Wagner, Sieglinde

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Wagner, Sieglinde

Wagner, Sieglinde, Austrian mezzo-soprano; b. Linz, April 21, 1921. She studied at the Linz Cons, and with Luise Willer and Carl Hartmann in Munich. In 1942 she made her operatic debut as Erda in Linz. From 1947 to 1952 she sang at the Vienna Volksoper. In 1949 she made her first appearance at the Salzburg Festival as the 2ndLady in Die Zauberflöte,and returned there to create the roles of Lady Capulet in Blacher’s Romeo und Julia (1950), Leda in Strauss’s Die Liebe der Danae (official premiere, Aug. 14, 1952), and Frau Jensen in Wagner-Régeny’s Das Bergwerk zu Falun (1961). In 1952 she became a member of the Berlin Städtische Oper. After it became the Deutsche Oper in 1961, she continued as a member until 1986. In 1962 she made her debut as Flosshelde at the Bayreuth Festival, where she made regular appearances until 1973. She also pursued an active career as a concert artist.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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