Melanie Diener (Soprano)
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 The Troldhaugen Grieg Prize at the The Queen Sonja
International Music 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 and
2006. Two other important Mozart roles the artist performs are Vitellia
in Clemenza di Tito and Elettra
in Idomeneo.
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 and with
S. Young in Hamburg, Chrysothemis/Elektra in Zurich,
Monte Carlo and Vienna (2007) 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 and sang Donna Elvira, also
with the MET, in Japan. The artist sang again Vitellia in 2007, this
time with Ph. Jordan at the Berlin State Opera, with Simone Young
a much acclaimed Marschallin in Hamburg, in April 2008 with
K. Petrenko Katja Kabanowa in Vienna and in 2008 Fidelio with
B. Haitink in Zurich.
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, Schцnberg’s Gurrelieder, Richard Strauss
Four last Songs, Malhler’s Symphony No. 8 and Das klagende
Lied, Elijah, Berg’s Sieben frьhe Lieder, Glagolitic Mass
by Janacek, Poиme pour Mi by Messiaen.
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, Philippe Jordan, Kurt Masur, Kent
Nagano, Sir Neville Marriner, Sir Roger Norrington, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Wolfgang
Sawallisch, Christian Thielemann, Marcello Viotti and David Zinman.
In 2012 she performed the role of Marschallin (Der
Rosenkavalier) at the Bolshoi Theatre.
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