Diana Damrau Soprano

Diana Damrau was born in Germany and has sung at many of the great opera venues in roles from both the lyric soprano and coloratura soprano repertoires. She makes regular guest appearances at the New York Metropolitan Opera—she sang her first Pamina and her last Queen of the Night there in 2007 and made role debuts in La Traviata in 2013 and in La Sonnambula (Amina) in 2014. Her other roles at the Met include Gilda (Rigoletto), Rosina (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Adèle (Le Comte Ory), Leila (Les Pêcheurs de perles), the title roles in Lucia di Lammermoor and Manon, Marie (La Fille du régiment), Amina (La Sonnambula), and Juliette (Roméo et Juliette). She also maintains close links with the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich (where she was honoured with the title of Kammersängerin in 2007). Her roles there include Lucia, the four heroines in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Zerbinetta (Ariadne auf Naxos), Aminta (Die Schweigsame Frau), the Queen of the Night, Gilda, Violetta, Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), Konstanze (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), and Susanna and the Countess (Le nozze di Figaro). She has performed twice for the opening season at Milan’s La Scala—first in 2004 in Salieri’s L’Europa riconosciuta and again in 2013 in La Traviata. She also appeared in the world premiere productions of Iain Bell’s A Harlot’s Progress (Theater an der Wien, 2013) and Lorin Maazel’s 1984 (London’s Royal Opera House, 2005). More recently, she sang the title role in Maria Stuarda for the first time at the Zurich Opera and appeared in a new production of La Traviata at the Metropolitan Opera. During the 2019-2020 season, she performed Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Mariss Jansons and appeared in Roméo et Juliette at Milan’s La Scala, I Masnadieri at Munich’s Bayerische Staatsoper and Maria Stuarda at the Metropolitan Opera. She records exclusively with EMI/Virgin Classics (Erato), and has cut several solo albums for the label: Arie di bravura, Donna, COLORaturaS, Poesie (Echo Klassic 2011), Forever (songs from operettas, films and stage musicals), and Fiamma del belcanto, Grand Opera (Meyerbeer). Diana Damrau also sings in recital with pianist Helmut Deutsch and harpist Xavier de Maistre. The recital Nuit d’étoiles with Xavier de Maistre was recorded live on CD and DVD at the Baden-Baden Festival.