Opera Scotland

Leandra Overmann Suggest updates

Born Belgrade c1956

Died Stuttgart, 20 April 2012.

Yugoslav (Serbian) mezzo-soprano.

Leandra Overmann was a tall and dramatically powerful singing-actress who spent most of her career with German opera companies. Her only appearances in Britain were at the Edinburgh Festivals of 2004 and 2006, where she enjoyed notable success, especially as Azucena and Klytemnestra.

She studied at the Belgrade Conservatoire and at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia in Rome. Her first role with the Belgrade Opera was Rosina in The Barber of Seville, and she moved soon afterwards to Germany, with scholarships to study in Cologne and Düsseldorf. She made her debut at the Detmold Landestheater in 1977, remaining with them for five years. She worked at Munich, Dresden and Bonn, and joined the Staatsoper Hannover in 2002. As well as further engagements in Belgrade, she worked internationally, with appearances in Austria (Vienna); Italy (Milan, Rome); Spain (Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia); and Switzerland (Basle).

Her repertoire included major roles by Wagner (Fricka, Erda, Waltraute, Kundry); Verdi (Ulrica, Azucena, Amneris, Eboli); and Strauss (Herodias, Klytemnestra). In Hannover she added a range of parts including Baba the Turk, Santuzza, Kostelnička, Marina, and Mother in Luigi Nono's Al gran sole carico d'amore. One of her last new roles in 2011 was Begbick in Weill's Mahagonny with Vlaamse Opera. That and the Hannover Trovatore were both directed by Calixto Bieito.

Her performances in Il trovatore and Al gran sole met with considerable success when the Hannover company came to the 2004 Edinburgh Festival, and she was invited back in 2006 for an equally memorable concert performance of Elektra.

In February 2012 she worked as stage director on a production of L'Enfant et le Sortilèges in Freiburg. From 2002 she taught at the Würzburg Hochschule für Musik.