Julia Varady

Júlia Várady (born Júlia Tözsér, September 1, 1941) is a soprano of Hungarian nationality born in Nagyvárad, Hungary (today Oradea, Romania).

At the age of six she began violin lessons at the music conservatory in Cluj-Napoca and then, aged fourteen, voice training with Emilia Popp. She later studied voice with Arta Florescu in Bucharest.

She made her debut, as a mezzo-soprano, with the Cluj Opera in 1962, singing in Gluck's "Orfeo" and as Fiordiligi in Mozart's "Cosi fan tutte".

In 1970 she joined the Frankfurt-am-Main Opera and thereafter sang mostly in Western Europe. In 1973 she moved from Frankfurt to the Bayerische Staatsoper (the Bavarian State Opera) in Munich and later joined the Deutsche Oper Berlin. She has appeared at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London; at the Vienna State Opera; at the Metropolitan Opera in New York; at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan; at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires; at the Opéra Bastille in Paris and at the Salzburg, Munich and Edinburgh festivals. In 1978 she created the role of Cordelia at the premiere of Aribert Reimann's opera "Lear" with the Bayerische Staatsoper.

In 1977 she married baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. In 1998 she retired from opera. She is currently a guest professor at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin.

Roles

Here are most of the roles Julia Varady sang and played in staged opera performances. Roles she sang in the studio (such as the Empress in Strauss' "Die Frau ohne Schatten") or in concert (such as Leonore in Beethoven's "Fidelio") are not yet included.
* Judith in Bartók's "Bluebeard's Castle"
* Micaela in Bizet's "Carmen"
* Konchakovna in Borodin's "Prince Igor"
* Alceste in Gluck's "Alceste"
* Orfeo in Gluck's "Orfeo ed Euridice"
* Marguerite in Charles Gounod's "Faust (opera)"
* Ginevra in Handel's "Ariodante"
* Santuzza in Mascagni's "Cavalleria Rusticana"
* Elettra in Mozart's "Idomeneo"
* Susanna, Cherubino and Contessa in Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro"
* Elvira and Anna in Mozart's "Don Giovanni"
* Fiordiligi in Mozart's "Così fan tutte"
* Vitellia in Mozart's "La Clemenza di Tito"
* Pamina in Mozart's "Die Zauberflöte" (The Magic Flute)
* Giulietta and Antonia in Offenbach's "Les contes d'Hoffmann"
* Cio Cio San and Kate Pinkerton in Puccini's "Madama Butterfly"
* Liu in Puccini's "Turandot"
* Georgette in Puccini's "Il Tabarro"
* Cordelia in Reimann's "Lear"
* Angelina in Rossini's La Cenerentola"
* Adela in Rossini's "Le Comte Ory"
* Girl in Schönberg's "Moses und Aron"
* Saffi in Johann Strauss II's "Der Zigeunerbaron"
* Arabella in Richard Strauss' "Arabella"
* Composer in R. Strauss' "Ariadne auf Naxos"
* Tatiana in Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin"
* Lisa in Tchaikovsky's "The Queen of Spades"
* Abigaille and Fenena in Verdi's "Nabucco"
* Tebaldo and Elisabeth in Verdi's "Don Carlos"
* Desdemona in Verdi's "Otello"
* Aida in Verdi's "Aida"
* Leonora in Verdi's "Il Trovatore"
* Leonora in Verdi's "La forza del destino"
* Violetta in Verdi's "La Traviata"
* Amelia in Verdi's "Un ballo in maschera
* Irene in Wagner's "Rienzi"
* Senta in Wagner's "The Flying Dutchman"
* Eva in Wagner's "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg"
* Freia in Wagner's "Das Rheingold"
* Siegrune and Sieglinde in Wagner's "Die Walküre"

Recordings

* "Julia Varady: Song of Passion" DVD (documentary and recordings of live performances ) EMI Classics

External links

* [http://www.mwolf.de/julia_varady/ Julia Varady section of "Julia Varady und Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau" website, in German and English]
* [http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Varady-Julia.htm Short biography of Julia Varady, with some differences from the above]