Celebrations in the 2017/18 season to mark the 50^th anniversary of Edita Gruberová’s first stage appearance will begin with a gala concert at the Deutsche Oper Berlin featuring the singer herself. The road to international fame as the prima donna assoluta of dramatic coloratura singing was strewn with obstacles early on. After studying at the Bratislava conservatory, she gave her debut at the Bratislava opera house as Rosina in Rossini’s BARBER OF SEVILLE and then spent three years as a member of the ensemble of Banská Bystrica opera house, taking the role of Violetta in Verdi’s LA TRAVIATA and singing all four female roles in Offenbach’s LES CONTES D’HOFFMANN. After an audition at the Wiener Staatsoper Edita Gruberová joined its ensemble, a move that soon led to her having to leave her homeland for good until the fall of the Iron Curtain. Her break-through came at the Wiener Staatsoper in a turn as Zerbinetta in a new production of Strauss’s ARIADNE AUF NAXOS under the baton of Karl Böhm. The performance marked the beginning of a triumphant career that has taken Gruberová to the stages of major opera houses in Europe and around the globe and seen her singing roles such as Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, Mozart’s Queen of the Night and Konstanze and, increasingly, dramatic bel canto parts. Donizetti’s Tudor trilogy, in particular, continues to have a special place in her repertoire: in recent years, too, Edita Gruberová has repeatedly earned plaudits as Elisabetta in ROBERTO DEVEREUX and as the eponymous heroine in ANNA BOLENA and LUCREZIA BORGIA. Aside from the Viennese Staatsoper, the opera houses of Zurich and Munich became regular venues for her and she was also a very popular visitor to Berlin. In 1980 she debuted at the Deutsche Oper Berlin in a new production of LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR and in 2004 gave her 200^th turn in that role in the self-same production at the Bismarckstraße venue. Her most recent appearance here was in 2016 as Norma in a concertante performance of the opera.

The Deutsche Oper Berlin is privileged to join Edita Gruberová in marking the 50^th anniversary of her first stage appearance. Featuring excerpts from operas by Mozart, Verdi and Donizetti, the gala concert will cover key works in the repertoire of – in the words of the Süddeutsche Zeitung a few years ago – this “prima donna assoluterova”.