Born in Günzburg an der Donau, Germany, Diana Damrau studied at the Musikhochschule Würzburg with Carmen Hanganu and in Salzburg with Hanna Ludwig. Her first engagements were at the Stadtheater Würzburg and the Nationaltheater Mannheim at Oper Frankfurt. In 2002 Diana’s international freelance career was born and she was invited to sing at the principle opera houses of Munich, Berlin, Dresden and Hamburg. She was soon to appear in Vienna, Brüssels, Washington, Covent Garden and the Salzburg Festival. She has sung under the direction of such renowned conductors as Ivor Bolton, Pierre Boulez, Sir Colin Davis, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Adam Fischer, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Jesú López Cobos, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Peter Schneider and Marcello Viotti on both the opera stage and concert podium.
Diana Damrau’s extensive repertoire spans the Italian and French Fachs (Gilda/”Rigoletto”, Rosina/”Il Barbiere di Siviglia”, Leila/”Les pêcheurs de perles”), to the full lyric roles of the German repertoire, as well as contemporary works (Cerha’s “Der Riese vom Steinfeld” at the Vienna State Opera, Maazel’s “1984” at Covent Garden).
As a highly sought-after interpreter of Mozart and Strauss roles, she can be heard as Konstanze (Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna, the Met New York 2008), Queen of the Night (Munich, Covent Garden, Salzburg Festival), Susanna (La Scala, Vienna, Salzburg Festival, Munich) Zdenka (Munich), Sophie (Dresden, Munich, Vienna), Zerbinetta (Dresden, Vienna, Covent Garden, the Met New York) and Aithra/”Die ägyptische Helena” (the Met New York 2007). In December 2004, she sang the title role in Salieri’s “L’Europa riconosciuta” at the re-opening of La Scala under the direction of Riccardo Muti.
Being in great demand as a Lied singer, Diana is a regular guest of both the Kissinger Sommer festival and Schubertiade, Schwarzenberg. She has also appeared in this capacity at the Munich and Salzburg Festivals. 2007 will see Diana’s recital debut at Carnegie Hall, New York in and a return to the podium at La Scala, Milan.
Diana Damrau has signed an exclusive recording contract with Virgin Classics. In her first recital on the label (due for release in november 2007) she will perform arias by Mozart, Salieri and Righini, with Le Cercle de l’Harmonie, under the direction of Jérémie Rohrer. They will also tour this program in 2008.
This biography was provided by the artist or their representative.
