Danae Kontora
Soprano
With a voice described as “brilliant to its highest notes” (Süddeutsche Zeitung), Greek coloratura soprano Danae Kontora is already a name of note in repertoire ranging from Classical to contemporary, with the role of Die Königin der Nacht (Die Zauberflöte) forming the backbone of recent seasons.
Since her first appearance in the role at Oper Leipzig, Kontora has subsequently performed Die Königin at Semperoper Dresden, Oper Frankfurt, Aalto Musiktheater Essen, and in Barrie Kosky’s iconic production which she reprises for the Komische Oper at their home in Berlin as well as on tour to Macao and Taiwan this season.
During her seasons as a young artist in Oper Frankfurt’s Opernstudio, and as an ensemble member of Oper Leipzig, Danae Kontora built a varied operatic repertoire including Blondchen (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Marion Delorme in Gounod’s Cinq-Mars, Blumenmädchen I (Parsifal), Waldvogel (Siegfried), Tigrane (Radamisto), Barbarina (Le nozze di Figaro), and Taumännchen (Hänsel und Gretel).
Elsewhere on the opera stage, Danae recently sang her first Frasquita (Carmen) for Greek National Opera, and Oscar (Un ballo in maschera) for Israeli Opera, and will make debuts in the current season as Zerbinetta (Ariadne auf Naxos) at Finnish National Opera and at Wiener Staatsoper as Frantzi in Johannes Maria Staud’s Die Weiden.
On the concert stage, Kontora joined the Gewandhausorchester under Andris Nelsons as part of the orchestra’s 275th Anniversary Celebrations, the Münchner Rundfunkorchester for Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream under Mario Venzago, the Orchestra of Oper Frankfurt and Sebastian Weigle for Mendelssohn’s Elias, the Bamberger Symphoniker under Juraj Valcuha at Würzburg’s Mozartfest for Mozart’s Requiem and appeared at the Munich Biennale Festival of Contemporary Music in Claude Viviers’ Kopernikus. Following her debut at the Edinburgh International Festival last year as Waldvogel (Siegfried), Kontora was invited to return this year as Woglinde (Götterdämmerung) with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra under Sir Andrew Davis and also makes her BBC Proms debut with Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen under Constantinos Carydis in a virtuosic programme of Mozart and Strauss.
Danae Kontora trained at Munich’s Hochschule für Musik und Theater and Bayerische Theaterakademie August Everding, and was awarded the Bayerische Kunstförderpreis in 2015, the same year of her nomination for "Best Young Singer" by Opernwelt.