Christa Mayer received her vocal training at the Bavarian Singing Academy and the Munich Academy of Music, graduating in 2001 with a master class diploma. Already during her studies she was awarded numerous prizes, including a prize at the ARD International Competition in Munich.
Since 2001 Christa Mayer has been a member of the ensemble at the Saxon State Opera in Dresden. Here she has made successful role debuts as Erda (Das Rheingold and Siegfried), Fenena (Nabucco), Suzuki (Madama Butterfly), Quickly (Falstaff), Ottavia (Poppea), Orlando (Orlando), Baba (The Rake's progress), Adelaide (Arabella), Gaea (Daphne), Jezibaba (Rusalka), Countess Geschwitz (Lulu), among others.
In the Semper Opera's Ring cycle, Christa Mayer appeared as Erda and Waltraute (Götterdämmerung) under the direction of Fabio Luisi (2006).
Guest appearances have taken her to the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Hamburg State Opera and the Bavarian State Opera, to the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Florence and the Teatro La Fenice Venice, as well as to the opera houses in Barcelona, Seville, Bilbao and Madrid.
As a concert singer she has worked with conductors Herbert Blomstedt, Sir Colin Davis, Frans Brüggen, Charles Mackerras, Jonathan Nott, Omer Meir Wellber, Robin Ticciati, Daniele Gatti, Semyon Bychkov, Marek Janowski, Ingo Metzmacher, Christian Thielemann and Riccardo Chailly.
In 2007 Christa Mayer was invited to perform in the Ring under Zubin Mehta at the newly built Palau De Les Arts Valencia (Erda, Schwertleite).
In 2008 Christa Mayer made her debut at the Bayreuth Festival under the baton of Christian Thielemann as Erda and Waltraute - and was subsequently invited back to Bayreuth for the same roles in 2009 and 2010.
In Dresden and Düsseldorf she sang Cornelia in Handel's Giulio Cesare. She was invited to the Hamburg State Opera as Quickly (Falstaff). In the Dresden production Alcina, Christa Mayer was Bradamante, and under Christian Thielemann she sang - also in Dresden - in Bach's Christmas Oratorio.
With outstanding international success, Christa Mayer sang Brangäne in Bayreuth's Tristan. At the New National Theatre in Tokyo she took on the role of Erda. At the 2016 Salzburg Easter Festival she appeared in Otello (Emilia) and the Missa solemnis under Christian Thielemann, and in 2017 she took on the role of Fricka in the Salzburg Walküre, also under Thielemann. In Mathis der Maler (under Simone Young) in Dresden, she sang the Countess. Christa Mayer's interpretation of Didon in the new Dresden production of Berlioz's Les Troyens was a particular personal success. With the Bayreuth Festival, Christa Mayer made a guest appearance in Abu Dhabi as Fricka, and she returned to Salzburg as Magdalene in Die Meistersinger. Under the direction of Jaap van Zweeden, Christa Mayer sang Fricka in Walküre in Dallas.
In the summer of 2019, Christa Mayer was again Brangäne in Bayreuth. The BBC Symphony Orchestra London engaged Christa Mayer for concerts with Glanert's Requiem, and under Christian Thielemann the artist sang Waldtaube in Gurrelieder in Dresden. Christa Mayer also performed this role with the KBSSO in Seoul.
In the 2020/21 season, Christa Mayer sang Clairon in the new production Capriccio at the Semperoper. Also in 2021, she appeared at the Bayreuth Festival as Fricka in Walküre, and gave concerts at the Philharmonie de Paris, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Brucknerhaus Linz, the Megaron Athens and the Salzburg Festspielhaus. In the new Bayreuth Ring in 2022, she sang Fricka in Rheingold and Die Walküre, as well as Waltraute in Die Walküre and Götterdämmerung.
In the 22/23 season, the singer will make her debut as Amneris in Aida, among other roles, and will sing Fricka and Siegfried-Erda in the Ring at the Semperoper Dresden, guesting as Brangäne at the Vienna State Opera and returning to the Bayreuth Festival. On the concert stage, she sings Mahler's Lied von der Erde with the Duisburg Philharmonic under the baton of Axel Kober and with the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon under the baton of Hannu Lintu, participates in the ZDF New Year's Eve Concert and takes on the alto part in Mahler's 3rd Symphony in Dresden, Leipzig, Hamburg and Vienna under the baton of Christian Thielemann.
In February 2020, the Saxon State Opera in Dresden honored Christa Mayer's artistic merits with the title of Kammersängerin. The state of Bavaria honored Christa Mayer with the Bavarian Culture Award in the fall of 2020.