Hailed for her exceptional expressive abilities, South African soprano Johanni van Oostrum is particularly sought after for her interpretation of works by Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner and Leoš Janáček.

Recently, she was celebrated in the title-role in Antonín Dvořák’s Rusalka at the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam and as Eva in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Tokyo Spring Festival with Marek Janowski. Earlier in the 2023/24 season she could be heard as Chrysothemis in Elektra under the baton of Kent Nagano in Hamburg and as Elsa in Kornél Mundruczó’s new production of Lohengrin under François-Xavier Roth at the Bavarian State Opera. This role also took her to the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, the Tokyo Spring Festival 2022, the Hessian State Theater Wiesbaden and others, and she will be singing it again in Munich, at Paris Opera and at the Opéra national du Rhin in Strasbourg.

She will also reprise Agathe in Weber’s Der Freischütz at the Semperoper Dresden, a role she had previously sung at the Barbican Centre in in London, at the BOZAR in Brussels, in Aix-en-Provence, Luxembourg, the Theater an der Wien, the Ludwigsburg Castle Festival and the Théâtre des Champs- Élysées. She can also be heard as Agathe on CD and DVD, published by Warner Classics and Erato.

She has sung the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier – a signature role of hers – at the Vienna State Opera under the baton of Philippe Jordan, the Dutch National Opera under Sir Simon Rattle, the Royal Swedish Opera under Alan Gilbert, the Bolshoi Theatre, the Komische Oper Berlin, the Weimar National Theatre and Estonian National Opera.

Further highlights include Elisabeth in Tannhäuser at Opera de Lyon, the eponymous role in Strauss’ Salome and Grete in Schreker’s Der Ferne Klang at Oper Graz, Leonore in Beethoven’s Fidelio conducted by Adam Fischer, Janáček’s Jenůfa in Bern and Marietta in Korngold’s Die Tote Stadt with Opéra de Limoges. She sang Countess Almaviva in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro in Munich and Janáček’s Katja Kabanova at the Janáček Festival in Brno and in Wiesbaden, where she also sang Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes.

On the concert stage she will be performing Mahler’s 8^th Symphony both with the Bavarian State Orchestra under Kirill Petrenko and with the Orchestre de Paris under Daniel Harding.

Previously, Johanni van Oostrum performed with Jonas Kaufmann on his concert tour “Mein Wien” in Nuremberg, Hamburg and Düsseldorf. In numerous appearances with the Staatskapelle Weimar, she interpreted Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and Beethoven’s “Ah! Perfido” under the baton of Bertrand de Billy, as well as Strauss’ Four Last Songs in Bayreuth and at the Al Bustan Festival in Beirut. As a concert soloist, she can be heard regularly in Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, Mendelssohn Bartholdy’s Elijah, Zemlinsky’s Lyric Symphony, Giuseppe Verdi’s Messa da Requiem, as well as interpreting songs by Richard Strauss and South African composers.

She has worked with conductors such as Ivor Bolton, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Bertrand de Billy, Asher Fisch, Antonello Manacorda, Oksana Lyniv, Laurence Equilbey Lothar Koenigs, Henrik Nánási, Stefan Soltesz, and directors such as Harry Kupfer, Barrie Kosky, Tobias Kratzer, Francois Girard, Kirill Serebrennikov and Vera Nemirova.

She received the first prize at the Erna Spoorenberg Dutch Vocal Competition and was awarded the Fleur du Cap Theatre Award for Best Female Performance in 2018.