Anke Vondung

Born in Speyer, Germany, mezzo soprano Anke Vondung began piano lessons when she was eight years old.

Anke Vondung studied with Professor Rudolf Piernay at Musikhochschule Mannheim. In 1995 she made her debut at the Opernschule Mannheim as Nancy in Benjamin Britten's Albert Herring.

In 1996 and 1997 Anke Vondung won awards in such prestigious international competitions as the Franz Schubert and Modern Music Chamber Music Competitions, Mozart-Competition Würzburg, and Neue Stimmen.

In 1998 she attended an international opera project of the European Opera Center, under the direction of Brigitte Fassbänder, in the role of Cecilio (Mozart's Lucio Sulla) and she was the recipent of a scholarship from the Richard Wagner Association.

In 1998 Anke Vondung received prizes at Robert Saar's Singing Competition in Bad Kissingen, at Hans Gabor Belvedere's Singing Competition in Vienna, and at the ARD International Music Competition in Munich. In 1999 she won the fist prize of the Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Competition and received a scholarship to Chicago's Ravinia Festival.

Anke Vondung was a member of the Tiroler Landestheater Innsbruck in Austria until the end of the 2001-02 season. From 2003 to 2005 season she was a member of the Semperoper Dresden, and is now a guest artist at this house.

In the 2000-01 season she appeared at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris as Hänsel in a Hänsel und Gretel production.

During the 2001-02 season she appeared for the first time at Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, and in 2002 at Salzburger Festspiele in Die Liebe der Danae by Richard Strauss.

In the 2002-03 season Anke Vondung appeared as Fyodor in a Boris Godunow production at Opéra Bastille in Paris, as Dorabella in Così fan tutte with Landestheater Salzburg for the Mozart-Festwochen Salzburg, and in several productions at Grand Théâtre de Gèneve. In 2003 she appeared in Die Ägyptische Helena by Richard Strauss at the Salzburger Festspiele.

In 2006 she sang Dorabella at the Glyndebourne Opera Festival and Clairon (Richard Strauss's Capriccio) at Nederlandse Opera Amsterdam. In the 2006-07 season she also appeared as Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier) at Opéra Bastille and Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin.

In the 2007-08 season Anke Vondung appeared for the first time in Le nozze di Figaro and La clemenza di Tito at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. In 2008 she sang Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro) at Munich State Opera and Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier) at Munich Opera Festival. The following year she sang at Munich State Opera (Così fan tutte) and appeared with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the direction of James Levine.

In the 2010-2011 season she was guest at the Staatsoper Dresden (Carmen, Capriccio), San Diego Opera (Der Rosenkavalier), in Montreal (Fricka in Das Rheingold led by Kent Nagano).

During the 2011/12 and 2012/13 seasons she appeared at the Staatsoper Dresden (Clairon, Sesto) and at the Opera House Palermo. She also sung concerts in Lisbon, Porto, Berlin, and the Herrenchiemsee-Festival.

During the 2013-14 season, Anke sung the lead role of Dulcinea in San Diego Opera’s production of Jules Massenet’s opera Don Quixote with the world-famous bass Ferruccio Furlanetto in the title role.

In the 2014/15 season she sung several roles at Semperoper Dresden (Carmen, Rosina) and Theater an der Wien in Vienna. In summer 2014 she appeared at Bregenzer Festpiele in Austria. Concerts in Europe and USA (Washington, Minneapolis) are also on her schedule.

Besides her engagements as an opera singer she received numerous invitations to appear with important orchestras in Europe and the Americas with distinguished conductors such as James Conlon, Edo de Waart, Helmuth Rilling, Philippe Herreweghe, James Levine, Armin Jordan, Manfred Honeck, Markus Stenz, Iván Fischer, Philippe Jordan, René Jacobs, Peter Schreier, Gerd Albrecht, Fabio Luisi, Marek Janowski, Kent Nagano, Howard Arman, Lothar Zagrossek, and Sir Roger Norrington.