Born near Hamburg, the German soprano Melanie Diener studied with Sylvia Geszty and later with Rudolf Piernay. She was first internationally recognized as prize winner at the Salzburg Mozart Competition and as winner of the Kirsten-Flagstad-Award at the International "Queen Sonja" Singing Competition in Oslo. Melanie Diener made her operatic debut in June 1996 at the Garsington Opera Festival as Ilia in Mozart's Idomeneo, a role she also sang for the first time at the Munich State Opera in spring 1997. But it was with Fiordiligi in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte that the artist had her international breakthrough in a highly-acclaimed interpretation at Covent Garden in 1997. She also performed Fiordiligi in Paris (Palais Garnier), Ferrara, Lausanne, Dresden, Zurich and in 2001 as her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Melanie Diener also achieved great success as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, role she sang in new productions in Paris (Palais Garnier), Aix-en-Provence, London, Vienna, Munich as well as at the MET. In July 2002 she opened the Salzburg Festival as Donna Elvira in a new Don Giovanni, production by Martin Kusej/Nikolaus Harnoncourt, revival in 2003. After her successful debut in 1999, Melanie Diener sang Elsa in Lohengrin for three consecutive seasons at the Bayreuth Festival, role she also sang in London, Zurich, Vienna and Munich. Other very special achievements were her portrayals of Strauss roles such as: Marschallin in Berlin, Daphne in Vienna, Chrysothemis/Elektra in Zurich and Monte Carlo and Ariadne in Garmisch Partenkirchen. In 2005 Melanie Diener achieved great success as Katja in Michael Thalheimer's new Katja Kabanowa at the Berlin State Opera as well as Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes with Simone Young at the Vienna State Opera. In April 2005 she returned for Vitellia in Clemenza di Tito with James Levine to the MET. Since the beginning of her career, Melanie Diener has performed with some of the most prestigious orchestras in Europe and the US (Cleveland, Boston, New York, Philadelphia). Melanie Diener's versatile concert repertory includes Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 and Missa Solemnis, Brittens War Requiem, Zemlinsky's Lyrische Sinfonie, Schönberg's Gurrelieder and Richard Strauss Four last Songs. She performed in concerts with such renowned conductors as Claudio Abbado, Herbert Blomstedt, Christoph Eschenbach, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Pierre Boulez, Semyon Bychkov, Sylvain Cambreling, Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Chailly, Michael Gielen, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Marek Janowski, Kurt Masur, Kent Nagano, Sir Neville Marriner, Sir Roger Norrington, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Christian Thielemann, Marcello Viotti and David Zinman. The soprano recorded Berlioz's Romeo et Juliette and Les nuits d'été with P. Boulez and the Cleveland Orchestra, Strauss' Four last Songs with D. Zinman for Arte Nova, with C. Abbado for ORF, Mahler's Symphony nr. 2 with R. Chailly for DECCA, Berg's Der Wein with M. Gielen for Hänssler. Recent and future projects: Donna Elvira with J. Levine at the MET, Vitellia/Clemenza di Tito in Hamburg and Teneriffa, Chrysothemis in Elektra in Zurich, Gutrune in Götterdämmerung at the Tanglewood Festival (Levine), concerts with M. Janowski in Monte Carlo, Beethoven's Symphony nr. 9 with Kurt Masur in Orange, Lucerne Festival and Berlin, Vier letzte Lieder in Weimar, St. Gallen and Baden-Baden, Katja Kabanowa in Berlin, Donna Elvira and Chrysothemis in Vienna, Lied recital and Schreker concert in Salzburg 2005, concert in Manchester, Donna Elvira in Salzburg 2006, Schönberg's Gurrelieder with M Gielen on tour (Lucerne Festival, Essen, Berlin, Frankfurt, Vienna and Freiburg), Lyrische Sinfonie in Zurich and Bamberg, War Requiem in Frankfurt, Ariadne auf Naxos by R. Strauss in Zurich (von Dohnanyi).