Soprano Rachel Harnisch has retired from the opera stage at the age of 50.

The Swiss soprano told Christian Berzins in an article regarding her career in Aargauer Zeitung. 

Harnisch studied with Beata Heuer-Christen and went on to perform at the Antwerp Opera, the Grand Theater de Genève, Bruckner-Haus Linz, the Tonhalle Maag, Opéra du Rhin, Opernhaus Zürich, the Teatro alla Scala,  the Vienna State Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Bastille in Paris, and many others.

She worked with many leading conductors including Antonio Pappano, Roberto Abbado, Christopher Hogwood, Fabio Luisi, Jeffrey Tate, Sir Roger Norrington, Stefan Soltesz, Zubin Metha, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Ingo Metzmacher, David Zinman, Paavo Järvi and Donald Runnicles. She also worked closely and intensively with Claudio Abbado.

Her repertoire included the works of Offenbach, Beethoven, Donizetti, Halévy, Bach, Janácek, Reimann, Hindemith, and Mahler.