Dara Kristin Hobbs is an American operatic soprano, who has appeared internationally, mostly in European opera houses. Her repertoire has focused on
dramatic soprano
A dramatic soprano is a type of operatic soprano with a powerful, rich, emotive voice that can sing over, or cut through, a full orchestra. Thicker vocal folds in dramatic voices usually (but not always) mean less agility than lighter voices but a ...
roles in operas by
Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
and
Strauss
Strauss, Strauß or Straus is a common Germanic surname. Outside Germany and Austria ''Strauß'' is always spelled ''Strauss'' (the letter " ß" is not used in the German-speaking part of Switzerland). In classical music, "Strauss" usually re ...
such as
Isolde and
Ariadne
Ariadne (; grc-gre, Ἀριάδνη; la, Ariadne) was a Cretan princess in Greek mythology. She was mostly associated with mazes and labyrinths because of her involvement in the myths of the Minotaur and Theseus. She is best known for havi ...
.
Career
Born in
Williams Bay, Wisconsin
Williams Bay is a village in Walworth County, Wisconsin, United States. It is one of three municipalities on Geneva Lake. The population was 2,564 at the 2010 census.
History
The village was named for Captain Israel Williams of Massachuset ...
, Hobbs studied at
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in European history in 1994 and Master of Music in 1997. She studied on a scholarship from the
American Institute of Musical Studies
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
in Graz in summer 2005, and at the Vocal Arts Symposium in
Spoleto
Spoleto (, also , , ; la, Spoletum) is an ancient city in the Italian province of Perugia in east-central Umbria on a foothill of the Apennines. It is S. of Trevi, N. of Terni, SE of Perugia; SE of Florence; and N of Rome.
History
Spolet ...
, Italy, in summer 2006.
She was a member of the
Theater Krefeld und Mönchengladbach Theater Krefeld und Mönchengladbach gGmbH is a daughter company of the German cities Krefeld and Mönchengladbach
Mönchengladbach (, li, Jlabbach ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located west of the Rhine, halfway betwee ...
from 2007 to 2012, where she performed title roles such as Verdi's ''
Aida
''Aida'' (or ''Aïda'', ) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 Decemb ...
'', Puccini's ''
Tosca
''Tosca'' is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1887 French-language drama ...
'' and
Suor Angelica
''Suor Angelica'' (''Sister Angelica'') is an opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an original Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano. It is the second opera of the trio of operas known as ''Il trittico'' (''The Triptych''). It received its wo ...
, and ''
Ariadne auf Naxos
(''Ariadne on Naxos''), Op. 60, is a 1912 opera by Richard Strauss with a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. The opera's unusual combination of elements of low commedia dell'arte with those of high opera seria points up one of the work's ...
'' by Richard Strauss. Other major parts included the Countess in Mozart's ''
Il nozze'', Lisa in Tchaikovsky's ''
Pique Dame'', and Elisabeth in Verdi's ''
Don Carlos
''Don Carlos'' is a five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French-language libretto by Joseph Méry and Camille du Locle, based on the dramatic play '' Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien'' (''Don Carlos, Infante of Spain'') by Fried ...
''.
From 2012, she has worked as a freelance singer.
Hobbs has appeared at the
Bayreuth Festival from 2013 as Ortlinde in ''
Die Walküre
(; ''The Valkyrie''), WWV 86B, is the second of the four music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (English: ''The Ring of the Nibelung''). It was performed, as a single opera, at the National Theatre Munich on ...
''.
She performed at opera houses in Europe and the US, often in parts by
Richard Strauss and
Richard Wagner. She performed Ariadne at the
Leipzig Opera
The Leipzig Opera (in German: ) is an opera house and opera company located at the Augustusplatz and the Inner City Ring Road at its east side in Leipzig's district Mitte, Germany.
History
Performances of opera in Leipzig trace back to Sing ...
, the
Staatsoper Hannover
Hanover State Opera (german: Staatsoper Hannover) is an opera company in Hanover, the state capital of Lower Saxony, Germany. The company is resident in the Hanover Opera House (), and is part of a publicly-funded umbrella performing arts organ ...
and the
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian in Lisbon.
She appeared as Senta in ''
Der fliegende Holländer
' (''The Flying Dutchman''), WWV 63, is a German-language opera, with libretto and music by Richard Wagner. The central theme is redemption through love. Wagner conducted the premiere at the Königliches Hoftheater Dresden in 1843.
Wagner cla ...
'' at the
Sarasota Opera
Sarasota Opera is a professional opera company in Sarasota, Florida, USA, which
was founded as the Asolo Opera Guild and, until 1974, presented a visiting company's productions. Between 1974 and 1979, it set about mounting its own productions in t ...
in Florida, as Sieglinde in ''Die Walküre'' at the
Frankfurt Opera, and as Isolde in ''
Tristan und Isolde
''Tristan und Isolde'' (''Tristan and Isolde''), WWV 90, is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the 12th-century romance Tristan and Iseult by Gottfried von Strassburg. It was comp ...
'' at
Theater Bonn
Theater Bonn (also known as the Stadttheater Bonn) is the municipal theatre company of Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is an organization that produces operas, musicals, ballets, plays, and concerts. It operates several performance venu ...
,
Theater Chemnitz
Theater Chemnitz is the municipal theatre organization in Chemnitz, Germany. Performances of opera, ballet, plays, symphonic concerts, and puppet theatre take place in its three main venues: the Opernhaus Chemnitz (for opera, ballet and musical th ...
,
Theater Regensburg,
Stadttheater Minden, and at
Schloss Neuschwanstein
Neuschwanstein Castle (german: Schloss Neuschwanstein, , Southern Bavarian: ''Schloss Neischwanstoa'') is a 19th-century historicist palace on a rugged hill above the village of Hohenschwangau near Füssen in southwest Bavaria, Germany. The p ...
.
![Fidelio, Hamm, applause](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Fidelio%2C_Hamm%2C_applause.jpg)
The performance in Minden, staged by
Matthias von Stegmann and played by the
Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie
The Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie (North West German Philharmonic) is a German symphony orchestra based in Herford. It was founded in 1950 and, along with Philharmonie Südwestfalen and Landesjugendorchester NRW, is one of the 'official' orchestr ...
conducted by
Frank Beermann
Frank Beermann (born 13 March 1965) is a German conductor. He was Generalmusikdirektor (GMD) at the Chemnitz Opera for several years, and has worked freelance at international opera houses from 2012. He has conducted premieres and recordings of ...
, with
Andreas Schager
Andreas Schager is an Austrian operatic tenor. He began his career as a tenor for operettas, but has developed into singing Heldentenor parts by Richard Wagner including Tristan, Siegmund, Siegfried and Parsifal. A member of the Staatsoper Berlin ...
as Tristan, received international recognition.
A reviewer from Vienna wrote called her performance sensational and described in detail her voice as well-trained, clear, full, and at the same time mellow and with metal luster in high range ("bestens durchgebildete, klare, große Stimme, zugleich weich, warm, voll und mit Metallklang in den Höhen, wo gefordert"), a voice to express the dramatic situations.
She appeared as Brünnhilde in ''
Der Ring in Minden
''Der Ring in Minden'' was a project to stage Richard Wagner's cycle ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' at the Stadttheater Minden, beginning in 2015 with ''Das Rheingold'', followed by the other parts in the succeeding years, and culminating with the com ...
'' from 2016 to 2019. On 10 July 2021, she appeared in the title role of Beethoven's ''
Fidelio
''Fidelio'' (; ), originally titled ' (''Leonore, or The Triumph of Marital Love''), Op. 72, is Ludwig van Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto was originally prepared by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly, wi ...
'' in a concert performance at the
Alfred Fischer Hall in Hamm as part of the KlassikSommer Hamm festival. Beermann conducted the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, choir and soloists.
Fidelio – Alles Freyheit?
Hamm 2021
References
External links
*
Dara Hobbs
Operabase
*
sarasotaopera.blogspot.de 2014
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hobbs, Dara
American operatic sopranos
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
People from Williams Bay, Wisconsin
Northwestern University alumni
Singers from Wisconsin
Classical musicians from Wisconsin
21st-century American women