Anja Harteros

Harteros was born in Bergneustadt, North Rhine-Westphalia, to a Greek father and a German mother and has two siblings, Alexia and Georgios. As a child, she was encouraged by her parents to pursue classical music and singing. Eventually, her music teacher at the Wüllenweber-Gymnasium in Bergneustadt, August Wilhelm Welp, noticed her considerable talent and recommended that she be professionally educated in singing. In 1986, she started voice training under Astrid Huber-Aulmann in Gummersbach, concurrently with her schooling.[1] In 1990, she began studies with Wolfgang Kastorp, conductor and répétiteur at the Cologne Opera, who accompanied her in a series of concerts and later became her husband.[2] Her first performances were in music institute concerts and in a school production of The Marriage of Figaro in 1990, as the Countess. In 1992 she gave her first concert at the Kantonsschule Schwyz in Switzerland.[1]

After completing high school in 1991, she continued her voice studies under Liselotte Hammes at the Hochschule für Musik Köln.[1] Her original singing teacher, Huber-Aulmann, continued to teach her until early 1996, and Harteros accompanied Huber-Aulmann on concerts tours in 1993 and 1994 to Russia and the United States, which attracted much attention to the singer.[1] Just before her final exams, she was employed as an ensemble member of the Schillertheater NRW. After her 1996 exams, she joined the ensemble of the Theater Bonn.

Harteros achieved the major breakthrough for her career when she won the Cardiff Singer of the World competition in the summer of 1999, becoming the first German singer to win the prize.[3] Peter Jonas, director of the Bavarian State Opera, who was in the jury, recognised her talent and engaged her in the role of Agathe in Der Freischütz. She became a frequent guest singer with the company, starring in roles such as Countess Almaviva (The Marriage of Figaro), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Mimì (La bohème), and among others she later took up. She has also appeared at other major opera houses, including the Vienna State Opera, Oper Frankfurt, De Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam, Semperoper, Cologne Opera, and Berlin's Deutsche Oper.

In 2001, she performed Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte in a new production at the Opéra National de Lyon and concert performances at the Edinburgh International Festival.[4][5] In February 2002, she sang her first Wagnerian role, Freia in Das Rheingold, in the premiere of Herbert Wernicke's new production at the Bavarian State Opera.[6] She made her Paris Opera debut in the role of Micaëla in Carmen, and then repeated the role at the Vienna State Opera. She performed in The Magic Flute as the First Lady at the Salzburg Festival, and later at the Hamburg State Opera, as Eva in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in Peter Konwitschny's controversial new production.[7]

In 2003/04, Harteros made her New York Metropolitan Opera debut with Countess Almaviva, and also sang Donna Anna in Don Giovanni in the same season.[8][9]

In 2004, she sang her first Violetta in La traviata with the San Diego Opera,[10] where she returned the next year for her first Amelia in Simon Boccanegra.[11] In the 2004/05 season, she made four role debuts at the Bavarian State Opera, including Desdemona (Otello), Arabella (Arabella), Alice Ford (Falstaff), and the title role in a new production of Händel's Alcina as a part of the Munich Opera Festival. In 2006, she portrayed Elettra in Idomeneo at the Salzburg Festival,[12] and Desdemona in Vera Nemirova's new staging of Otello at the Semperoper in Dresden.[13]

In 2008, she was featured in the opening gala of Oslo Opera House,[14] and in the first opera production in the house, Don Carlo, debuting in the role of Elisabetta di Valois.[15] She made her Royal Opera, London debut with Simon Boccanegra.[16]

In February 2011, she debuted in Leonora in concert performances of Verdi's Il trovatore at the Kölner Philharmonie.[17] Withdrawing from the planned debuting performances as the Marschallin in Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier in San Diego,[18] she assumed the role in Munich and then in Vienna later in the year.[19][20]

In 2015, Harteros with Jonas Kaufmann and Antonio Pappano collaborated on a studio recording of Verdi's Aida.[21]

In 2007, she sang the Bruckner's Te Deum with Liliana Nikiteanu, Christian Elsner, Franz-Josef Selig, the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, WDR Rundfunkchor Köln, NDR Chor, under the direction of Sir Gilbert Levine. The concert, which was performed in Cologne Cathedral was broadcast by the Westdeutscher Rundfunk, 3sat[22] and on PBS stations nationwide in the U.S.

• Bella Voce (2006). Pinchas Steinberg, Wiener Symphoniker. (RCA Red Seal)
• Von ewiger Liebe (2009). Wolfram Rieger. (Berlin Classics)

• Verdi: La traviata (2006). Zubin Mehta. Farao Classics. Live recording: Bavarian State Opera
• Handel: Alcina (2007). Ivor Bolton. Farao Classics. Live recording: July 2005 Munich Opera Festival
• Strauss: Eine Alpensinfonie, Vier letzte Lieder (2007). Fabio Luisi, Staatskapelle Dresden. Sony Classical
• Requiem (Verdi) (2009). Antonio Pappano, Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. Warner Classics
• Wagner: Lohengrin (2010). Bavarian State Opera. Decca/Unitel Classica [DVD]
• Handel: Alcina (2011). Vienna State Opera. Arthuas Musik [DVD]
• Symphony No. 2 (Mahler) (2012). Mariss Jansons, Chor und Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks. BR Klassik
• Requiem (Verdi) (2013). Daniel Barenboim. Decca. Live recording: 2012 La Scala
• Verdi: La forza del destino (2014). Bavarian State Opera. Sony Classical/Unitel Classica [DVD]
• Requiem (Verdi) (2015). Lorin Maazel, Münchner Philharmoniker, Philharmonischer Chor München. Sony Classical. Live recording: February 2014
• Verdi: Aida (2015). Jonas Kaufmann. Antonio Pappano, Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. Warner Classics