Genia Kühmeier - Soprano

Genia Kühmeier was born in Salzburg and initially studied music and vocal pedagogy at the “Mozarteum” in Salzburg and later became a member of the Vienna State Opera, where she made her tremendously successful debut as Pamina. She started her international career in 2002 at La Scala in Milan as Diane in “Iphigénie en Aulide”. In 2004 Riccardo Muti invited her again for Salieri’s “L’Europa riconosciuta”. At the Salzburg Festival in 2005 and 2006 she sang Pamina/”Zauberflöte”, again under the baton of Riccardo Muti, in 2010 she appeared in Gluck’s “Orfeo” and in 2011 she gave her debut as Contessa in “Le Nozze di Figaro”. Further successes are Sophie/“Rosenkavalier”, conducted by Christian Thielemann, Ilia/“Idomeneo” at the Theater an der Wien, “La Finta Giardiniera” at the Royal Opera House in London, Pamina/“Zauberflöte” at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and at La Scala. In January 2012 she gave her debut as Antonia/“Hoffmann” at La Scala, a role which she reprised later at the Bastille in Paris. Genia Kühmeier performs at all major international opera houses. Recent highlights include “Carmen” /Micaela at the Easter and Summer Festivals  in Salzburg, Zdenka/“Arabella” and Micaela/“Carmen” at the Bastille in Paris, “Zauberflöte” in Munich and Vienna, “Le Nozze di Figaro” in Munich, Vienna and Berlin, “Arabella” in Vienna and Dresden and Micaela/“Carmen” also in Dresden, where she will reprise Zdenka in the next season.

With her vast repertoire Genia Kühmeier has shifted the main focus of her artistic endeavours to the concert stage. She is one of the most sought after concert singers of our time and a frequent guest at renowned concert halls. Recently she could be heard with Mozart’s Requiem in Milan (La Scala), Salzburg (Mozarteum) and Munich (Bayerischer Rundfunk), Bach’s St.-John-Passion in Vienna (Konzerthaus), Schubert’s Mass in A flat in Berlin (DSO), Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Beethoven’s Mass in C Minor with the symphony orchestra of the Bayerischer Rundfunk, Mahler’s 2nd Symphony in Copenhagen under Mariss Jansons, Missa Solemnis at the Elbphilharmonie under Thomas Hengelbrock and Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem at the Salzburg Pentecost Festival. Future projects include numerous concerts in Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Paris, Valencia, Palermo.

She has worked with great conductors such as Seiji Ozawa, Sir Roger Norrington, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Mark Minkowski, Mariss Jansons, Kirill Petrenko, Sir Colin Davis, Marek Janowski and Sir Simon Rattle.

Her discography includes Mozart’s “Zauberflöte” with Riccardo Muti (on DVD and CD), Haydn’s “Creation” with William Christie, Haydn’s “Jahreszeiten” and Brahm’s Requiem with Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Also a solo-recital album with lieder by Mozart, Schubert, Dvorák and Strauss, and a CD with “Carmen” have been recorded.