(Photo credit: Matthias Creutziger)

Soprano and Saxon Chamber Singer Barbara Hoene died at the age of 80. She passed away during the night of Jan. 11 and 12.

Hoene was born on Feb. 4, 1944 in Cottbus. She began her career in 1966 as a soloist at the Landestheater Dessau and was engaged in the soloist ensemble of the Saxon State Opera Dresden from 1973. From 1980 to 1990 she was a permanent soloist of the Dresdner Kreuzchor. At the Semperoper and at the opera houses in Berlin and Leipzig she sang leading roles in Mozart’s “Die Entführung aus dem Serail,” “Don Giovanni,”  “Così fan tutte,” “Idomeneo,” “Titus,” and “Die Zauberflöte,” as well as in Wagner’s “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg,” “Lohengrin,” and “Tannhäuser.” Hoene performed in other famous works by Verdi, Puccini, Bizet, and Korsakov to name a few.

Being a sought-after concert singer, Hoene toured throughout Europe, Japan, and Brazil. She made appearances at the May Festival in Wiesbaden, the Handel Festival in Göttingen and Halle, and the Dresden Music Festival. She was appointed Kammersängerin of the Saxon State Opera in Dresden in 1980. For her artistic contribution,s she was awarded the Handel Prize by the city of Halle.

In 2009, Hoene ended her stage career with the program “So – Das war’s! War’s das?” in the Semperoper venue semper kleine szene. She remained closely connected to the Semperoper and all its artists after her retirement.