Diana Damrau (German: [diːˈana ˈdamʁaʊ]; born May 31, 1971) is a German soprano, a type of singer known for singing high-pitched notes. She is famous for performing in operas, concerts, and lieder, which are songs for voice and piano. Early in her career, she sang difficult roles that require fast and precise singing, called coloratura soprano parts. Over time, she also performed heavier roles from 19th-century Italian operas. Some of her most well-known roles include the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute, Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos, Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor, and Violetta in La traviata.

She studied at the Hochschule für Musik Würzburg, a music school in Germany. She worked at opera companies in Würzburg, Mannheim, and Frankfurt before starting her independent career in 2002. Since then, she has performed on major stages, including the Bavarian State Opera, Vienna State Opera, and Metropolitan Opera. She appeared at the Metropolitan Opera for 12 seasons in a row after her first performance there in 2005/06. She also performs in concerts with French bass-baritone Nicolas Testé, whom she married in 2010.

Damrau has recorded many opera and lieder albums since joining EMI/Virgin Classics, a record company that later became part of Warner/Erato Records. She was given the title of Bavarian Kammersängerin and has received awards such as the Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art and the Bavarian Order of Merit.

Early life

Damrau was born in Günzburg, Bavaria on 31 May 1971. She was inspired to become an opera singer after watching Zeffirelli's 1983 film of La traviata, which featured Plácido Domingo and Teresa Stratas. She began her operatic studies with Carmen Hanganu [de] at the Hochschule für Musik Würzburg. During her studies, she developed a swelling on a vocal cord.

After consulting with several doctors, she decided to undergo a different treatment that did not involve surgery. The treatment took about one and a half years. After graduating from music conservatory, she worked in Salzburg with Hanna Ludwig.

Career

Damrau made her first opera performance in 1995 as Barbarina in The Marriage of Figaro at the Mainfranken Theater in Würzburg. For the next two years, she worked at the same theater, performing as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady and as the Queen of the Night in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, a role she performed for the first time. She also took part in the world premiere of Salieri’s Cublai, gran kan de' Tartari in 1998. After that, she performed for two years each at the Mannheim National Theatre and Oper Frankfurt. She made her debut at the Bavarian State Opera in 1999 as Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos and her debut at the Vienna State Opera as the Queen of the Night in 2000. In 2001, she performed at the Salzburg Festival for the first time as the Naiad, sharing the stage with Natalie Dessay’s Zerbinetta. She became a regular performer at Salzburg and returned for the next six years.

Since 2002, Damrau worked as a freelance artist, performing frequently at the Bavarian State Opera in roles such as Adele in Die Fledermaus, Marzelline in Fidelio, and the Queen of the Night. She participated in the world premiere of Cehra’s Der Riese vom Steinfeld in Vienna, playing the role of Small Woman. Her performances in Salzburg included only roles from Mozart’s operas: the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute (2002), Blonde in Die Entführung aus dem Serail (2003), and Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail (2004). In 2006, which marked the 200th anniversary of Mozart’s birth, she performed the Queen of the Night in a new production of The Magic Flute at the Vienna State Opera and played Fauno in Ascanio in Alba.

Damrau made her debut at the Royal Opera in London in January 2003 in a new production of The Magic Flute. She later performed in Arabella (Fiakermilli), Ariadne auf Naxos (Zerbinetta), and the world premiere of Maazel’s 1984. At the Opera Frankfurt, she performed her first Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, a role she later repeated in Munich and Salzburg. In March 2004, she performed the role of Zdenka in Arabella for the first time in Munich. In December 2004, she sang the title role in Salieri’s Europa riconosciuta at La Scala in Milan, conducted by Riccardo Muti, for the theater’s reopening. In 2005, she performed Gilda in a new production of Rigoletto in Munich and made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York as Zerbinetta.

Damrau sang her first Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro in February 2006 at La Scala and later in Vienna. She performed Konstanze in a new production co-produced with the Burgtheater and appeared at the Vienna State Opera in several roles over three consecutive seasons. Since her debut in the 2005/06 season, she performed at the Metropolitan Opera in consecutive seasons, starring in new productions of The Barber of Seville (Rosina, 2006), Die ägyptische Helena (Aithra, 2007), and Rossini’s Le comte Ory (Countess Adèle, 2011). She also performed in revivals of Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Lucia di Lammermoor (role debut as Lucia), La fille du régiment, Rigoletto, and L’elisir d’amore. In the 2007/08 season, she made history at the Metropolitan Opera by performing both Pamina and the Queen of the Night in different performances of The Magic Flute in the same run. After this, she stopped performing the Queen of the Night, a role she had sung in over 15 productions.

Damrau made guest appearances at the Teatro Real (Zerbinetta), Semperoper in Dresden (Gilda), Theater an der Wien (Pamina), and Festspielhaus Baden-Baden (Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier). She continued working with the Bavarian State Opera, including a new production of Ariadne auf Naxos in 2008. In the 2008/09 season, she returned to the Royal Opera in London as Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel and Adina in L’elisir d’amore. In the 2009/10 season, she performed Rosina and made her debut as the title character in Manon at the Vienna State Opera. She also made role debuts as Marie in La fille du régiment at the San Francisco Opera and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. She performed her final Konstanze at the Liceu in a production first staged in 2003.

Damrau expanded her work in the bel canto repertoire, including her debut as Elvira in I puritani in Geneva in 2011 and the title role in Donizetti’s Linda di Chamounix at the Liceu. She later performed the role of Lucia in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor in Berlin and Vienna. She premiered in a new production of Strauss’ Die schweigsame Frau at the 2010 Munich Opera Festival and performed all four heroines in Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann at the Bavarian State Opera in 2011. In May 2012, she performed Philine in Ambroise Thomas’ Mignon in Geneva. After giving birth to her second child in 2012, she returned to the stage in February 2013 with a new production of Verdi’s Rigoletto at the Metropolitan Opera. She later made her debut as the title character in Verdi’s La traviata at the same venue. In October 2013, she performed in the world premiere of Iain Bell’s A Harlot’s Progress at the Theater an der Wien. In March 2014, she sang in La sonnambula at the Metropolitan Opera.

Damrau debuted as Countess d’Almaviva in a new production of The Marriage of Figaro at La Scala, which premiered on October 26, 2016. In April 2018, she performed the title role in Maria Stuarda at the Zürich Opera House. In 2019, she made her debut as Ophélie in Hamlet in concert performances at the Liceu and later at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

In addition to opera, Damrau is a frequent performer in concerts. She performed with Plácido Domingo at a concert program in Munich to celebrate the opening of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. She has performed lieder (German art songs) at venues such as Vienna’s Musikverein, Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, La Scala, the Schubertiade in Schwarzenberg, the Kissinger Sommer, and

Personal life

In May 2010, Damrau married French bass-baritone Nicolas Testé. They have two sons: Alexander, born in 2010 or 2011, and Colyn, born in 2012.

Key performances

• La Scala: Europa (Europa), The Marriage of Figaro (Susanna), La traviata (Violetta), Lucia di Lammermoor (Lucia)
• Metropolitan Opera: La sonnambula (Amina), La traviata (Violetta), The Magic Flute (Queen of the Night and Pamina), Ariadne auf Naxos (Zerbinetta), Il barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina), Die ägyptische Helena (Aithra), Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Konstanze), Lucia di Lammermoor (Lucia), Rigoletto (Gilda), La fille du régiment (Marie), Le comte Ory (Adèle), L'elisir d'amore (Adina), Manon (Manon), Les pêcheurs de perles (Leila), Roméo et Juliette (Juliette)
• The Royal Opera: The Magic Flute (Queen of the Night), Arabella (Fiakermilli), Ariadne auf Naxos (Zerbinetta), 1984 (Gym Instructor / Drunken Woman), Hänsel und Gretel (Gretel), L'elisir d'amore (Adina), La traviata (Violetta)
• Bavarian State Opera, Munich: Les contes d'Hoffmann (Olympia/Antonia/Giulietta/Stella), Die schweigsame Frau (Aminta), The Magic Flute (Queen of the Night), Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Konstanze), Arabella (Zdenka), Ariadne auf Naxos (Zerbinetta), Rigoletto (Gilda), The Marriage of Figaro (Susanna), Der Rosenkavalier (Sophie), Fidelio (Marzelline), Der Freischütz (Ännchen), Die Fledermaus (Adele), Lucia di Lammermoor (Lucia)

Note: An asterisk (*) means the opera is being performed for the first time.

Honours and awards

• 1999: Won an award at the 7th International Mozart Competition in Salzburg
• 1999: Named "Young Singer of the Year" by critics in the magazine Opernwelt
• 2004: Received the "Star of the Year" award from the Munich Abendzeitung
• 2005: Received the "Rose of the Year" award from the Munich Tz
• 2006: Named "Bavarian of the Year" by Bayerischer Rundfunk
• 2007: Received the Kulturpreis Bayern from E.ON Bayern AG
• 2007: Became a Bavarian Kammersängerin
• 2008: Named "Singer of the Year 2008" by Opernwelt, and appeared on the magazine’s 2008 yearbook cover
• 2008: Won the German Record Critics’ Award for her album Arie di Bravura
• 2010: Received the Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art on 17 November 2011
• 2010: Won the Würzburg Cultural Prize
• 2011: Received the Echo Klassik Award for her album Poesie
• 2011: Named "Musical Ambassador of the Günzburg district" (Musikalische Botschafterin des Landkreises Günzburg)
• 2014: Named "Female Singer of the Year" in the International Opera Awards 2014
• 2014: Received the Klassik ohne Grenzen prize for her album Forever of the Echo Klassik award
• 2015: Entered into the Golden Book of the City of Würzburg
• 2016: Received the Bavarian Order of Merit on 12 July 2017
• 2018: Named "Female Singer of the Year" by the Opus Klassik award for her Meyerbeer album
• 2020: An asteroid named 33034 Dianadamrau, discovered by the ODAS team in 1997, was named after her. The official naming was published by the Minor Planet Center on 9 January 2020 (M.P.C. 120069)
• 2021: Received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

Discography

Early recordings include Verdi's canzoni, Mahler's Des Knaben Wunderhorn, and Schumann's Myrthen, Op. 25, with the Telos label. Live recordings of her summer 2005 Liederabend at the Salzburg Festival and her summer 2006 Liederabend at the Schubertiade are released on the Orfeo label.

Damrau also appears on Deutsche Harmonia Mundi's release of Mozart's Zaide in the title role. She performs in the trio finale from Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier alongside Adrianne Pieczonka on Elīna Garanča's first solo release with Deutsche Grammophon.

Since 2007, Damrau has had an exclusive recording contract with EMI/Virgin.

• Arie di Bravura (2007) is a recital of arias by Mozart, Righini, and Salieri; performed with Le Cercle de l'Harmonie and Jérémie Rhorer.
• Donna: Opera and Concert Arias by Mozart (November 2008) is a collection of Mozart's opera and concert arias; performed with Rhorer and Le Cercle de l'Harmonie.
• Coloraturas (November 2009) features the Munich Radio Orchestra and Dan Ettinger.
• Poesie: Richard Strauss Lieder (January 2011) is a collection of Richard Strauss's orchestral songs; performed with the Munich Philharmonic and Christian Thielemann.
• Liszt Lieder (October 2011) is a collection of classical songs by Liszt, accompanied by pianist Helmut Deutsch.
• Forever (2013) is a collection of operetta and musical theatre numbers; performed with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and David Charles Abell.
• Fiamma del belcanto (2015) is a collection of belcanto compositions by Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi, Puccini, and Leoncavallo; recorded with the Orchestra Teatro Regio Torino and Gianandrea Noseda.
• Meyerbeer: Grand Opera (2017) is a recording of works by Giacomo Meyerbeer; performed with the Orchestre de l'Opéra National de Lyon and Emmanuel Villaume.
• Robert Schumann: Myrthen Op. 25 (2018) features Iván Paley and Stephan Matthias Lademann. (Profil/Hänssler)
• Hugo Wolf: Italienisches Liederbuch (2019) is performed with Jonas Kaufmann, accompanied by Helmut Deutsch.
• Richard Strauss: Vier letzte Lieder, Lieder (2020) is performed with Mariss Jansons, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, and Helmut Deutsch.
• Tudor Queens (2020) is performed with Antonio Pappano, the Chorus and Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.

Videography

DVDs are available of her performances in the following operas:

Streaming videos can be found on Met Opera on Demand of her performances in the following: