Friday 7 November 2025
4pm
Milton Court Concert Hall

Born in Flensburg, Germany, Dorothea Röschmann was a member of the Ensemble at the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin where in 2017, having sung over 20 roles at the theatre, she was awarded the title of Kammersängerin. She returned in the 2024/25 season for her role debut as Emilia Marty Vec Markropulos in Claus Guth’s iconic production.

Other recent role debuts include the title role of Ariadne auf Naxos at the Edinburgh International Festival with Lothar Koenigs, recorded for Outhere Records (2022) and at Teatro Comunale di Bologna, and Isolde Tristan und Isolde at the Opera National de Lorraine, Nancy and last season in concert in Berlin.

She has been a frequent guest at the Salzburg Festival since her debut in 1995 singing Susanna with Nikolaus Harnoncourt. In 2016 she made her role debut as Desdemona Otello at the Osterfestspiele. At the Wiener Staatsoper, she has appeared as Susanna, Countess Almaviva, Donna Elvira, Marschallin and Jenůfa.

Her many roles at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich include Zerlina, Susanna, Ännchen, Marzelline, Anne Trulove, Elvira, Rodelinda, her role debut as Alceste in 2019, and this season as Marcellina Le nozze di Figaro and Marquise de Berkenfield La Fille du régiment. Elsewhere in Europe she has appeared at the Semperoper Dresden (Elisabeth Tannhäuser, Desdemona Otello), La Monnaie, Brussels, the Opéra Bastille Paris, and at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (Pamina, Fiordiligi, Countess, Donna Elvira and Desdemona). At Teatro alla Scala Milan she has sung Countess Almaviva, Florinda Fierrabras, and Donna Elvira on tour to the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow with Daniel Barenboim.

In the US she has appeared many times at the Metropolitan Opera as Susanna, Pamina, Elvira and Ilia, and sang the title roles of Handel’s Theodora and Purcell’s Dido at Carnegie Hall.

A prolific concert artist in the US, Asia and in Europe, last season she sang Tove Gurre-Lieder with both Sir Simon Rattle/Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks and Rafael Payare/Montréal Symphony Orchestra, Schoenberg Erwartung with Patrick Hahn/Wiener Symphoniker and Shostakovich Aus Juedischer Volkspoesie with Patrick Hahn/Munchner Rundfunkorchester. Other recent highlights include Wesendonck Lieder with Karina Canellakis/Orchestre de Paris and with Kristiina Poska/Royal Stockholm Philharmonic; Schumann’s Faustszenen and Marie in Berg’s Wozzeck with Daniel Harding/Berliner Philharmoniker. She has performed Strauss’ Vier letzte Lieder with Daniel Barenboim in Berlin, Daniel Harding in Milan, Antonio Pappano in Rome, Yannick Nézet -Séguin in Rotterdam and Zubin Mehta in Valencia.

She is a renowned recitalist and has sung with Daniel Barenboim at the Schiller Theater and Boulez Saal in Berlin, and with Mitsuko Uchida at the Lucerne Festival, on tour in the US, culminating in a recital at Carnegie’s Stern Auditorium, and at Wigmore Hall, the live recording of which won the Grammy for the Best Solo Vocal Album in 2017. Recent appearances include Amsterdam’s Het Concertgebouw, the Wiener Konzerthaus and in Antwerp, Lisbon, Madrid, Barcelona, Cologne, Brussels, Oslo, Stockholm, Oxford , and at the Edinburgh, Munich, and Schwarzenberg Festivals.

Her extensive discography includes Pamina and Nannetta with Abbado; Strauss Vier letze Lieder with Nézet-Séguin; Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem with Rattle (winner of a Grammy and Gramophone Award); Mahler Symphony No 4 with Harding; Handel’s Neun Deutsche Arien with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin; Handel’s Messiah with McCreesh; Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with David Daniels and Fabio Biondi and a disc of Schumann songs with Ian Bostridge and Graham Johnson. She has released two acclaimed CDs on the Sony Classical label; in 2014, her debut recital album Portraits with Malcolm Martineau, and in 2015, a greatly anticipated Mozart arias disc with Daniel Harding and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Photo © Harald Hoffmann