Artist Profile: The Contessa Herself, Dorothea Röschmann
By David SalazarBorn on June 17, 1967, German soprano Dorothea Röschmann has enjoyed a solid career to date.
The soprano studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg before heading to Bremen, Los Angeles, Tel Aviva, and London.
Her 1995 Salzburg debut as Susanna in “Le Nozze di Figaro” gave her international repute and since, she has performed all over the world, including La Scala, the Berlin State Opera, the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, the Ravenna Festival, the Los Angeles Opera, Lincoln Center, and the Salzburg Easter Festival, among others.
She famously appeared with the New York Philharmonic in a concert on Sept. 10, 2011, to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. She has also won a plethora of awards (see the link below).
Signature Role
Röschmann is renowned for her work in Mozart’s operas, but her most potent interpretation is that of the Contessa in “Le Nozze di Figaro,” a role she sang for the first time in 2004. It was with this opera that she appeared at the Royal Opera House and Teatro alla Scala. She has appeared in several recordings of the opera.
“Röschmann is exceptional in giving voice to the Countess’s despair,” noted a review by The Guardian of the soprano’s interpretation back in 2006 in London. Of her interpretation in Los Angeles, Opera News added, “Röschmann’s darkly warm soprano endowed the Countess with just the right aura of tragedy.”
Read More on Dorothea Röschmann
Watch and Listen
Here are the two big arias from “Le Nozze di Figaro.”
And here she is in Verdi’s “Otello,” showcasing what she can do in somewhat heavier repertoire.
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