Birgid Steinberger

Birgid Steinberger was born in Burghausen, Bavaria and received her musical training in Salzburg, Hanover and Basel. She made her operatic debut at the Heidelberger Schlossfestspiele as Despina in Così fan tutte. After an engagement at the Basel Opera, she became a soloist in the ensemble of the Wiener Staatsoper and Volksoper, where she soon became an audience favourite, performing in opera and operetta with equal success. Her roles have included: Susanna Le Nozze di Figaro, Despina Così fan tutte, Zerlina Don Giovanni, Servilia Titus, Pamina Die Zauberflöte, Sophie Der Rosenkavalier, Ännchen Der Freischütz, Adele Die Fledermaus, Franziska Wiener Blut, Valencienne The Merry Widow at the Vienna Staatsoper under John Eliot Gardiner, Christl Der Voglhändler and many others. The soprano has also recently been successful in repertoire as varied and demanding as Donizetti’s Adina L’Elisir d’Amore and Titania in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Birgid Steinberger has made guest appearances at the Bregenzer Festspiele as Marzelline Fidelio, at the “Mozart in Schönbrunn” Festival in Vienna, at the Seefestspiele Mörbisch as Christl, repeatedly at the Berlin State Opera Zar und Zimmermann, Der Freischütz, the Deutsche Oper Berlin The Merry Wives of Windsor and the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich where she sang Adele in the new production of Die Fledermaus, under Simone Young and later with Zubin Mehta, with great success.

Conductors with whom she has worked include Bertrand de Billy, Adam Fischer, Lawrence Foster, John Eliot Gardiner, Leopold Hager, Thomas Hengelbrock, Philippe Jordan, Zubin Metha, Kirill Petrenko, Ulf Schirmer, Sebastian Weigle, and Simone Young.

In addition to her opera engagements, Birgid Steinberger has also earned an international reputation on the concert platform in particular as a song interpreter and has performed in Vienna, in the Schubertiade in Feldkirch, Styriarte Graz, in Cologne, Helsingborg, Lisbon, London Wigmore Hall, Paris, New York, Oxford, St. Petersburg and Stuttgart. She has given duo-recitals with Wolfgang Holzmair and others. With a particular affinity for the songs of Wolf, she was a prizewinner as a student in the Hugo Wolf Society’s Competition in Stuttgart and has given many Wolf evenings including several performances of his Italienisches Liederbuch. Her recital partners have included the pianists Helmut Deutsch, Julius Drake, Carolyn Hague, Hartmut Höll, Graham Johnson, Russel Ryan, Eric Schneider and Roger Vignoles.

Her recordings include Despina Così fan tutte, Zerlina Don Giovanni and Susanna Le Nozze di Figaro with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Bertrand de Billy. CDs with songs of J.M. Kraus and with songs of Schubert were recorded by NAXOS. A recording of songs by Wolf together with Wolfgang Holzmair and Russel Ryan was published.

Birgid Steinberger is Professor of song and oratorio at Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna and was entiteled “Kammersängerin” in 2009. Since 2010 she is also Professor at the University for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna.

Last updated - July 2019