Soprano Diana Damrau, renowned as a specialist for brilliantly difficult Mozart concert arias, can be seen at the stages in Berlin and Munich, Brussels and Vienna, London and Washington...
Diana Damrau was born in Günzburg an der Donau in Germany and trained as a singer at the Musikhochschule in Würzburg with Carmen Hanganu.
At the International Summer Academy at the Mozarteum in Salzburg she attended master classes with Hanna Ludwig, with who she continues to prepare the artistic and technical sides of her entire opera and concert repertory. She won prizes at several international singing competitions, such as the 7th International Mozart Competition in Salzburg.
Her first fixed engagements led the soprano to the Stadttheater Würzburg, the Nationaltheater Mannheim and to the Oper Frankfurt. Since 2002 she has been working as a free-lancer.
In 1999, she was voted Young Singer of the Year in a critics' survey of Opernwelt magazine.Her international career developed rapidly and led her to important opera houses such as the Bayerische Staatsoper München, the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin and the Hamburgische Staatsoper. From the season 2000 until 2002, she performed in the Zauberflöte (Königin der Nacht) and in Ariadne auf Naxos (Zerbinetta) at the Wiener Staatsoper, in Don Pasquale (Norina) at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie Bruxelles, in Die Zauberflöte (Königin der Nacht) at the Salzburg Festival, in Ariadne auf Naxos (Zerbinetta) at the Dresden Opera Festival and in Der Rosenkavalier (Sophie). In September 2002 she made her USA debut at the opening of the concert season at the Kennedy Center in Washington.
Another highlight of the season 2002 was the premier of the opera Der Riese von Steinfeld by Friedrich Cerha (Die kleine Frau) together with Thomas Hampson at the Wiener Staatsoper. The performance was broadcast on several European TV channels (ORF, 3 SAT).
In the season 2003-2004, she performed in a new production of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte (Königin der Nacht) at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden London, conducted by Sir Colin Davis. In 2004, she is going to sing in London the roles of Fiakermilli and Zerbinetta.
In 2003, she performed in a new production of Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail in the role of Blondchen at the Salzburg Festival, and added the role of Konstanze, in a new production at the Oper Frankfurt, and Zdenka at the Staatsoper München to her repertory. On December 2004, she is giong to sing the title role of Salieri's L'Europa Riconosciuta for the Opening Season at the Scala di Milano conducted by Riccardo Muti
Her comprehensive repertory includes parts in Rigoletto (Gilda), L´Elisir d´Amore (Adina), Un Ballo in Maschera (Oscar), Les Contes d´Hoffmann (Olympia), Les Pecheurs de Perles (Leila), Kublai, der große Khan der Tartaren (Alzima) by Salieri, Die Fledermaus (Adele), Hänsel und Gretel (Gretel), Der Freischütz (Ännchen), Fidelio (Marzelline).
However, Diana Damrau is not only a successful opera singer, but is also highly in demand as a concert singer and has performed with conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel, Sir Colin Davis, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Adam Fischer, Dennis Russel Davies, Leonard Slatkin, Wolfgang Rennert and Andrew Parrott.The artist can be heard regularly at recitals at the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg and at the Kissinger Summer, and is renowned as a specialist for brilliantly difficult Mozart concert arias, as well as Gliere's Concert for coloratura soprano. Her repertory also includes various soprano parts from oratories and symphonies, as well as contemporary music, e.g. the Hérodiade-Fragmente by Matthias Pintscher.Diana Damrau is known to a broad audience due to her many concert performances and recitals on the radio (BR, WDR, SWR, HR, ORF and BBC) and on TV (ARD, ZDF, ORF and BBC), such as the year's Easter Concert (2002) on ARD from the Prinzregententheater in Munich, conducted by Lorin Maazel.
