Hildegard Behrens

Hildegard Behrens (born 9 February 1937, Varel, Germany) is a German dramatic soprano known for her wide repertory including Richard Wagner, Carl Maria von Weber, Mozart, Richard Strauss, and Alban Berg roles. Although she has been successful in singing the heavy dramatic soprano roles, her sound is unique in that it possesses a light, lyrical timbre that's not usually associated with such a voice required for singing such demanding music.

She graduated from the Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg as a junior barrister before becoming serious about her talents as a singer, studying at first with Ines Leuwen at the Freiburg Academy Of Music.

Her debut was as the Countess in "Le nozze di Figaro" in Freiburg in 1971 and the following year she became a member of the Deutsche Oper. On October 15th, 1976 she made her American debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York as Giorgetta in "Il Tabarro".

She began her musical career singing small roles at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf where she stayed for six years during which she graduated into bigger roles. Then in the 1975-76 season, while rehearsing Wozzeck, she was "discovered" by the great maestro Herbert von Karajan who was then looking for his new Salome. She was summoned to Berlin to audition for the role. Karajan liked what he heard and invited her to portray the role at the 1977 Salzburg Festival. Behrens is the recipient of many awards - among them the highest civilian honors given by the Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesverdienstkreuz or Order of the Merit Cross of the Federal Republic) and by the state of Bavaria (the Bayerischer Verdienstorden), and the esteemed titles of Bayerische Kammersängerin and Österreichische Kammersängerin bestowed by The Bavarian State Opera and the Vienna State Opera, respectively. In 1998, she received Denmark's most prestigious Leonie Sonning Music Prize and in 1999 the Vienna State Opera honored her with the Lotte Lehmann Ring, bequeathed to her by the late dramatic soprano Leonie Rysanek.

Awards

* 1990 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording: Richard Wagner's "Die Walküre", with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
* Sonning Award (1998; Denmark)

Performances

* Available on DVD: "Der Ring des Nibelungen", with James Levine conducting the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in 1990. "Deutsche Grammophon" 073 043-9.