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The Austrian mezzo-soprano, Michaela Selinger, is a graduate of the Linz Academy of Music. She studied Voice in Vienna with Walter Berry and Robert Holl and Basel.
Michaela Selinger started her career dedicating herself to sacred music. She had successful stage debuts in 2004 at the Theatre of Klagenfurt, Carinthia and the Theatre of Innsbruck, Tyrol. She was a member of the Wiener Staatsoper (Director: Ioan Holender) from 2005 to 2010. As a permanent member of the Wiener Staatsoper, she sang in a multitude of important roles in her field, for example as Cherubino in W.A. Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Idamante in W.A. Mozart’s Idomeneo, Rosina in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville and Octavian in Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier. In the anniversary run of Don Giovanni at the Wiener Staatsoper in May 2009, her portrayal of Zerlina delighted both the audience and the press, being hailed as “wonderful” and “fabulous”. She also played a highly acclaimed Kreusa in the world premiere of Aribert Reimann’s Medea.
Since then an international career has developed including opera and concert appearances, amongst others, at Opera Zurich, Glyndebourne Festival, Opéra du Rhin, Opéra du Lyon, New National Theatre Tokio, Vienna Musikverein, Vienna Konzerthaus and Salzburg Festival. Michaela Selinger made her debut at the Zürich Opera House in 2008, playing the role of Prince Orlofski in Strauss’ Die Fledermaus. Her debut at the Aalto Theatre in Essen, Germany, came in 2009, when she took on the role of Octavian, singing with the Essen Philharmonic Orchestra directed by Stefan Soltesz. In a review of her portrayal of Octavian, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung newspaper stated that: “the highlight of the performance is Michaela Selinger, who is both passionate as a young lover and traditionally comedic as Mariandel, equipped with a melodious, full and freely flowing mezzo-soprano voice”. She sang in the role of Hansel in Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel at Lyon Opera House and performed as Cherubino in W.A. Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro at the NTT in Tokyo. She celebrated a successful run in the role of Dejanira in George Frideric Handel’s Hercules at the Aalto Theatre in Essen. Her most important parts in opera include Octavian in Strauss’ Rosenkavalier, Komponist in Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos, Cherubino in W.A. Mozarts Le nozze di Figaro and Idamante in W.A. Mozarts Idomeneo.
The season (2014-2015) lead Michaela Selinger to the Opera di Roma, where she performed Cherubino in W.A. Mozarts Le nozze di Figaro with Maestro Riccardo Muti. For the Opera Leipzig she sang Komponist in Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos. At the Vienna Musikverein she will perform in L.v. Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with Georges Prêtre. She sang Idamante in a new production at the Aalto Theatre Essen, in W.A. Mozarts Mass in C minor and W.A. Mozart's Requiem with the Camerata Academica Salzburg conducted by Louis Langrée and Josep Caballé Domenech. This season sees her in the role of Sonietky in Dmitri Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mzensk and Hannah Arendt in Michel Tabachnik's opera Walter Benjamin, la dernière nuit at the Opéra de Lyon as well as Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde at the National Opera Warsaw. She will also return to the Salzburg Festival to sind in Die Liebe der Danae under the baton of Franz Welser Möst.
Her future operatic roles include that of Strauss' Octavian at the Wiener Staatsoper, Romeo in Bellini’s Capuleti in Essen, Octavian in a new production of Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier in Strasbourg, Magdalena in the new production of Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera and her debut at the Nomori Spring Festival in Tokyo, both in a recital with the Japanese pianist Yu Kosuge and in Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.
At the Salzburg Festival in 2009, Michaela Selinger sang the alto part in Haydn‘s Stabat Mater, conducted by Ivor Bolton. She also sang the soprano solo in Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 4 with the Essen Philharmonic Orchestra and G. Mahler's Rückert-Lieder with Stefan Soltesz. In April 2010, she debuted at the Moscow Conservatory, singing the alto part in G. Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde with the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow Radio, conducted by Maestro Vladimir Fedoseyev. Her upcoming concert projects include J.S. Bach's Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248) and W.A. Mozart’s Great Mass in C Minor at the Wiener Musikverein.
In the fields of both opera and concert performances, Michaela Selinger works together with conductors such as Riccardo Muti, Stefan Soltesz, Christian Thielemann, Franz Welser-Möst and Kirill Petrenko.
On top of this, reciting Lieder is also important to Michaela Selinger. She recently combined forces with the baritone singer Wolfgang Holzmair to record Wolf’s Italienisches und Spanisches Liederbuch. |
