Claudia Mahnke
Oper Frankfurt – Guercoeur
Claudia Mahnke measures the spectrum between lyricism and drama for Guercoeur's widow Giselle.
Die-deutsche-buehne.de (February 3, 2025)Zurich Opera – Walküre
Claudia Mahnke celebrates a personal triumph as Fricka with an equally elegant and intense embodiment.
onlinemerker.com (May 21, 2024)
Season 25/26 and Highlights
BERLIN STATE OPERA
Wagner - Rheingold - Fricka
Sep 27, Oct 5
Wagner - Walküre - Fricka
Sep 28, Oct 7
OPER FRANKFURT
Mussorgsky - Boris Godunov - Schankwirtin
Nov 2/6/8/14/21/23/26
Wagner - Tristan and Isolde - Brangäne
March 22/28, April 3/6/11
Fortner - Bluthochzeit - Mother
PREMIERE May 10
May 15/24/31, June 6/15
YOMIURI NIPPON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Pfitzner - Von deutscher Seele - Mezzo
Jan 20
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BAVARIAN STATE OPERA MUNICH
Strauss - Salome - Herodias
Feb 23/26, March 1/5
Wagner - Walküre - Waltraute
PREMIERE June 25
June 28, July 1/4/8
Biography
Claudia Mahnke has established herself as one of today’s leading mezzo-sopranos, captivating audiences on the international opera and concert stages with her warm and versatile voice.
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In the 2025/26 season, Claudia Mahnke will once again appear as Fricka in Dmitri Tcherniakov’s Ring cycle at the Berlin State Opera. At her home theatre, the Frankfurt Opera, she will be featured in a new production of Boris Godunov, as Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde, and in a new staging of Fortner’s Bluthochzeit. The Bavarian State Opera in Munich has engaged her as Herodias in Salome and as Waltraute in the new production of Die Walküre. At the Vienna Musikverein, the mezzo-soprano will perform in concert with the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra in a program featuring works by Nadia Boulanger.
Recent highlights include her role debut as Countess Geschwitz in the new production of Lulu and as Giselle in Magnard’s Guercœur, both at the Frankfurt Opera; her Metropolitan Opera debut as Magdalene (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) under Antonio Pappano; performances as Herodias (Salome) at the Vienna State Opera and Hamburg State Opera; appearances as Fricka at the Berlin State Opera under the batons of Christian Thielemann, Thomas Guggeis, and Philippe Jordan; and her acclaimed debuts as Amneris (Aida) and Mère Marie in the Frankfurt new production of Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites.
Claudia Mahnke holds the honorary title of Kammersängerin of the City of Frankfurt, where she has been a member of the ensemble since the 2006/07 season. Recent roles there include Herodias in Salome (production by Barrie Kosky, conducted by Joana Mallwitz), the Foreign Princess (Rusalka), Marie (Wozzeck), Sélika in Meyerbeer’s L’Africaine(production by Tobias Kratzer), Charlotte (Werther), Lucretia (The Rape of Lucretia), Dido (Les Troyens), Concepción (L’heure espagnole), Judith (Bluebeard’s Castle), Marguerite (La Damnation de Faust), Brangäne (Tristan und Isolde), Waltraute and the Second Norn (Götterdämmerung), the Composer (Ariadne auf Naxos), Kundry (Parsifal), and the Mother (Hänsel und Gretel).
At the Bavarian State Opera, she has appeared as Auntie (Peter Grimes), Magdalene (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) under Kirill Petrenko, Silla (Palestrina), and Frugola (Il tabarro). The Hamburg State Opera has featured her as Kundry, Waltraute, and Brangäne. She has also performed at the Theater an der Wien as La Grande Vestale in Spontini’s La Vestale under Bertrand de Billy. In San Francisco, she appeared as Dorabella, Cherubino, and Zerlina. Her signature role of Judith (Bluebeard’s Castle) was also heard at LA Opera. As Jocasta in Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex, she enjoyed great success at the Semperoper Dresden. Her Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier) delighted audiences in Cologne, where she was also acclaimed as Brangäne. As Adriano in Rienzi, she drew major attention at Madrid’s Teatro Real.
Claudia Mahnke made her Bayreuth Festival debut in 2013 as Fricka, Waltraute, and the Second Norn in the new Ringunder Kirill Petrenko, with whom she also sang Brangäne at the Ruhrtriennale.
From 1996 to 2006, Claudia Mahnke was a member of the ensemble at the Stuttgart State Opera, where her deeply moving portrayal of the title role in Karl Amadeus Hartmann’s Simplicius Simplicissimus earned her multiple nominations as “Singer of the Year” by Opernwelt magazine. In August 2006, she was named Kammersängerin of the Stuttgart State Opera.
Claudia Mahnke’s extensive concert repertoire spans from Bach’s Mass in B Minor, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Missa solemnis, and Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri, to Berg’s Altenberg Lieder, Schönberg’s Gurre-Lieder, and Penderecki’s Credo. A central focus of her concert work is the music of Gustav Mahler — including Das Lied von der Erde under Sylvain Cambreling in Berlin and the Resurrection Symphony under Lorenzo Viotti in Cologne.
Claudia Mahnke studied voice with Professor Heidi Petzold at the Hochschule für Musik in Dresden.
2025/26
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