On Feb. 9, 2025, Swiss soprano Edith Mathis died at the age of 86.

Born Feb. 11, 193,8 in Lucerne, Mathis made her operatic debut in 1956 as the second boy in Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte” and continued performing in Switzerland for the next three years.

The soprano made her international debut in 1959 at the Cologne Opera and in the 1960s she made frequent guest appearances in Hamburg, the Glyndebourne Festival, and the Salzburg Festival.

In 1963, Mathis became a member of the Deutsche Oper Berlin and later made her debut at the Royal Opera House and the Metropolitan Opera in New York City in 1970. With the New York company, she appeared 25 times in “Der Freischütz,” “Die Zauberflöte,” “Don Giovanni,” “Der Rosenkavalier,” and “Fidelio.” In the 70s, she also appeared at the Wiener Staatsoper, Bayerische Staatsoper, and the Opéra de Paris.

Throughout her career, Mathis became associated with the roles of Mozart, as well as Richard Strauss and Weber. She did participate in world premieres such as Gottfried von Einem’s “Der Zerrissene,” Henze’s “Der junge Lord,” Heinrich Sutermeister’s “Le roi Berénger,” and Menotti’s “Help, Help, the Globolinks!”

Outside of the opera, the soprano performed Lieder recitals in Japan, the US, Australia, Russia, and Israel.

Mathis was named the Mozart Medal of the International Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg in 1976 as well as Kammersängerin in Bavaria and Prix Mondial du Disque (Montreux).

The soprano left several recordings including Susanna in “Le Nozze di Figaro” for the Deutsche Oper Berlin with Karl Böhm, Cherubino in “Le Nozze di Figaro” from the Salzburg Festival, and Mahler’s Second Symphony several times with Rafael Kubelik and Klaus Tennstedt.