German soprano Ricarda Merbeth is one of the leading singers in her field, and is in demand worldwide as a Wagner and Strauss interpreter.

Nach ihrem Studium an der Hochschule für Musik „Mendelssohn Bartholdy“ in Leipzig begann sie ihre Karriere zunächst in Magdeburg und Weimar. 1999 debütierte sie als Marzelline in Fidelio an der Wiener Staatsoper und war bis 2005 Ensemblemitglied. In dieser Zeit sang sie u.a. Contessa, Donna Anna, Pamina, Fiordiligi, Chrysothemis, Elisabeth, Eva, Irene, Elsa, Marschallin und Sieglinde.

A particular highlight was her Daphne in a new production at the Vienna State Opera in 2004. With this title role by Richard Strauss, Ricarda Merbeth made her breakthrough to an international career. The artist is still associated with the Vienna State Opera today through regular guest engagements, in 2001 she was honored with the Eberhard Waechter Medal and in 2010 she was appointed Austrian Chamber Singer by the then director of the Vienna State Opera, Ioan Holender.

Weitere Meilensteine ihrer Karriere waren Engagements bei den Bayreuther Festspielen: 2000 im Jürgen Flimm-Ring als Freia und Gutrune, 2002 bis 2005 und 2007 als Elisabeth in TANNHÄUSER und seit 2013 bis 2018 singt sie die Partie der Senta in der aktuellen Produktion DER FLIEGENDE HOLLÄNDER.

Seit 2006 ist Ricarda Merbeth freiberuflich tätig und singt an den führenden Opernhäusern der Welt, wie Hamburgische Staatsoper, Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin, Bayerische Staatsoper München, Mailänder Scala, Deutsche Oper Berlin, New National Theatre Tokyo, Opera Nationale de Paris, Teatro Real Madrid, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Dutch Natinal Opera, Sydney Opera House sowie den Opernhäusern von Toulouse, Marseille, Helsinki, Stockholm, Zürich, der Wiener Staatsoper und dem Wiener Musikverein.

She sings all the important roles of her repertoire: Brünnhilde (WALKÜRE), Brünnhilde (SIEGFRIED), Brünnhilde (GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG), Isolde (TRISTANUND ISOLDE), Senta (DER FLIEGENDE HOLLÄNDER), Kundry (PARSIFAL), Ortrud (LOHENGRIN), Elsa (LOHENGRIN), Elisabeth and Venus (TANNHÄUSER),
Färberin (FRAU OHNE SCHATTEN), Elektra (ELEKTRA), Helena (ÄGYPTISCHE HELENA), Salome (SALOME), Ariadne (ARIADNE AUF NAXOS), Marschallin (ROSENKAVALIER), Turandot (TURANDOT) and Leonore (FIDELIO).

Her concert repertoire includes Wesendonck-Lieder, War Requiem by Benjamin Britten, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, Stabat Mater by Szymanowski, Glagolitic Mass by Leos Janacek, Four Last Songs and Brentano-Lieder by Richard Strauss, the 8th Symphony by Gustav Mahler.

In November 2018, the singer made her successful debut as Elektra in Patrice Chéreau’s legendary production at La Scala in Milan.

Sie arbeitet mit renommierten Dirigentinnen und Dirigenten wie Simone Young, Daniel Barenboim, Frank Beermann, Pierre Boulez, Semyon Bychkov, Riccardo Chailly, Myung-whun Chung, Christoph von Dohnányi, Dan Ettinger, James Gaffigan, Daniele Gatti, Edward Gardner, Thomas Guggeis, Marek Janowski, Mariss Jansons, Philippe Jordan, Fabio Luisi, Ingo Metzmacher, Kent Nagano, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Seiji Ozawa, Kirill Petrenko, Donald Runnicles, Pinchas Steinberg, Christian Thielemann, Constantin Trinks, Franz Welser-Möst.

She has worked with the following directors: Daniele Abbado, Philippe Arlaud, Sven-Eric Bechtholf, Calixto Bieto, Nicolas Brieger, Robert Carsen, Luigi De Angelis, Michael Fau, Jürgen Flimm, Kasper Holten, Nicolas Joel, Günter Krämer, Marco Arturo Marelli, Mario Martone, Alex Ollé, Charles Roubaud, Otto Schenk, Matthias von Stegmann, Achim Thorwald, Katharina Wagner, Krzysztof Warlikowski.

In recent years Ricarda Merbeth has worked on her current most important roles – including Isolde, Brünnhilden, Senta, Elektra, Färberin, Ortrud, Turandot – together with Prof. Ks Wolfgang Millgramm in Berlin.

Important debuts since 2016: Isolde at the Hamburg State Opera, Turandot and Brünnhilde / SIEGFRIED at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Elektra at La Scala in Milan and at the Berlin State Opera. She also sang the title role in DIE ÄGYPTISCHE HELENA at La Scala in Milan in 2019. In 2020, she sang Brünnhilde / DIE WALKÜRE in Lisbon and Madrid, Senta at the Berlin State Opera and Elektra at the Vienna State Opera. In 2022 and 2023 she sang Brünnhilde /GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG at the Teatro Real de Madrid, Turandot at the Spring Festival in Tokyo, the title role in ELEKTRA at the Berlin State Opera, Ortrud in Bologna, Kundry with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Isolde in Valencia and Brünnhilde in the RING cycle at the Semperoper Dresden and at the Vienna State Opera. In 2023, she sang at the Baltic Opera Festival and at the Hamburg State Opera as well as Elektra again at the Berlin and Vienna State Opera.