Hanna Schwarz

Hanna Schwarz, actually Irene Johanna Black, ( born August 15, 1943 in Hamburg ) is a German opera singer with the vocal ranges mezzo- soprano and alto.

Life

Hanna Schwarz studied psychology and singing in Hamburg. More vocal studies she completed at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen and at the Musikhochschule Hannover. In 1970, she received her first engagement at the Staatstheater Hannover. She made her debut in the role of Siegrune in Richard Wagner's Die Walküre. Your first big operatic success celebrated in Hannover as Maddalena in Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi. In 1972, she appeared as Carmen at the Eutin Festival. 1973 Hanna Schwarz was a member of the Hamburg State Opera, where she successfully occurred in the following years more than 30 years. As a recital singer Hanna Schwarz stepped out together with the pianist Sebastian Peschko.

1975 Black sang for the first time at the Bayreuth Festival. From 1975 to 1998 she was a regular cast member of the Bayreuth Festival. They took over both the great mezzo- soprano and alto parts in the music dramas of Richard Wagner, as well as smaller roles: 1978-1980, 1984-1986 and 1995-1998 she sang every year Fricka in The Ring of the Nibelungen, also 1984-1986 and 1995 -1998 the Walt diamond in the twilight of the gods, also from 1976 to 1977 Erda in Der Ring des Nibelungen, and from 1981 to 1983 and 1987 Brangäne in Tristan and Isolde. She has also performed in Bayreuth on as Floßhilde, Rossweisse, flower girl and Knappe in Parsifal and as 2nd Norn. She was there from 1976-1980 with also in the so-called century ring of Patrice Chéreau and Pierre Boulez. The performances were recorded for television in 1980 and later released on CD and DVD.

Regularly Hanna Schwarz also appeared at the Salzburg Festival. She sang 1979, the alto solo in the Ninth Symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven in a performance with the Vienna Philharmonic under the baton of Leonard Bernstein and with Gwyneth Jones, René Kollo and Kurt Moll in the other solo parts. In 1980 she took over the role of Juana in a concert performance of the opera Karl V Krenek Ernst. This was followed in the years 1992/1993 Herodias in Salome by Richard Strauss. In 1999 she sang the role of Countess GESCHWITZ in Lulu by Alban Berg. In 2003, she worked in Salzburg as Malik in the world premiere of the opera L' Upupa - the triumph of the son's love of Hans Werner Henze.

Black has performed since 1976 at the Vienna State Opera. They sang Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss from 1999 to 2004, the Clytemnestra in Electra, also by Richard Strauss. In 1979 she sang in Paris the roles school student and Groom in the première of Friedrich Cerha supplemented by three-act version of Alban Berg's Lulu. In 1977, a successful black American debut at the San Francisco Opera as Fricka in The Ring of the Nibelung. She appeared from then on almost all the major opera houses in the world.

She performed at the Opera House in Monte Carlo (1982 as a composer ), at the Opera House Geneva (1985 Brangäne ) and at the Covent Garden Opera in London ( 1990 as Walt diamond) on. In 1995 she sang at the Cologne Opera, the Clytemnestra, also in December 1995 at Nuremberg Opera House, under the musical direction of Eberhard Kloke. In 1996 she sang at the Dresden State Opera, the nurse in Die Frau ohne Schatten by Richard Strauss.

In the season 1996/1997 Black was first heard at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. They appeared there as Fricka, when Walt diamond and as Herodias. Followed in 1999 and 2000, the Clytemnestra turn Fricka. 2001 Black sang at the Metropolitan Opera, the Countess GESCHWITZ in Alban Berg's Lulu.

For her portrayal of the role of Clytemnestra she was voted Singer of the Year by the magazine Opernwelt 1997.

In 1999, she sang with great success Herodias in a production directed by Willy Decker at the Hamburg State Opera. In 2003, she sang the Countess GESCHWITZ again, this time at the Bonn Opera in a production directed by Werner Schroeter. In 2005 she took over the role of the old, mysterious countess in a new production of the opera The Queen of Spades by Tchaikovsky at the San Francisco Opera. In the Ruhr Triennale, she sang in 2006 in Bochum Weseners old mother in the opera Die Soldaten by Bernd Alois Zimmermann. At the Bavarian State Opera in Munich in May 2008, she sang the old slave Beroe in the opera The Bassariden by Hans Werner Henze. In December 2008, she took over the small but dramatic role of the nurse in Boris Godunov by Modest Mussorgsky, for which she received very positive reviews at the Dresden State Opera. In 2009 she sang again Herodias at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin. In June 2010, she also sang the role of Herodias on the side of Siegfried Jerusalem at the Festival del Mediterrani in Valencia.

Hanna Schwarz is a professor at the University of Music and Theatre in Hamburg in the art song, oratorio and song.