Gabriele Schnaut

Gabriele Schnaut ( born February 24, 1951 in Mannheim ) is a German soprano.

Life and work

Schnaut grew up in Mainz and received as a child violin and singing lessons. She studied first at the Mainz Peter Cornelius Conservatory majoring in violin and at the same time at the University of musicology. From 1971 she studied singing at the Musikhochschule in Frankfurt am Main with Elsa Cavelti, followed by private study in East Berlin. Their first permanent engagement as a mezzo- soprano, she received in 1976 at the Stuttgart State Opera. A year later she made her debut at the Bayreuth Festival. It was followed by further engagement at the Staatstheater Darmstadt (1978-1980), at the National Theatre Mannheim (1980-1986) and at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Dusseldorf (1986-1990).

In 1985 she moved from mezzo in the highly dramatic soprano that earned roles as Brünnhilde in Der Ring des Nibelungen, Ortrud in Lohengrin, Kundry in Parsifal, Sieglinde in Die Walküre, Isolde in Tristan und Isolde, Elektra, dyer's wife and nurse in Die Frau ohne shadow, Tosca, Turandot and sacristan in Jenufa.

1995 Schnaut was appointed to the Hamburg opera singer. In 2003 she was appointed by the Bavarian Minister of Culture Hans Zehetmair the Bavarian chamber singer. For her services she received the 2006 Bavarian Order of Merit.