Gabriele Schnaut, opera singer, Germany
www.schnaut.com

Gabriele Schnaut, a native of Mannheim, Germany, is one of today’s most renowned dramatic sopranos and has received great critical acclaim in particular for her outstanding interpretations of Strauss, Wagner, and Puccini operas.

Ms. Schnaut graduated from the Frankfurter Musikhochschule with distinction, and continued her studies in Berlin. In 1976 she received her first singing contract as a lyric mezzo-soprano at the Staatsoper Stuttgart. Further engagements followed at the Staatstheater Darmstadt, National Theater Mannheim (1980-1986) and at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf. Since 1991, she has been a regular guest and in great demand at leading opera houses all over the world.

Since 1990, Ms. Schnaut’s operatic engagements have included appearances at the following prestigious opera houses and festivals: Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Festival de Bayreuth, Wiener Staatsoper, Hamburgische Staatsoper, Tokyo, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Metropolitan Opera, Deutsche Oper de Berlin, Bayerische Staatsoper, Semper Oper Dresden, Opéra de Zürich, Festival Opera de Munich, Festival de Salzburg, Mutziektheater Amsterdam, Teatro San Carlo de Napoli, Théâtre du Châtelet et Opéra Bastille à Paris.

Ms. Schnaut has worked with most of today’s preeminent conductors including Christian Thielemann, James Levine, Zubin Mehta, Sir Simon Rattle, Bernard Haitink, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Peter Schneider, Franz Welser-Möst, Donald Runnicles, Fabio Luisi, Michael Boder, Christoph von Dohnányi, Gerd Albrecht, Carlo Maria Giulini, Sir Georg Solti, Pierre Boulez, Valery Gergiev, Horst Stein, Seiji Ozawa, Ralf Weikert among others.

Besides, Gabriele Schnaut is very interested in modern opera, and sang Ohpelia's role during the first creation of Hamletmaschine of Wolfgang Rihm for example.
In 1995 Gabriele Schnaut was named „Kammersängerin“ of Freien and Hansestadt Hamburg, and in 2003 „Kammersängerin“ of Bavaria, Germany.

In 1998 Gabriele Schnaut was named singer of the Year in "Opernwelt" magazine.

Her CD recordings render roles which built her reputation, in operas like La Walkyrie (Brünnhilde) and Lohengrin (Ortrud), and furthermore her great interest in rarely played operas like Cardillac by Paul Hindemith or Der Schatzgräber by Franz Schrecker.