The German mezzo-soprano, Barbara Schmidt-Gaden, received her first musical impulses by her father, Gerhard Schmidt-Gaden and his Tölzer Knabenchor. Her first solo experience was as a third boy in Mozart's Zauberflöte. She joined them in appearances at the Salzburg Festival, at the opera houses of Lyon, Bordeaux, Tel Aviv, Munich, Stuttgart, Barcelona and Milan's La Scala.
Her vocal studied were in Munich, Berne, at the Opera School of Mannheim and in New York. Her teachers were Hanno Blaschke, Katharina Dau, Daniel E. Ferro, Anna Reynolds and Ingrid Haubold. She won several international competitions, including Award of the Richard-Strauss-Gesellschaft, Munich in 2000.
Since then Barbara Schmidt-Gaden appeared inter alia as Nancy (Albert Herring) in Baden-Baden and Mannheim and as Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia) in Merano. Since May 2001, she is a permanent member of the ensemble soloists of the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz. Her roles there have included Aunt (Madama Butterfly), Adelige Waise (Der Rosenkavalier). Roles in this season (2008-2009 ?): Gesang (Alice im Wunderland), Tisbe (Aschenputtel), Mercédès (Carmen), Lola (Cavalleria rusticana / Der Bajazzo), Dorabella (Così fan tutte), Hirte (Das Beben), Frettchen (Das Triptychon), 2nd Bettelschwester & Ciesca (Das Triptychon), Rosina (Der Barbier von Sevilla), Muse/Niklas (Hoffmanns Erzählungen), Idamante (Idomeneo), Flora Bervoix (La Traviata), Suzuki (Madame Butterfly), Lilja (Singer) (Majakowskis Tod), Opera cafe. |