Júlia Várady

Júlia Várady (; born 1 September 1941) is a Hungarian-born German soprano who started out as a mezzo-soprano. She performed internationally at major opera houses and festivals.

Life and career

She was born Tőzsér Júlia in Nagyvárad, Hungary (today Oradea, Romania) on 1 September 1941. Her father was Hungarian and her mother a German from Transylvania. At the age of six she began violin lessons at the Conservatory in Cluj and then, aged fourteen, voice training with Emilia Popp. She later studied voice with at the Ciprian Porumbescu Conservatory in Bucharest.

She made her debut, as a mezzo-soprano, with the Cluj Opera in 1962, in Gluck's '' Orfeo ed Euridice''.

In 1970, she joined the Oper Frankfurt where she appeared as Antonia in Offenbach's ''Les contes d'Hoffmann'', as Elisabetta in Verdi's '' Don Carlo'' and as Donna Elvira in Mozart's ''Don Giovanni''. She performed as a guest at the Cologne Opera as Fiordiligi in Mozart's ''Così fan tutte'' and in the title role of Verdi's '' La traviata''. She portrayed Vitellia in Mozart's ''La clemenza di Tito'' at the 1973 Munich Opera Festival and then became a member of the ensemble of the Bavarian State Opera. She was admired there as Lady Macbeth in Verdi's ''Macbeth''. She appeared at the 1975 Munich Opera Festival as Elettra in Mozart's ''Idomeneo''. Other roles in Munich included Santuzza in Mascagni's ''Cavalleria rusticana'', the title roles of Verdi's '' La traviata'' and ''Aida'', and Puccini's ''Madama Butterfly''. She performed also as Verdi's Leonora in '' La forza del destino'', Puccini's Liu in ''Turandot'' and Wagner's Senta in '' Der fliegende Holländer''. She later joined the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where she performed as the Countess in Mozart's ''Le nozze di Figaro'' in 1978, as Aida in 1982, as Sieglinde in Wagner's ''Die Walküre'' on a 1987 tour of the company to Japan, as Desdemona in Verdi's ''Otello'' in 1991, as Elisabeth in Wagner's '' Tannhäuser'' in 1992 and as Senta in 1994.

She appeared internationally as a guest, performing the title role of Gluck's '' Alceste'' at the Edinburgh Festival in 1974. She performed at the Salzburg Festival as Elettra in 1976, as Vitellia in 1977, and as Donna Elvira in 1987. She performed as Elvira at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1977, and as Elettra at La Scala in Milan in 1984. She appeared at the Royal Opera House in London in 1987 as Desdemona in Verdi's ''Otello'' and in 1992 as Senta. She performed as Abigaille in Verdi's ''Nabucco'' at the Opéra Bastille in Paris in 1995, and as Leonora in Verdi's '' Il trovatore'' at the Vienna State Opera in 1996..

Várady was married to the German baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau from 1977 until his death in 2012. In 1978 she created the role of Cordelia in the world premiere of Aribert Reimann's opera '' Lear'' in Munich, alongside her husband in the title role. In 1998, she retired from opera. She is currently a guest professor at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin.

Roles

Várady performed most roles on stage. Roles that she sang only in the studio (such as the Empress in Strauss's ''Die Frau ohne Schatten'') or in concert performances (such as Leonore in Beethoven's ''Fidelio'' and Fidelia in Puccini's ''Edgar'') are not included.

* Bartók: Judit in ''Bluebeard's Castle''
* Bizet: Micaëla in ''Carmen''
* Borodin: Konchakovna in '' Prince Igor''
* Gluck:
** Alceste
** Orfeo in '' Orfeo ed Euridice''
* Gounod: Marguerite in ''Faust''
* Handel: Ginevra in ''Ariodante''
* Mascagni: Santuzza in ''Cavalleria rusticana''
* Mozart:
** Elettra in ''Idomeneo''
** Susanna, Cherubino and Countess in ''Le nozze di Figaro''
** Elvira and Anna in ''Don Giovanni''
** Fiordiligi in ''Così fan tutte''
** Vitellia in ''La clemenza di Tito''
** Pamina in ''Die Zauberflöte''
* Offenbach: Giulietta and Antonia in ''Les contes d'Hoffmann''
* Puccini:
** Cio-Cio-San and Kate Pinkerton in ''Madama Butterfly''
** Giorgetta in '' Il tabarro''
** Liù in ''Turandot''
* Reimann: Cordelia in '' Lear''
* Rossini:
** Angelina in ''La Cenerentola''
** Adèle in '' Le Comte Ory''

* Schönberg: Girl in '' Moses und Aron''
* J. Strauss: Saffi in '' Der Zigeunerbaron''
* R. Strauss:
** Arabella
** Composer in ''Ariadne auf Naxos''
* Tchaikovsky:
** Tatyana in ''Eugene Onegin''
** Lisa in '' The Queen of Spades''
* Verdi:
** Abigaille and Fenena in ''Nabucco''
** Leonora in '' Il trovatore''
** Violetta in '' La traviata''
** Leonora in '' La forza del destino''
** Amelia in '' Un ballo in maschera''
** Thibault and Élisabeth in ''Don Carlos''
** Aida
** Desdemona in ''Otello''
* Wagner:
** Irene in '' Rienzi''
** Senta in '' Der fliegende Holländer''
** Eva in ''Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg''
** Freia in ''Das Rheingold''
** Siegrune and Sieglinde in ''Die Walküre''

Recordings

* ''Julia Varady: Song of Passion'' – DVD (documentary and recordings of live performances) EMI Classics
* Bartok: ''Bluebeard's Castle'', with Fischer-Dieskau and Wolfgang Sawallisch, cond. - CD, 1979. Deutsche Grammophon
* ''Richard Strauss: Arias from Salome, Ariadne, Danae, Capriccio'' – CD. Bamberg Symphony, Fischer-Dieskau, conductor, Orfeo
* ''Giacomo Puccini: Arias from Madama Butterfly, Tosca, La bohème, La rondine, Gianni Schicchi, Manon Lescaut, Turandot, Suor Angelica'' – CD, 1995. Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Marcello Viotti, cond., Orfeo
* ''Tchaikowsky: Arias from Eugene Onegin, The Maid of Orleans, Mazeppa, The Sorceress (The Enchantress), The Queen of Spades, Iolanta'' – CD, 2000. Munich Radio Orchestra, Roman Kofman, cond, Orfeo
* ''Wagner: Wesendonck Lieder and arias from Tristan und Isolde, Götterdämmerung'' – CD, 1997. Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Fischer-Dieskau, conductor, Orfeo
* ''Verdi Heroines'', arias from Nabucco, II Trovatore, La Traviata, Un Ballo In Maschera, La Forza Del Destino – CD, 1995. Bavarian State Orchestra, Fischer-Dieskau, conductor, Orfeo
* ''J. S. Bach: Coffee Cantata, Peasant Cantata'' – CD, London 11/1981, with Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Philips Digital Classics
* ''Mozart/Strauss Lieder'' – CD, Berlin, 1991, with Elena Bashkirova, piano, Orfeo
* ''Mozart: Don Giovanni'', 1987, Karajan, Vienna Philharmonic, DVD, Telemondial/Sony.
* ''Mozart's Lucio Silla'' - Leopold Hager conducting the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, 1975, Deutsche Grammophon
* ''Meyerbeer: Gli amori di Teolinda'' – CD, Berlin, 1983, RIAS Kammerchor, Radio-Symphonie-Orchester-Berlin, Jörg Fadle (clarinet) and Gerd Albrecht cond., Orfeo
* ''Mascagni/Leoncavallo: Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci'', CD, 1978. Decca

References

Cited sourced

*

* Rosenthal, H. and Warrack, J. (eds.), "Varady Julia", ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera'', 2nd Edition, Oxford University Press, 1979. p. 519

External links

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Julia Varady (Soprano)
Bach Cantatas

{{DEFAULTSORT:Varady, Julia
1941 births
Living people
Grammy Award winners
Hungarian expatriates in Germany
Hungarian operatic sopranos
People from Oradea
Academic staff of the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin
20th-century Hungarian women opera singers