German soprano Anja Kampe is one of today‘s most important singers. Her portrayals of significant roles have set the standard for other performers, including her Brünnhilden in the new Ring des Nibelungen (Tcherniakov/Thielemann) at Berlin State Opera, Kundry at the Wiener Staatsoper and at the Operá de Paris, Sieglinde at the Bayreuth Festival, Isolde at the Berlin and Munich State Opera, Katerina Ismailova and Minnie (La Fanciulla del West) at Bayerische Staatsoper München, Walküre-Brünnhilde at the Salzburg Easter Festival or most recently as Wozzeck-Marie at the Vienna State Opera.
In the 2023/24 season, the artist has been engaged for two major new productions at the Vienna State Opera, which will also present her as Isolde in the revival of Tristan at the beginning of the season. She will thus take on the Giorgetta in Puccini's Trittico under the baton of Philippe Jordan and in Tatjana Gürbaca's production, and sing Ortrud in the new production of Lohengrin in Vienna, conducted by Christian Thielemann and staged by Wieler-Morabito. She also returns to the Bavarian State Opera in Munich in this role before she is expected to sing Brünnhilde in the revival of the Ring des Nibelungen and Fanciulla del West at the Berlin State Opera. Concert engagements take the artist to the SWR Symphony Orchestra under Marek Janowski with Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder and to the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich under Philippe Jordan with Brünnhilde's Schlussgesang from Götterdämmerung.
Among the most important engagements of the past seasons are her Brünnhilden debut in the new Ring at the Berlin State Opera, her first Ortrud at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, her role debut as Wozzeck-Marie at Vienna State Opera, her debut at the Metropolitan Opera New York as Senta in the Flying Dutchman, the new productions Fanciulla del West with Antonio Pappano and Tristan und Isolde with Daniel Barenboim conducting at the Berlin State Opera, the new production of Parsifal conducted by Philippe Jordan at the Opéra National de Paris, Sieglinde at the Bayreuth Festival and at the Munich Opera Festival under Kirill Petrenko.
With Sieglinde at the side of Placido Domingo, Anja Kampe achieved her international breakthrough at the Washington National Opera. With this very role she has performed in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Munich, Berlin, Barcelona, Paris, London and Bayreuth. In addition to Sieglinde, Senta has become a central part of Anja Kampe. She has sung it in New York, Munich, Hamburg, Dresden, Vienna, Zurich, Milan, Madrid, Barcelona, Brussels, London, Tokyo and Dallas. Another important role of the soprano’s repertoire is Fidelio-Leonore, with successful performances in Baden-Baden, Madrid, Zurich, Los Angeles as well as at the Vienna and Bavarian State Opera. As Senta she opened the season at Teatro alla Scala Milano under the baton of Daniel Barenboim. With him conducting she made her role debuts as Tosca and Kundry at the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin and could repeat her Kundry triumph at Teatro Real Madrid as well as at Opéra de Paris and Vienna State Opera.
Ms Kampe’s repertoire further includes roles like Lisa (Pique Dame), Jenůfa, Ariadne auf Naxos, Carlotta (Die Gezeichneten), Tosca and Giorgetta (Tabarro) among others. 2017 brought Ms. Kampe yet more international recognition with triumphant performances as Katerina Ismailowa under the direction of Kirill Petrenko at Bayerische Staatsoper München, and Walküre-Brünnhilde with Christian Thielemann conducting at the Salzburg Osterfestspiele, both of which are counted among the most outstanding opera highlights of the year.
Ms. Kampe‘s concert repertoire includes Giuseppe Verdi‘s Messa da Requiem, Beethoven‘s Symphony No.9 (Philippe Jordan/Wiener Musikverein), Strauss’ Hölderlin-Hymnen (Christian Thielemann/Berliner Philharmoniker), Berg’s Altenberg-Lieder (Berliner Philharmoniker/Philippe Jordan), Wagner’s Wesendonck-Lieder (Christian Thielemann/Staatskapelle Dresden) and Tove in Schönbergs Gurrelieder (Edinburgh Festival).
In addition to the conductors mentioned above, Ms. Kampe has worked with Claudio Abbado, Semyon Bychkov, James Conlon, Mark Elder, Adam Fischer, Daniele Gatti, Valery Gergiev, Daniel Harding, Marek Janowski, Simone Young, Vladimir Jurowski, Jesùs López-Cobos, Fabio Luisi, Nicola Luisotti, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Kent Nagano, Andris Nelsons, Kazushi Ono, Donald Runnicles, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Sebastian Weigle and Franz Welser-Möst. Her collaborations with top stage directors include Calixto Bieito, Willy Decker, Claus Guth, Andreas Homoki, Peter Konwitschny, Harry Kupfer and Dimitri Tchnerniakov.
Some of the most prestigious productions on which Ms. Kampe has performed are also available on DVD, including Die Walküre from the Salzburg Easter Festival, Der fliegende Holländer from Zürich and Parsifal from the Staatsoper Berlin. Additionally, recordings of Tristan und Isolde and Fidelio featuring Ms. Kampe were released by the Glyndebourne Festival, as was Die Gezeichneten from Los Angeles. Ms. Kampe’s recording of Walküre conducted by Valery Gergiev was awarded the Echo Klassik as the best opera recording of the year in 2013.