Julia Varady

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Julia Varady ( Hungarian Várady Júlia , born September 1, 1941 in Oradea as Tőzsér Júlia ) is a Hungarian - German opera and concert singer.

Life

Julia Varady received violin lessons at the Conservatory of Cluj with Emilia Popp at the age of six and since 1955, at the age of 14, her vocal training with Arta Florescu at the Conservatory in Bucharest . During this time, she studied music education and took acting classes at the same time . Her teacher initially thought the voice was an alto and had her sing five alto and mezzo parts before dramatic soprano roles were added. She finished her studies in singing and music education with the state examination diploma in Art .

Varady made his debut in Cluj in 1962. Before her state examination, she received a beginner's contract and became a soloist for roles in operas by Mozart , Puccini , Verdi and Leoncavallo a . a. involved. In Cluj she sang dramatic soprano and mezzo-soprano roles for over ten years , but also Orpheus in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice or the Fiordiligi in Mozart's Così fan tutte . 1968 was her first foreign appearance in Parma , Italy in Duke Bluebeard's castle by Béla Bartók .

Christoph von Dohnányi brought her to the Frankfurt Opera in 1970 after she had won a competition in Italy and appeared in Cologne as Violetta in Verdi's La traviata . She was engaged in Frankfurt for seven premieres in one year, e.g. B. as Antonia in Hoffmann's stories or Elisabetta in Verdi's Don Carlos and other roles by Mozart and Verdi.

In 1971 she drew attention at the Munich Opera Festival as Vitellia in Mozart's La clemenza di Tito and was signed to the Bavarian State Opera in Munich in the same year .

In 1972 she took over Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte in the Mozart cycle (by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle ) under István Kertész (later Sir John Pritchards ) in Cologne . There she celebrated successes as Elettra in Mozart's Idomeneo , as Georgette in Der Mantel (in this production she met her future husband Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in 1973 ), in the role of Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana , in Puccini's Madama Butterfly , as Violetta in La traviata , Leonora in La forza del destino , as Elisabetta in Don Carlos , as Aida, as Senta in Der Fliegende Holländer , as Eva ( Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg ), Arabella (Richard Strauss).

From 1974 Varady was regularly in Japan as part of guest performances by the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and the Deutsche Oper Berlin . In 1978 she was engaged at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and performed as Countess in Le nozze di Figaro , in 1982 as Aida, 1991 as Desdemona and 1992 as Elisabeth in Wagner's Tannhäuser , and since 1983 as Sieglinde in Die Walküre .

In addition to the main engagements in Munich and Berlin, there were international appearances: Royal Opera House (Covent Garden) in 1987 as Desdemona and 1992 as Senta, Wiener Staatsoper , Edinburgh Festival as Alceste (Gluck), Salzburg Festival in Mozart roles such as Elettra, Vitellia and Donna Elvira, La Scala in Milan (Mozart, Elettra). In the 1977/78 season Varady made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York as Donna Elvira, in Washington (Mozart cycle with Ponnelle and Daniel Barenboim ), Opéra Bastille as Abigaille in Verdi's Nabucco and Palais Garnier (both Paris).

Her opera repertoire includes all Mozart and Verdi roles in their field as well as those by Strauss and Wagner. She was Cordelia at the world premiere of Aribert Reimann's opera Lear (1978 in Munich).

Julia Varady performed as a concert singer with a large repertoire, and she also gave recitals from Berlin to Paris, New York ( Carnegie Hall ) and Tokyo .

During the time of her work as a singer, CD recordings as well as radio and television recordings were made .

From 2000 to the beginning of 2019, Varady was visiting professor at the Hanns Eisler University of Music in Berlin . She also taught at the opera studio of the State Opera Unter den Linden in Berlin. Since October 2012 she has been visiting professor at the Karlsruhe University of Music , where she is responsible for opera coaching.

She was married to the singer Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau from 1977 until his death in 2012 .

Honors

Since 1980 she has held the title of Bavarian Chamber Singer . In 1997 she received the Bavarian Theater Prize and in 1998 the Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art . In the same year she became the first recipient of the prize from the Dortmund Cultural Foundation .

Movie

  • Julia Varady - The soul sings. by Klaas Rusticus, ZDF 1992
  • Julia Varady - Singing as a Passion. by Bruno Monsaingeon, Ideale Audience, arte, BR (EMI), 1998
  • Julia Varady - Le Passage du Flambeau (master class) by Bruno Monsaingeon, Ideale Audience, arte, BR, 2007

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b c International Biographical Archive (Munzinger): Julia Varady , as of June 10, 2006.
  2. a b Julia Varady website of the University of Music Karlsruhe, as of May 2018.
  3. a b c Julia Varady: Website plans from Monika Wolf zu Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Julia Varady, as of 2019.
  4. ↑ Directory of lecturers at the Karlsruhe University of Music, as of October 2018.