Following the passing of 41-year-old soprano Beate Ritter, Staatsoper Stuttgart Artistic Director Viktor Schoner has released a statement about the soprano and her ensemble work with the company from 2018 to 2024.

He said, “The Queen of the Night in Mozart’s ‘Magic Flute’ was her signature role. She portrayed it in over 150 performances in a wide variety of productions at opera houses around the world. Beate Ritter was considered a “safe bet” in this delicate role – she also performed the part 26 times at the Stuttgart State Opera. She mastered both the opening aria ‘O zittre nicht’ and the even more prominent and delicate revenge aria in the second act flawlessly on each of these evenings – technically impressive, with perfect intonation and nerves. Furthermore – and this was the special feature – somehow human. Beate Ritter was not a “singing machine”, as one can sometimes experience in this role, but with her voice she embodied the queen as a caring mother in the first act just as convincingly as she did as a vengeful goddess in the second act.”

He added, “Beate Ritter was a member of the Stuttgart State Opera ensemble from 2018 to 2024. During our preparation period, casting director Boris Ignatov recommended her; Beate had already been noticed in the Vienna Volksoper ensemble for several years. Cornelius Meister knew and liked her from their collaboration as Zerbinetta at the 2017 Glyndebourne Festival. I remember our first conversation well, when, with that indirect directness that only Austrians can master, she enthusiastically spoke about the role of the Queen while simultaneously expressing her hope that she would not be reduced to this role. Even then, she very self-reflectively expressed her concern that at a certain age, the carefree attitude one needs to master such a revealing role might be lost. Technically, everything was still fine – but nerves didn’t improve with age, said the then early 30-year-old.”

Schoner said, “We were happy to fulfill her wish to explore other roles in Stuttgart. From Giuseppe Verdi’s Gilda to Puccini’s Musetta, from Sophie in ‘Werther’ to an outstanding Sophie in ‘Der Rosenkavalier,’ which she performed in concert during the coronavirus pandemic with Cornelius Meister. She also performed Zerbinetta in ‘Ariadne auf Naxos,’ a truly legendary role we recorded on vinyl. In the 2022/2023 season, she embodied two almost otherworldly characters: Those who experienced her as the Waldvogel in Wagner’s Siegfried were torn from their Wagnerian frenzy by her tremendous textual intelligibility, and she touched the audience—almost unexpectedly for me—in the role of the Angel in Olivier Messiaen’s masterpiece about Saint Francis: seemingly endless lines with a rarely heard, crystal-clear soprano. Messiaen would have been delighted!”

He concluded, “Even after her time as a permanent ensemble member, she happily returned to Stuttgart as a guest. On April 18, nine weeks ago, she performed again as the Queen at the Littmann Building. During the interval, she complained of stomach pain. We had a colleague in the house who could have taken over the second act for her. Beate, as disciplined as ever, was determined to finish the evening herself – to rise to the challenge of the revenge aria. She shone, and the audience thanked her with a standing ovation. She drove home that night to be with her husband – they had married in the summer of 2024. The doctor diagnosed a serious illness the following day, and surgery followed just a few days later, but treatment was discontinued two weeks ago on medical advice. Beate could not face this relentless illness. Yesterday, she died far too early in the close circle of her family.”

Schoner noted that the company will dedicate the July 21 performance of “Rigoletto” in her memory.

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