KS Ricarda Merbeth

German soprano Ricarda Merbeth is one of the leading singers in her fach, and is in demand worldwide as an interpreter of Wagner and Strauss. After completing her studies at the University of Music and Theatre “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy” Leipzig she began her career at Magdeburg and Weimar. In 1999 she made her début as Marzelline in Fidelio at the Wiener Staatsoper, where she was an ensemble member until 2005. Roles here included Contessa, Donna Anna, Pamina, Fiordiligi, Chrysothemis, Elisabeth, Eva, Irene, Elsa, the Marschallin and Sieglinde. A particular highlight was her Daphne in 2004, in a new production at the Wiener Staatsoper. The title role in the Richard Strauss opera was her international breakthrough. She has maintained her link with the Wiener Staatsoper to the present day with regular guest engagements, in 2001 she was awarded with Eberhard Waechter-Medaille, and she was awarded the professional status of Austrian Kammersängerin in 2010. Other milestones in her career were engagements at the Bayreuth Festival: 2000 in the Jürgen Flimm Ring as Freia and Gutrune, 2002 to 2005 and 2007 as Elisabeth in Tannhäuser and from 2013 to 2018 she sang Senta in Der fliegende Holländer. She has been a free agent since 2006, appearing as a guest at leading opera houses and major festivals, including the Bayreuth Festival, the Hamburg State Opera and Bayerische Staatsoper, Milan’s La Scala, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Berlin State Opera, New National Theatre Tokyo, Opéra national de Paris, Teatro Real Madrid, Dutch National Opera, Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, and Royal Opera House Covent Garden. She sings all the important roles in her fach: Elektra, Helena, Ariadne, Marietta, the Marschallin, Senta, Leonore, Emilia Marty, Elsa, Marie, Isolde, Goneril, Elisabeth and Venus, and the Brünnhilde roles in Wagner’s Ring. In recent years she has made important role débuts: Isolde at the Hamburg State Opera in 2016, Turandot in 2017 and Brünnhilde (Siegfried) at the Deutsche Oper Berlin in 2018, and Elektra at La Scala, also in 2018. In 2019 she returned to La Scala to sing the title role in Die ägyptische Helena.