SOPRANO
Marlis Petersen
Representation: Concerts | Recitals
- Helga Machreich-Unterzaucher
- +43 (0)5 06 80-012
- machreich@machreich-artists.com
GALLERY
BIOGRAPHY
Renowned for her commitment to the classical coloratura repertoire, Marlis Petersen has equally made a name for herself as an interpreter of contemporary music. Following her studies at the Music Academy Stuttgart and with Sylvia Geszty, she went on to further specialise in opera, new music and dance. The soprano began her career as a member of the ensemble at Städtische Bühnen Nuremberg, where she sang roles such as Ännchen, Blonde, Adele, Rosina, Lulu and Queen of the Night. From 1998 to 2003, she was engaged at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein Dusseldorf.
Marlis Petersen gave her Vienna State Opera debut with Lulu. She sang this central role of her repertoire further in Peter Konwitschny’s much admired staging in Hamburg, at the Chicago Lyric Opera and in a new production in Athens. Today, she is a regular guest at the most prominent opera houses worldwide, including the Opéra de Paris, Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, the Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Vienna State Operas, Theater an der Wien, Metropolitan Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera and at the Festivals in Salzburg and Aix-en-Provence.
Further key roles in the soprano’s repertoire include Violetta (La Traviata), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Adele and Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus), Marguerite (Les Huguenots), Manon, Thaïs and Elettra (Idomeneo). She recently enjoyed sensational success in a new Lulu production at the Bavarian State Opera, which she took to the Metropolitan Opera, where she bode farewell to the role. Additional critical acclaim was given to her Traviata (in the Peter Konwitschny production) in Graz and Vienna, as well as for her debut in Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda at the Theater an der Wien. Marlis Petersen has appeared in notable world premieres such as Werner Henze’s Phaedra in Berlin and Brussels, Manfred Trojahn’s La grande magia at Semperoper Dresden and Aribert Reimann’s Medea at the Vienna State Opera.
Highlights of her unrivalled career included her role debut as Richard Strauss' Salome at the Bavarian State Opera under the baton of Kirill Petrenko, followed by Korngold's Die tote Stadt again with Kirill Petrenko and directed by Simon Stone. In January 2020 she returned to the Theater an der Wien for a new production of Richard Strauss’ Salome, an appearance which was followed by Die tote Stadt at la Monnaie. A huge success followed in her role debut as Marschallin in a new production of Richard Strauss’ Rosenkavalier at the Bavarian State Opera, which could finally be heard live in front of an audience in May 2022. A further highlight of the season was her role debut as Emilia Marty in a new production of Janáček’s Věc Makropulos under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle, staged by Claus Guth at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin. In spring 2023 she could be heard as Elisabeth in Wagner's Tannhäuser conducted by Andris Nelsons and directed by Romeo Castellucci at the Salzburg Easter Festival, while in autumn 2023 she embodies Marie in Berg's Wozzeck for the first time at the Bavarian State Opera, followed by Hanna Glawari in a new production of Lehár's The Merry Widow at the Zurich Opera House. In the coming season, she can be heard as Emilia Marty (Věc Makropulos) and as Marie (Wozzeck) at the Vienna States Opera.
On the concert stage, the soprano has already worked with some of the world’s most renowned conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel, Christoph Eschenbach, Antonio Pappano, Kirill Petrenko, Jeffrey Tate, Daniel Harding, Ingo Metzmacher, Thomas Hengelbrock, Louis Langrée, among others. As a passionate advocate for historical performance practice, she has enjoyed close relationships to specialists such as René Jacobs, Ton Koopman, Trevor Pinnock and Helmuth Rilling.
Marlis Petersen has worked with orchestras such as the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonic, the Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the Berlin Radio Orchestra, the RAI Orchestra Turin, the Orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Academy of Early Music and the Ensemble Modern Frankfurt.
In addition to major operatic roles in the coming months, Marlis Petersen dedicates an increased focus to the concert and Lied repertoire. Having presented the recital programme Dimensionen Welt with Stephan Matthias Lademann at the piano in Stuttgart, at the Wiener Musikverein and at London's Wigmore Hall, her follow-up programme Anderswelt was presented together with Camillo Radicke at the piano during the Munich Opera Festival, at the Frankischer Sommer, in Eisenstadt, Berlin and again at the Wigmore Hall.
In the past 2 years, Marlis Petersen has given recitals with the third edition of her “Dimension” programme “Inner-world” alongside Stephan Matthias Lademann at the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Frankfurt Opera, Cologne Philharmonie, Dortmund Konzerthaus, Potsdam, the Brussels BOZAR, the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid, Wigmore Hall, the Heidelberger Frühling festival, Bregenz Festival and the Schubertiade Vilabertran. She has presented the four-worlds programme at the Philharmonie de Paris, Berlin Philharmonie and the Ludwigsburg Schlossfestspiele.
In 2013, Marlis Petersen received the very first Austrian Music Theatre Award for her interpretation of the three female main roles in Les Contes d’Hoffmann at the Theater an der Wien and in 2020, she was awarded “Singer of the year” for the fourth time by Opernwelt magazine. In 2021 she was awarded the title “Bavarian Kammersängerin”.
2025 | 2026
https://marlis-petersen.de
This biography is to be reproduced without any changes, omissions or additions, unless expressly authorized by artist management.
DISCOGRAPHY
Ludwig van Beethoven: Leonore
Marlis Petersen, Maximilian Schmitt, Dimitry Ivashschenko, Robin Johannsen, Johannes Weisser, Tareq Nazmi, Johannes Chum, Florian Feth, Julian Popken, Zürcher Sing-Akademie, Freiburger Barockorchester
Conductor: René Jacobs
Label: Harmonia Mundi | 2019
Dimensionen – Innenwelt
Works by Richard Strauss, Hugo Wolf, Johannes Brahms, Franz Schubert, Max Reger, Franz Liszt, Richard Wagner u. a.
Piano: Stephan Matthias Lademann | Violin: Gregor Hübner
Label: Solo Musica | 2019
Dimensionen – Anderswelt
Works by Carl Loewe, Johannes Brahms, Max Reger, Nikolai Medtner, Hugo Wolf, Alexander Zemlinsky, Franz Schreker, Hans Sommer et al.
Piano: Camillo Radicke
Label: Solo Musica | 2018
Dimensionen – Welt
Works by Robert Schumann, Franz Schubert, Hans Sommer, Johannes Brahms, Sigurd von Koch, Richard Wagner, Clara Schumann
Piano: Stephan Matthias Lademann
Label: Solo Musica | 2017
VIDEOS
CALENDAR
Marlis Petersen, soprano
Stephan Matthias Lademann, piano
Marlis Petersen
Elenora Pertz, piano
Marlis Petersen, soprano
Stephan Matthias Lademann, piano
Leoš Janácek: Věc Makropulos
Marlis Petersen, Emilia Marty
Pavel Cernoch, Albert Gregor
Bo Skovhus, Jaroslav Prus
Wolfgang Bankl, Dr. Kolenaty
Tomáš Hanus, conductor
Peter Stein, stage director
Leoš Janácek: Věc Makropulos
Marlis Petersen, Emilia Marty
Pavel Cernoch, Albert Gregor
Bo Skovhus, Jaroslav Prus
Wolfgang Bankl, Dr. Kolenaty
Tomáš Hanus, conductor
Peter Stein, stage director
CONTACT
Representation: Concerts | Recitals
- Helga Machreich-Unterzaucher
- +43 (0)5 06 80-012
- machreich@machreich-artists.com
