Claudia Mahnke

Worldwide representation

Claudia Mahnke has established herself as one of the most important mezzo-sopranos, thrilling audiences on international opera stages and concert halls with her warm, versatile voice.

In the 2023/24 season, Claudia Mahnke will make her role debut as Amneris in the new production of Aida (director:Lydia Steier) at Oper Frankfurt. At the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, she will be seen as Dorabella (Cosi fan tutte) in Dimitri Tcherniakov's new production, which she premiered at the Aix-en-Provence Festival this summer. At the Staatsoper Berlin, she will make a guest appearance as Fricka (Der Ring des Nibelungen) under Philippe Jordan.

Recent highlights include her MET debut as Magdalene under Antonio Pappano, Herodias (Salome) at the Vienna State Opera, and her role debut as Mere Marie in the Frankfurt new production Dialogues des Carmélites by Poulenc.

Claudia Mahnke is a Kammersängerin of the City of Frankfurt, where she has been an ensemble member since 2006/07. Here she recently performed Herodias in Salome (director: Barrie Kosky, conductor: Joana Mallwitz), the Foreign Princess (Rusalka), Wozzeck-Marie, Selika in Meyerbeer's Afrikanerin (director: Tobias Kratzer), Werther-Charlotte, Lucretia (The Rape of Lucretia), Dido (Les Troyens), Conception (L'heure espagnole), Judith (Bluebeard's Castle), Marguerite (La Damnation de Faust), Brangäne (Tristan und Isolde), Waltraute and 2. Norn (Götterdämmerung), Komponist (Ariadne auf Naxos), Kundry (Parsifal), and the Mother in Hänsel und Gretel.

At the Bavarian State Opera, her roles have included Auntie (Peter Grimes), Magdalene (Meistersinger von Nürnberg) under Kirill Petrenko, Silla in Palestrina and Frugola in Tabarro. The Hamburg State Opera invited the much sought-after artist as Kundry, Waltraute and Brangäne. At the Theater an der Wien she made a guest appearance as La Grande Vestale under the baton of Bertrand de Billy in Spontini's La Vestale. In San Francisco, she appeared as Dorabella, Cherubino and Zerlina. She also sang her starring role of Judith at the LA Opera. As Iokaste in Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex she celebrated a great success at the Semperoper in Dresden. Her Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier) thrilled audiences in Cologne, among other places, where she was also celebrated as Brangäne. As Adriano in Rienzi, she attracted attention at the Teatro Real in Madrid.

Claudia Mahnke made her Bayreuth Festival debut in 2013 as Fricka, Waltraute and 2nd Norn in the new Ring under Kirill Petrenko. With Petrenko she also sang Brangäne at the Ruhrtriennale.

From 1996 to 2006 Claudia Mahnke was a member of the ensemble at the Stuttgart State Opera, where she was nominated several times as "Singer of the Year" in Opernwelt magazine for her impressive interpretation of the title role in Karl Amadeus Hartmann's Simplicius Simplicissimus. In August 2006 Claudia Mahnke was appointed Kammersängerin of the Stuttgart State Opera.

Claudia Mahnke's broad concert repertoire ranges from Bach's Mass in B minor, Beethoven's 9th Symphony and Missa solemnis, Schumann's Paradise and the Peri, to Berg's Altenberlieder, Schoenberg's Gurrelieder and Penderecki's Credo. An important focus is on the symphonies and songs of Gustav Mahler.

Claudia Mahnke received her vocal training with Prof. Heidi Petzold at the Hochschule für Musik in Dresden.

2023/24

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