularly performing at renowned venues worldwide. She enjoys a close artistic partnership with pianist Helmut Deutsch and frequently performs in recital with harpist Xavier de Maistre. The latter collaboration can be heard in the CD release Nuit d'étoiles and a DVD capturing their performance at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden.
Recording exclusively for Warner/Erato (former EMI/Virgin Classics), Diana Damrau made her recording debut with Arie di Bravura – a collection of W.A. Mozart and Salieri arias. Subsequent solo releases have included Donna – a recording of W.A. Mozart arias, COLORaturaS – a selection of coloratura arias from the romantic period, Poesie – orchestral songs by Richard Strauss (awarded the ECHO Klassik prize in 2011) and songs by Franz Liszt. Her album Forever, featuring highlights from operetta, film and musicals was awarded the ECHO Klassik Prize in 2014 and was followed by the release of the Belcanto-themed Fiamma del Belcanto. She is also featured on various complete opera recordings available in both CD and DVD.
In September 2017, Diana Damrau opened the concert season of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam with selected W.A. Mozart arias. At the gala reopening of the Berliner Staatsoper, she was the soprano soloist in L.v. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, accompanied by the Staatskapelle Berlin and Daniel Barenboim on the podium. Together with the Staatskapelle Dresden and conductor Christian Thielemann she performed at the Christmas concert of the German television channel ZDF in December 2017 and at the beginning of the following year she made an appearance at the Dresdner Opernball.
To celebrate her new album "Grand Opera", which is dedicated to the works of Giacomo Meyerbeer, Diana Damrau toured Europe and Asia in 2017 with the French bass-baritone Nicolas Testé. Further on, in February 2018, she performed in some of the most renowned concert halls in Europe, travelling to Berlin, London, Paris, Luxembourg and Vienna, interpreting, alongside tenor Jonas Kaufmann and pianist Helmut Deutsch, Hugo Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch. She toured Europe again in spring of 2018 with her VERDIssimo program.
In addition, Diana Damrau made her debut as the title character in Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda at the Opernhaus Zürich. In summer of 2018 she gave a concert at the Open-Air-Event “Klassik am Odeonsplatz” in Munich, with the Bayerischer Rundfunk Symphonieorchester and Cristian Măcelaru as well as at the Salzburg Festival. Her plans for December 2018 include singing the title role in a new production of La Traviata at the Metropolitan Opera, as well as a role debut in April of 2019 in Charles Gounod’s Faust at the Royal Opera House in London. Moreover, she will be “Artist in Residence” at the Barbican Centre in 2018-2019. In addition to a recital with Helmut Deutsch, she will perform with the London Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Gianandrea Noseda as well as together with the Bayerischer Rundfunk Symphonieorchester and Mariss Jansons. |
