Štěpánka Pučalková
Oper Leipzig – Der Rosenkavalier (Octavian)
— Leipziger Volkszeitung (March 30, 2024)
Heilbronn – The Song of the Earth
The Czech mezzo-soprano Štěpánka Pučálková and the German tenor [...] take on the two parts with impressive intensity. […] the mezzo-soprano does not merely sing it; she makes it palpable.
Pučálková impresses with an expressive voice, powerful and crystal-clear, with a fine vibrato.
— Heilbronner Stimme (May 2025)Upcoming
LATVIAN NATIONAL OPERA
Strauss - Der Rosenkavalier - Octavian
Oct 8/19, March 25, June 4/8
PRAGUE NATIONAL THEATRE
Bizet - Carmen - Carmen
Oct 30, May 5/14
Tonkünstler Orchestra of Lower Austria
Mozart - Requiem
Dec 5 Wiener Neustadt / City Theatre
Dec 7 Festspielhaus St. Pölten / Great Hall
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INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL ZLATA PRAHA
Opera Gala
Sep 26
LATVIAN NATIONAL OPERA
Strauss - Der Rosenkavalier - Octavian
Oct 8/19, March 25, June 4/8
PRAGUE NATIONAL THEATRE
Bizet - Carmen - Carmen
Oct 30, May 5/14Tonkünstler Orchestra of Lower Austria
Mozart - Requiem
Dec 5 Wiener Neustadt / City Theatre
Dec 7 Festspielhaus St. Pölten / Great HallHET CONCERTGEBOUW
Janáček - Glagolitic Mass
Jan 16FIRLHARMONIE BOHUSLAVA MARTINU
Mahler - Das Lied von der Erde
Jan 28
Biography
The Czech mezzo-soprano Štěpánka Pučálková is in demand internationally as both an opera and concert singer, praised for “a genuinely velvety, full-bodied mezzo timbre” (Concerti, 4/24).
Building on her critically acclaimed debut as Octavian in Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier at Oper Leipzig - described by the Leipziger Volkszeitung (31 March 2024) as “not far from the ideal for this role” - she will reprise Octavian in a new production at the Latvian National Opera in Riga in the 2026/27 season. Further stage appearances include two role debuts: Queen Elisabeth of Pomerania in Vítězslav Novák’s Karlštejn at the National Theatre Prague, and Maddalena in an open-air production of Verdi’s Rigoletto in summer 2027. In concert, she will sing Mozart’s Requiem with the Tonkünstler Orchestra at the Festspielhaus St. Pölten, and Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass under Karina Canellakis at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
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In 2025/26, she returned to the Semperoper Dresden as Flora Bervoix (La traviata) and the Second Lady (Die Zauberflöte), and to the National Theatre Prague as Adalgisa (Norma) and Carmen. She also sang the Second Lady in a new production of Die Zauberflöte by Rolando Villazón under Roberto González-Monjas at the Mozartwoche Salzburg. House debuts followed at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome as Rossweisse in Wagner’s Die Walküre under Daniel Harding, and at MusikTheater an der Wien as Dorothea in Verdi’s Stiffelio under Jérémie Rhorer in a staging by Vasily Barkhatov. At the Prague Spring Festival, she made her role debut as Marguerite in Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust with the Prague Symphony Orchestra under Tomáš Netopil. Concert engagements took her to Vienna, Prague, and Messina in Sicily.
In 2024/25 she appeared in Dresden as Ascanio (Benvenuto Cellini), Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro), and Flora Bervoix (La traviata), and in Prague as Charlotte (Werther). House debuts included Agnese del Maino in Beatrice di Tenda at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf, Nicklausse/Muse in Les Contes d’Hoffmann at the Latvian National Opera in Riga, Carmen at the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava, and the Page in Salome at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples. Further engagements included Carmen in Prague and Flora at the Salzburg Whitsun Festival.
On the concert stage she performed Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in the Großes Festspielhaus Salzburg with the Mozarteumorchester under Roberto González-Monjas; Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra at the St. Wenceslas Music Festival in Ostrava; Verdi’s Messa da Requiem with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra under Alessandro Bonato; Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde in Prague; and performances with Risto Joost and the Württembergisches Kammerorchester in Heilbronn. She also sang Dvořák’s Requiem with the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra under Michael Sanderling, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the Tonkünstler Orchestra in St. Pölten and at the Musikverein Vienna.
As a member of the Semperoper Dresden ensemble from 2018 to 2024, she sang roles including Nicklausse/Muse, Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus), Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel), Varvara (Katya Kabanova), Ascanio (Benvenuto Cellini), and Mulier Samaritana in Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 under Christian Thielemann. Additional concert appearances took her to Madrid, Prague, Košice, and the Smetana Festival in Litomyšl.Her operatic repertoire further includes Lola (Cavalleria rusticana), Sesto Pompeo (Giulio Cesare), Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Olga (Eugen Onegin), Wellgunde and Waltraute (Der Ring des Nibelungen), Messaggera (L’Orfeo), and Urbain (Les Huguenots).
In concert she has performed Schoenberg’s Gurre-Lieder, Wagner’s Wesendonck-Lieder, Mozart’s Krönungsmesse and Davide penitente, Bruckner’s Te Deum, and Mendelssohn’s Ein Sommernachtstraum.
Guest engagements have included the Salzburg Festival, Beijing Music Festival, Dvořák Prague International Music Festival, Smetana Festival in Litomyšl, National Theatre Prague, Wiener Volksoper, Teatro Monumental in Madrid, Isarphilharmonie in Munich, and the Frauenkirche Dresden.
She works regularly with conductors such as Christian Thielemann, Daniele Gatti, Vladimir Jurowski, Lorenzo Viotti, Semyon Bychkov, Kristiina Poska, Plácido Domingo, Alan Gilbert, Antonio Fogliani, Friedrich Haider, Marco Guidarini, Leo Hussain, Roland Böer, and Martin Leginus, and with directors including Peter Konwitschny, Vera Nemirova, Stefan Herheim, Josef E. Köpplinger, Mariusz Treliński, Jiří Heřman, Eike Gramss, Immo Karaman, and Keith Warner.
Her work has been honoured with numerous prizes, among them the Lilli Lehmann Medal of the Stiftung Mozarteum Salzburg, the Director’s Prize of the National Theatre Prague for young artists under 35, the Czech Music Theatre Prize “Thalia”, and the Special Prize for Best Female Voice at the Concours International de Belcanto Vincenzo Bellini in Marseille. She was a finalist in the 2015 International Hans-Gabor-Belvedere Singing Competition. Numerous broadcasts and recordings, including on ZDF and arte, document her artistic activity.
Štěpánka Pučálková was born in Berlin. She completed her vocal studies at the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg with Univ.-Prof. KS Elisabeth Wilke and earned her master’s degree in opera and music theatre with Josef Wallnig and Eike Gramss.
2026/2027
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