Roberta Knie

Roberta knee (* 1938 in Cordell, Oklahoma ) is a German American soprano from the circus dynasty knee. She was known for her strong and clear voice, which up to the early 1980s in many American and European opera houses distinctively made ​​in the course of their career from the mid- 1960s. It is particularly known for its Interpretion of Brunhild at the Wagner Festival in Bayreuth.

Training

Roberta knee was born in Cordell, Oklahoma, grew up there, went to the local high school and sang in the church choir. Knee studied at the University of Oklahoma, among others at Elizabeth Parham, Judy Bounds Coleman and Eva Turner. They then moved to Austria to study with Max Lorenz at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, before she gave her debut in 1964 at the Theater Hagen as Elisabeth in Tannhäuser.

Career

From 1966 to 1969 she was part of the Stadttheater Freiburg, she then moved to Graz from 1969 to 1972 and sang such roles as Leonore in Beethoven's Fidelio and title roles in Puccini's Tosca and Richard Strauss' Salome. Subsequently, she was employed at the Opera of Cologne and the Zurich Opera House. In 1973 she acquired in Lassnitzhoehe together with her friend and mentor Judy Bounds Coleman the sun villa, as this returned to the United States in 1977, she became the sole owner.

The year 1974 was a milestone in her career, she jumped for a colleague at the last minute as Brünnhilde in Wagner's Ring des Nibelungen at the Bayreuth Festival, a. The performance was both the critics and the Punlikum a great success and increased their awareness of critical and led to contracts with famous opera houses in the following years. In 1974 she sang the Ring of the Nibelung in the Opéra National de Lyon and performed at the Teatro San Carlo.

In 1975 Roberta knee her opera debut in America at the Dallas Opera as Isolde in Wagner's Tristan and Isolde, the following year, she appeared again at the Wagner Festival and sang Brünnhilde at the San Francisco Opera in Die Walküre. In addition, they first appeared at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in the title role of Elektra Strauss.

In the next few years she sang at various major opera houses including the Vienna State Opera, Hamburg State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Staatstheater Stuttgart, German Opera Berlin, Mannheim National Theatre, Opéra National du Rhin, Royal Opera House (Stockholm), Teatro Regio di Parma, Teatro Nacional de Sao Carlos. Welsh National Opera, Opéra de Montréal, Teatro Colon, and the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Although she was mainly known for Wagner roles, including the Senta in The Flying Dutchman, Elsa in Lohengrin, Sieglinde and several of the Valkyries in Die Walküre, she sang numerous other roles as Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni, Electra in Mozart's Idomeneo, the Marschallin in Strauss Der Rosenkavalier and La forza del Leonore both destino as well as in Il trovatore.

1981 Roberta diseased knee of viral pneumonia, which she had to recuperate until 1984. 1991 Roberta knee in Graz retinal detachment was where she taught at the Art University, diagnosed. To prevent a possible stress-related blindness, she ended her Opernkariere. In 2000, she survived a cancer disease.