Martina Serafin

Martina Serafin was born in Vienna, with parents who were both singers. She studied with Hilde Zadek and Otto Edelmann at the Music and Arts Private University of Vienna. Initially, she was an ensemble member at Graz Opera, with roles including Fiordiligi (»Così fan tutte«), Donna Elvira (»Don Giovanni«) and Countess Almaviva (»Le nozze di Figaro«) before moving to Stuttgart Opera for roles including Mimi (»La Bohème«), the Marschallin (»Der Rosenkavalier«), Sieglinde (»Die Walküre«) and Elsa (»Lohengrin«). Today, her repertoire includes works from Puccini to Strauss, Verdi to Wagner. A particular success is her Tosca (Teatro dell'Opera in Rome, Maggio Musicale, London's Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Arena di Verona, Milan’s La Scala, Opéra national de Paris, Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Liceu in Barcelona, and Melbourne, Beijing and Monte Carlo). Other roles in her Italian repertoire are Puccini’s Manon Lescaut (Teatro La Fenice, Torre del Lago, Hamburg State Opera), Maddalena in »Andrea Chénier« (Zurich Opera, Teatro Bellini in Catania, and Cagliari), Turandot (with the orchestra of La Scala, in Torre del Lago, at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Arena di Verona, Oman, at the opening of the Petruzzelli in Bari, Genua, Zurich and Bilbao), Verdi’s Requiemin Monte Carlo, Abigaille in »Nabucco« (Orange, Liceu in Barcelona), Elisabeth de Valois in »Don Carlo« (»La Scala), the title role in »Turandot« (Torre del Lago, Arena di Verona, Zurich Opera, Bilbao). She is one of the most celebrated sopranos in the German repertoire, in roles including Sieglinde in »Die Walküre« (Metropolitan Opera New York, Zurich, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, Toulouse, Barcelona, Tokyo), Elsa in »Lohengrin« (Palermo, Dresden, Stuttgart, Bologna), Elisabeth in »Tannhäuser« (Rome, Amsterdam), Isolde in »Tristan und Isolde« (Ravello, with the orchestra of the Teatro San Carlo in Naples). She has also sung Countess Almaviva in Los Angeles and Fiordiligi in Stuttgart. Recent engagements include the Marschallin at the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco, Toulouse, Barcelona, Stuttgart, Munich and Amsterdam. She has also sung Schumann’s Genoveva in Palermo, Marie (»Wozzeck«) in Essen, Lisa (»The Queen of Spades«) in Barcelona und Bologna, »The Bartered Bride« in Zurich and Bologna, Lady Macbeth (»Macbeth«) at the Liceu in Barcelona, Elsa and Kupava (»The Snow Maiden«) at the Opéra national de Paris, Turandot in Torre del Lago and San Francisco, Abigaille at La Scala and in Monte Carlo. She sings under the world’s leading conductors and is also a regular soloist in concert. So far, she has sung Donna Elvira, Lisa, Maddalena, Sieglinde, Tosca, Lady Macbeth and the Marschallin at the Wiener Staatsoper.