Erika Köth Suggest updates
Born Darmstadt, 15 September 1925.
Died Speyer, 20 February 1989.
German soprano.
Erika Köth enjoyed a career as a coloratura soprano in the leading German and Austrian houses, especially Munich and Vienna. Her most important roles included Mozart (Konstanze, Susanna, Despina, Pamina, Queen of Night); Donizetti (Lucia), Strauss (Sophie, Zerbinetta) and Stravinsky (Anne Trulove).
In 1947 she was joint winner (with Christa Ludwig) of a Hess Radio singing prize. Her debut the following year was at Kaiserslautern (Philine Mignon). She was then under contract at Karlsruhe (1950-53. From 1953 she sang at major houses including Munich and Vienna.
When the Munich company visited Covent Garden in 1953 she appeared in Arabella (Fiakermilli) and Capriccio (Italian soprano).
She also performed at Bayreuth 1965-8 (Woodbird Siegfried) and La Scala, as well as making extensive tours of the United Sttates and Russia.
Her two visits to the Edinburgh Festival were with the companies from Stuttgart (1958) and West Berlin (1971). On both occasions she sang Konstanze.
