Christa Mayer
Encyclopedia
Christa Mayer is a German opera
tic mezzo-soprano
. She is particularly known for her portrayal of Erda in Richard Wagner
's Ring Cycle; a role which she has performed several times at the Bayreuth Festival
and recorded on the BBC Legends Record Label.
, Germany in Bavaria
. After graduating from the Bavarian Academy of Singing, she pursued further studies at the Munich Academy of Music where she was a pupil of tenor
Thomas Moser. She won several notable singing competitions, including prizes in the ARD International Music Competition
in Munich and the International Robert Schumann Contest for Pianists and Singers.
Upon completing her education, Mayer joined the Semperoper
. At that opera house she has performed in roles such as: Erda in the Der Ring des Nibelungen
, Fenena in Nabucco
, Suzuki in Madama Butterfly
, Adelaide in Arabella
, and Mistress Quickly in Falstaff
. She portrayed the role of Schwertleite in Die Walküre
at the Berlin State Opera
and has also made appearances at the Deutsche Oper Berlin
. She has performed at many international festivals including Rheingau Musik Festival
, Schleswig-Holstein
and Bad Kissingen festivals as well as Schubertiade at Schwarzenberg.
In 2001 she sang in the premiere of Rudi Spring
's Heimkunft, his Chamber Symphony No. 3, after Friedrich Hölderlin
in Tettnang
. She performed Mahler's Kindertotenlieder
at the Septembre Musical in Montreux
, Switzerland in 2004 and on the request of Zubin Mehta
, she sang Erda and Schwertleite at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Vienna
. She also performed Maddalena in Verdi's Rigoletto in Dresden in 2008, along with Diana Damrau
and Juan Diego Florez
. Mayer's future roles will be Ottavia in L'incoronazione di Poppea
and Gaea in Daphne
. She will be singing as a guest at the InterHarmony International Music Festival
in Sulzbach-Rosenberg
, Bavaria
with Cellist Misha Quint
in 2010.
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
tic mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...
. She is particularly known for her portrayal of Erda in Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
's Ring Cycle; a role which she has performed several times at the Bayreuth Festival
Bayreuth Festival
The Bayreuth Festival is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of operas by the 19th century German composer Richard Wagner are presented...
and recorded on the BBC Legends Record Label.
Life and career
Christa Mayer was born in Sulzbach-RosenbergSulzbach-Rosenberg
Sulzbach-Rosenberg is a municipality in the Amberg-Sulzbach district, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated approx. 14 km northwest of Amberg, and 50 km east of Nuremberg. The town consists of two parts: Sulzbach in the west, and Rosenberg in the east. Archeological evidence tells, that...
, Germany in Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
. After graduating from the Bavarian Academy of Singing, she pursued further studies at the Munich Academy of Music where she was a pupil of tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
Thomas Moser. She won several notable singing competitions, including prizes in the ARD International Music Competition
ARD International Music Competition
The ARD International Music Competition is the largest international classical music competition in Germany. It is held once a year in Munich.-History:...
in Munich and the International Robert Schumann Contest for Pianists and Singers.
Upon completing her education, Mayer joined the Semperoper
Semperoper
The Semperoper is the opera house of the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden and the concert hall of the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden . It is located near the Elbe River in the historic center of Dresden, Germany.The opera house was originally built by the architect Gottfried Semper in 1841...
. At that opera house she has performed in roles such as: Erda in the Der Ring des Nibelungen
Der Ring des Nibelungen
Der Ring des Nibelungen is a cycle of four epic operas by the German composer Richard Wagner . The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied...
, Fenena in Nabucco
Nabucco
Nabucco is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera, based on the Biblical story and the 1836 play by Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois and Francis Cornue...
, Suzuki in Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...
, Adelaide in Arabella
Arabella
Arabella is a lyric comedy or opera in 3 acts by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, their sixth and last operatic collaboration. It was first performed on 1 July 1933, at the Dresden Sächsisches Staatstheater....
, and Mistress Quickly in Falstaff
Falstaff (opera)
Falstaff is an operatic commedia lirica in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, adapted by Arrigo Boito from Shakespeare's plays The Merry Wives of Windsor and scenes from Henry IV. It was Verdi's last opera, written in the composer's ninth decade, and only the second of his 26 operas to be a comedy...
. She portrayed the role of Schwertleite in Die Walküre
Die Walküre
Die Walküre , WWV 86B, is the second of the four operas that form the cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen , by Richard Wagner...
at the Berlin State Opera
Berlin State Opera
The Staatsoper Unter den Linden is a German opera company. Its permanent home is the opera house on the Unter den Linden boulevard in the Mitte district of Berlin, which also hosts the Staatskapelle Berlin orchestra.-Early years:...
and has also made appearances at the Deutsche Oper Berlin
Deutsche Oper Berlin
The Deutsche Oper Berlin is an opera company located in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin, Germany. The resident building is also home to the Berlin State Ballet.-History:...
. She has performed at many international festivals including Rheingau Musik Festival
Rheingau Musik Festival
The Rheingau Musik Festival is an international summer music festival in Germany, founded in 1987. It is mostly for classical music, but includes other genres...
, Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival
The Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival is a classical music festival held every year in summer time all over the state of Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany....
and Bad Kissingen festivals as well as Schubertiade at Schwarzenberg.
In 2001 she sang in the premiere of Rudi Spring
Rudi Spring
Rudi Spring is a German composer of classical music, pianist and academic. He is known for vocal compositions on texts by poets and his own, and for chamber music such as his three Chamber Symphonies.- Professional career :...
's Heimkunft, his Chamber Symphony No. 3, after Friedrich Hölderlin
Friedrich Hölderlin
Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin was a major German lyric poet, commonly associated with the artistic movement known as Romanticism. Hölderlin was also an important thinker in the development of German Idealism, particularly his early association with and philosophical influence on his...
in Tettnang
Tettnang
Tettnang is a town in the Bodensee district in southern Baden-Württemberg in a region of Germany known as Swabia.It lies 7 kilometers from Lake Constance. The region produces significant quantities of hops, an ingredient of beer, and ships them to breweries throughout the world.-History:Tettinang...
. She performed Mahler's Kindertotenlieder
Kindertotenlieder
Kindertotenlieder is a song cycle for voice and orchestra by Gustav Mahler...
at the Septembre Musical in Montreux
Montreux
Montreux is a municipality in the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.It is located on Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps and has a population, , of and nearly 90,000 in the agglomeration.- History :...
, Switzerland in 2004 and on the request of Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta is an Indian conductor of western classical music. He is the Music Director for Life of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.-Biography:...
, she sang Erda and Schwertleite at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. She also performed Maddalena in Verdi's Rigoletto in Dresden in 2008, along with Diana Damrau
Diana Damrau
Diana Damrau is a German lyric coloratura soprano of the operatic stage.-Biography:Diana Damrau was born in 1971 in Günzburg, Bavaria, Germany, and began her operatic studies with Carmen Hanganu at the Musikhochschule in Würzburg. After graduating from music conservatory she worked in Salzburg...
and Juan Diego Florez
Juan Diego Flórez
Juan Diego Flórez is a Peruvian operatic tenor, particularly known for his roles in bel canto operas. On June 4, 2007, he received his country's highest decoration, the Gran Cruz de la Orden del Sol del Perú....
. Mayer's future roles will be Ottavia in L'incoronazione di Poppea
L'incoronazione di Poppea
L'incoronazione di Poppea is an Italian baroque opera comprising a prologue and three acts, first performed in Venice during the 1642–43 carnival season. The music, attributed to Claudio Monteverdi, is a setting of a libretto by Giovanni Francesco Busenello...
and Gaea in Daphne
Daphne (opera)
Daphne is an opera in one act by Richard Strauss, his 13th opera, subtitled "A Bucolic Tragedy in One Act". The German libretto was by Joseph Gregor. The opera is based loosely on a myth from Ovid's Metamorphoses, and also includes elements taken from The Bacchae by Euripides...
. She will be singing as a guest at the InterHarmony International Music Festival
InterHarmony International Music Festival
The InterHarmony International Music Festival is a summer Music Festival in Germany.The InterHarmony International Music Festival is an annual intensive summer performance festival, which includes a concert series of international solo musicians and young performers, and an institute for students...
in Sulzbach-Rosenberg
Sulzbach-Rosenberg
Sulzbach-Rosenberg is a municipality in the Amberg-Sulzbach district, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated approx. 14 km northwest of Amberg, and 50 km east of Nuremberg. The town consists of two parts: Sulzbach in the west, and Rosenberg in the east. Archeological evidence tells, that...
, Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
with Cellist Misha Quint
Misha Quint
-Career:Misha Quint was born in Leningrad. He began cello at the age of nine and debuted with his first orchestra at the age of thirteen after winning the Boccherini Competition in St. Petersburg. He then won the International Competition in Prague and the Russian National Competition...
in 2010.