Swiss mezzo-soprano Yvonne Naef has passed away at the age of 68 after a short serious illness.

Naef studied in Zurich, Basel, and Mannheim and launched her career as a member of opera companies of St. Gallen and Wiesbaden.

She went on to become renowned at the Zürich Opera, which became her artistic home and where she performed several important roles such as Eboli in Verdi’s “Don Carlo,” Marfa in Mussorgsky’s “Khovanshchina,” and Ariane in Dukas’ “Ariane et Barbe-Bleue.”

However, she became highly regarded for her interpretations of Wagnerian roles, including Brangäne in “Tristan und Isolde,” Kundry in “Parsifal,” and Fricka in “Der Ring des Nibelungen.”

She went on to perform at many of the great theaters in the world including the Hamburg Staatsoper, Teatro alla Scala Scala in Milan, the Royal Opera House in London, Paris Opera, the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, Bayreuth Festival, the Netherlands Opera in Amsterdam, and at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where she appeared 39 times in several Ring cycles.

She also collaborated with many of the great conductors of her time including Pierre Boulez, Christoph Eschenbach, James Levine, Kent Nagano, Jonathan Nott, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Franz Welser-Möst.

Outside of the opera stage, Naef was well-known for her concert and lied interpretations, including the works of Gustav Mahler and Arnold Schoenberg.

In 2014, the mezzo started working as a vocal coach at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK).

Naef left many recordings behind, including “Il Trovatore” for the Royal Opera House, Orchestral Works and Songs by Hector Berlioz, and Wagner’s “Die Walkure” from the Hamburg State Opera.