Diana Damrau

Diana Damrau (born 31 May 1971 in Günzburg, Bavaria) is a German lyric coloratura soprano of the operatic stage.

Biography

Diana Damrau was born in 1971 in Günzburg, Bavaria, Germany, and began her operatic studies with Carmen Hanganu at the Musikhochschule in Würzburg. 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 sung throughout the world at venues such as the Vienna State Opera, the Metropolitan Opera New York, the Royal Opera House, the Bavarian State Opera and the Salzburg Festival. She was invited to sing the title role in Antonio Salieri's Europa riconosciuta at the re-opening of La Scala, Milan in 2004, under the baton of Riccardo Muti.

The Queen of the Night from Mozart's The Magic Flute has been Damrau's most frequently performed role to date, as she has been engaged to perform it in over 15 productions at houses including Covent Garden, the Salzburg Festival, the Vienna State Opera, Oper Frankfurt and the Bavarian State Opera, Munich. Damrau made Metropolitan Opera history in the 2007/2008 season by appearing as both Pamina and Queen of the Night in the same run, but different performances. Other coloratura roles in her repertoire include Zerbinetta, Lucia, Elvira, Rosina, Gilda, Adina, Marie and Aminta. She also performs roles in the lyric repertoire including Manon, Donna Anna, Gretel and Pamina.

After the birth of her first child in October 2010, Damrau returned to the stage in January 2011 to perform the role of Elvira in a new production of Vincenzo Bellini's bel canto opera I puritani at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, Geneva, followed by a return to the Metropolitan Opera, New York, for a new production of Rossini's comic opera Le comte Ory and the title role in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor for the company's tour of Japan. The up-and-coming 2011/2012 season promises further exploration of the bel canto repertoire as Damrau assumes the title role in Donizetti's Linda di Chamounix at the Liceu in Barcelona. The soprano will return to the Metropolitan Opera as both Adina and Rosina and bring her portrayal of Donizetti's Lucia to Berlin and Vienna. Damrau is scheduled to play all four heroines in Offenbach's Les contes d'Hoffmann in a new production at the Bavarian State Opera.

As well as performing in operas, Damrau is a regular on the concert stage. She has performed Lieder repertoire at Vienna's Musikverein, at Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, La Scala, the Schubertiade in Schwarzenberg, Austria, and both the Munich and Salzburg Festivals. Her concert repertoire includes Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, Mozart's Great Mass in C minor, Requiem and Exsultate, jubilate as well as Handel's Messiah. She has performed with such esteemed conductors as James Levine, Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel, Sir Colin Davis, Christoph von Dohnányi, Leonard Slatkin, Pierre Boulez, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Jesús López-Cobos.

Key performances

• La Scala: Europa riconosciuta (Europa), The Marriage of Figaro (Susanna)
• Metropolitan Opera: The Magic Flute (Queen of the Night and Pamina), Ariadne auf Naxos (Zerbinetta), Il barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina), Die ägyptische Helena (Aithra), Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Konstanze), Lucia di Lammermoor (Lucia), Rigoletto (Gilda), La fille du régiment (Marie), Le comte Ory (Adèle)
• Royal Opera: The Magic Flute (Queen of the Night), Arabella (Fiakermilli), Ariadne auf Naxos (Zerbinetta), 1984 (Gym Instructor / Drunken Woman), Hänsel und Gretel (Gretel), L'elisir d'amore (Adina)
• Vienna State Opera: Die Fledermaus (Adele), Rigoletto (Gilda), Ariadne auf Naxos (Zerbinetta), Der Riese vom Steinfeld by Cerha (Small Woman), The Marriage of Figaro (Susanna), Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Konstanze), The Magic Flute (Queen of the Night), Il barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina), Manon (Manon)
• Salzburg Festival: Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Blondchen / Konstanze), Ascanio in Alba (Fauno), The Magic Flute (Queen of the Night), The Marriage of Figaro (Susanna)
• Bavarian State Opera, Munich: Les contes d'Hoffmann (Olympia/Antonia/Giulietta/Stella), Die schweigsame Frau (Aminta), The Magic Flute (Queen of the Night), Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Konstanze), Arabella (Zdenka), Ariadne auf Naxos (Zerbinetta), Rigoletto (Gilda), The Marriage of Figaro (Susanna), Der Rosenkavalier (Sophie), Fidelio (Marzelline), Der Freischütz (Ännchen), Die Fledermaus (Adele)

Discography

Damrau has an exclusive recording contract with EMI/Virgin.

• Arie di Bravura, her first release is a recital of Mozart, Righini and Salieri arias with Le Cercle de l'Harmonie, conducted by Jérémie Rhorer.
• Donna (November 2008) is a collection of Mozart opera and concert arias and is a return collaboration with Rhorer and Le Cercle de l'Harmonie.
• COLORaturaS (November 2009) is a collection of arias with which the soprano is most closely associated and features the Munich Radio Orchestra conducted by Dan Ettinger.
• Poesie (January 2011) is a collection of Richard Strauss' orchestral songs recorded with the Munich Philharmonic under the baton of Christian Thielemann.
• Liszt Lieder (October 2011) is a collection of classical songs by Liszt, accompanied by pianist Helmut Deutsch.

Previous recordings include Mahler's Des Knaben Wunderhorn, and Schumann's Myrthen, Op. 25, with the Telos label and live recordings of her summer 2005 Liederabend at the Salzburg Festival and her summer 2006 Liederabend at the Schubertiade are released on the Orfeo label. Damrau also appears on Deutsche Harmonia Mundi's release of Mozart's Zaide in the title role, and performs alongside Adrianne Pieczonka on mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča's first solo release with Deutsche Grammophon; together, they perform the trio finale from Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier.

Videography

DVDs are available of her performances in the following operas:

• Verdi's Rigoletto (Semperoper Dresden)
• Strauss's Rosenkavalier (Baden Baden)
• Humperdinck's Hansel und Gretel (Covent Garden)
• Mozart's The Magic Flute (Covent Garden, Salzburg Festival)
• Mozart's Ascanio in Alba (Salzburg Festival)
• Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Oper Frankfurt)
• Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro (La Scala)

Honours and awards

• 1999: Prizewinner at the 7th International Mozart Competition, Salzburg
• 1999: Voted "Young Singer of the Year" in a critics' survey in the magazine Opernwelt
• 2004: Recipient of the "Star of the Year" by the Munich Abendzeitung
• 2005: Recipient of the "Rose of the Year" by the Munich Tageszeitung (tz)
• 2006: Performed alongside Plácido Domingo at the Three Orchestras Gala in Munich to mark the opening of the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany
• 2006: Named "Bavarian of the Year" by the Bayerischer Rundfunk
• 2007: Awarded the EON prize for culture
• 2007: Awarded title of Bayerische Kammersängerin in in Munich on 10 July 2007 by Arts Minister Thomas Goppel
• 2007: Featured on the cover of both March 2007 edition of Opera News and May 2007 edition of Opera
• 2008: Named "Singer of the Year 2008" by the magazine Opernwelt, appearing on the cover of the magazine's 2008 yearbook
• 2008: Awarded the German Record Critics' Award ("Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik") for her album Arie di Bravura
• 2010: Awarded the Bayerischer Maximiliansorden – the highest recognition awarded by the State of Bavaria for artistic merit. The number of living holders of the award is limited to 100.
• 2011: Awarded the Echo Klassik award for her album "Poesie"

References and external links

• Diana Damrau official website
• Discography at EMI
• "Vienna’s New Opera House Since 1801" by Matthew Gurewitsch, The New York Times (29 May 2009)
• Photo
• "In einer Reihe mit den ganz Großen" by (kih), Augsburger Allgemeine (2 November 2010) (German)

Persondata
Name	Damrau, Diana
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	31 May 1971
Place of birth	Günzburg, Germany
Date of death
Place of death