about Hildegard Behrens, p2

MS. BEHRENS started her musical career singing small roles at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf where she stayed for six years during which she graduated into bigger roles. Then in the 1975-76 season, while rehearsing Wozzeck, she was "discovered" by the great maestro Herbert von Karajan who was then looking for his new Salome. She was summoned to Berlin to audition for the role. Karajan liked what he heard and invited her to portray the role at the 1977 Salzburg Festival. The event was broadcast worldwide to rave reviews; she was an overnight sensation and has never looked back since. Her recording of Salome with Herbert von Karajan was recently re-released as part of EMI's Great Recordings of the Century series

Not surprisingly, Ms. Behrens is the recipient of many awards - among them the highest civilian honors given by the Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesverdienstkreuz or Order of the Merit Cross of the Federal Republic) and by the state of Bavaria (the Bayerischer Verdienstorden), and the esteemed titles of Bayerische Kammersängerin and Österreichische Kammersängerin bestowed by The Bavarian State Opera and the Vienna State Opera, respectively. In 1998, she received Denmark's most prestigious Leonie Sonning Music Prize and in 1999 the Vienna State Opera honored her with the Lotte Lehmann Ring, bequeathed to her by the late great dramatic soprano Leonie Rysanek.

Her offstage persona is quite unlike the roles she plays: aggressive, deranged, even murderous! She is the opposite of everyone's image of the prima donna, mild-mannered and soft-spoken, exuding a warmth and an undiva-like air of humility that her fans find quite endearing. To this day, she continues to amaze with her physical agility and natural grace, her vocal longevity and dramatic prowess - it is with very good reason that the director Oscar Fritz Schuh called her the...

Ms. Behrens is the most sought after Brünnhilde, a role she has sang in many Ring Cycles - at the MET, the Bavarian State Opera, the Vienna State Opera, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, London's Royal Albert Hall among others. Of her Brünnhilde Sir Peter Hall, who directed her in her much acclaimed role debut at the Bayreuth Centennial production of The Ring Cycle (1983-87), had this to say:

Needless to say, he can speak these very same words about her portrayal of the role today. - ©GC/FanFaire 1997-2009

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