It was not long ago that Gabriele Schnaut gave the last demonstration of her stage presence on the Deutsche Oper Berlin. As Herodias in Strauss's SALOME, she showed in March 2019 how a striking character profile can be formed even from the short, bitter interjections Strauss assigned to this character, into which the experiences of an entire singer's life flow. In a certain way, Gabriele Schnaut has even come full circle with these roles, because - like Martha Mödl before her - she had begun her career in the lower vocal regions before opening up the roles of the highly dramatic soprano from the mid-1980s onwards. Since her international breakthrough in 1988 in Ruth Berghaus' legendary production of TRISTAN at the Hamburg State Opera, she has performed the central roles of this genre for over twenty years on all the world's great stages, not least at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where Gabriele Schnaut made her debut as Venus in TANNHÄUSER in 1985, when she was still a mezzo-soprano. This was followed at the Bismarckstraße by Ortrud, Isolde, Brünnhilde, Turandot, Elektra and the Färberin in FRAU OHNE SCHATTEN. The radiance of Schnaut's voice is documented on numerous recordings, including not only Wagner's works but also recordings of Franz Schreker's DER FERNE KLANG and DER SCHATZGRÄBER. Gabriele Schnaut was always a singer who was able to clearly assess the possibilities of her voice: in 2008 she initiated the change to character roles, which brought her another glorious career in her later years, with roles such as Klytämnestra in ELEKTRA and the Küsterin in JENUFA. Gabriele Schaut also passed on this knowledge of the voice to the next generation of singers and worked as a professor at the Berlin University of the Arts from 2005 to 2014. Now the multi-award-winning singer has passed away at the age of 72. The Deutsche Oper Berlin will honour her memory.