American mezzo-soprano.
Following vocal studies in Boston and Vienna, Linda Watson began her career as a mezzo-soprano, making her debut in Aachen in 1992.
In 1995 she joined the ensemble of Oper Leipzig, where her roles included Brangäne Tristan und Isolde and Venus Tannhäuser, and made her soprano debut as Sieglinde Die Walküre in Essen; her debut at Bayreuth as Kundry Parsifal in 1998 established her as one of the world's preeminent dramatic sopranos. In 1997 she joined the ensemble of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Düsseldorf, where her roles have included Leonore Fidelio, Kundry, Isolde, Ortrud, Elisabeth Tannhäuser, Brünnhilde, the Marschallin, Dyer's Wife Die Frau ohne Schatten and the title roles in Ariadne auf Naxos and Elektra.
She has sung Brünnhilde in complete Ring cycles at Bayreuth and the Vienna State Opera, and in Buenos Aires; Kundry and Isolde for the Metropolitan Opera, New York; Ortrud at Bayreuth and La Scala, Milan; Venus at the Vienna State Opera; and roles in Munich, Berlin, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Florence, Bologna, Amsterdam, and Los Angeles.
Her most recent engagements include Brünnhilde Die Walküre and Isolde in Düsseldorf, and Herodias Salome at La Scala.
She teaches at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna and was appointed Kammersängerin at the Vienna State Opera in 2020.
(Programme note 2022)
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