Elza van den Heever – Triumphs at debuts in Bayreuth & Salzburg

Photo: Chris Gonz

In August 2024, Elza van den Heever achieved two brilliant highlights in her career:

At the Bayreuth Festival she made her highly anticipated debut as Elsa von Brabant in Wagner's Lohengrin in the acclaimed production by Yuval Sharon with stage designs by Rosa Loy and Neo Rauch. Alongside Piotr Beczała, Mika Kares, Miina-Liisa Värelä and Ólafur Sigurdarson, she impressed under the musical direction of Christian Thielemann with her radiant vocal power and great emotional intensity.

Just a few weeks later, her debut at the Salzburg Festival followed, where she shone with the Vienna Philharmonic under Yannick Nézet-Séguin as Sieglinde in the 1st act of Die Walküre. Together with Andreas Schager and Georg Zeppenfeld, she impressively brought Wagner's music to life. Die Presse praised her "perfectly focused, velvety soprano" (Bachtrack) and her "delightful and deeply moving Sieglinde" (Financial Times).

Both performances impressively underscored Elza's exceptional position among the dramatic sopranos of our time.