Ricarda Merbeth / Kundry
German soprano RICARDA MERBETH is one of the leading singers in her field, and is in demand worldwide as a Wagner and Strauss interpreter.
Since 2006 Ricarda Merbeth has been freelancing and regularly takes the major parts of her fach such as Elektra, Sieglinde (Walküre), Helena (Egyptian Helena), Ariadne (Ariadne auf Naxos), Marietta (Die tote Stadt), Marschallin (Der Rosenkavalier), Senta (The flying duchman), Leonore (Fidelio), Emilia Marty (The Makropulos Affair), Ortrud (Lohengrin), Marie (Wozzeck), Isolde (Tristan und Isolde), Goneril (Lear), Elisabeth and Venus (Tannhäuser), Brünnhilde (Siegfried, Walküre, Götterdämmerung). She guests at the internationally most important opera houses such as Hamburg State Opera, Bavarian State Opera Munich, La Scala Milan, Deutsche Oper Berlin, New National Theatre Tokyo, Opera National de Paris, Teatro Real Madrid, Dutch Natinal Opera, and the opera houses of Toulouse, Marseille, Barcelona, Helsinki, Stockholm, Zurich, Sydney, Vienna and New York and works with renowned conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Pierre Boulez, Semyon Bychkov, Riccardo Chailly, Myung-whun Chung, Daniele Gatti, Marek Janowski, Mariss Jansons, Philippe Jordan, Fabio Luisi, Ingo Metzmacher, Kent Nagano, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Seiji Ozawa, Donald Runnicles, Pinchas Steinberg, Christian Thielemann, Constantin Trinks.
In November 2018 she made her successful debut as Elektra in Patrice Chéreau's legendary production at La Scala in Milan and also sang the role several times at the Staatsoper Berlin.
Other important engagements in her career include Brünnhilde (Siegfried) and the Marschallin (Der Rosenkavalier) in Tokyo, Isolde in Turin and Amsterdam, Leonore (Fidelio) at the Vienna State Opera and the New National Theatre Tokyo, the title roles in Elektra and Die Ägyptische Helena at La Scala Milan, the title role in Turandot at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, in Marseille and Brussels, Brünnhilde (Ring) in Madrid as well as all Brünnhildes in concert performances at the Opera Bastille Paris.
Future engagements will take Ricarda Merbeth back to the Vienna State Opera, where she has been invited to sing all Brünnhildes (Ring). She will also perfrom all the Brünnhildes at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Further highlights of the 2022/23 season are her debuts as Ortrud (Lohengrin) and Kundry (Parsifal).
Please see artist's website for further information.
Artist portrait: Mirko Joerg Kellner
Photo from Parsifal rehearsal: Lars Svenkerud