Brigitte Fassbaender
Director
© Marc Gilsdorf
Brigitte Fassbaender ended her long and illustrious singing career, during which she was a regular guest at leading opera houses and festival all over the world, in 1995. Now she's back at Oper Frankfurt, where she staged wonderful productions of Ariadne auf Naxos, Capriccio, Britten's Paul Bunyan and A Midsummer Night's Dream (the fourth time she's staged the work!) and the world premiere of Vito Žuraj's Blühen / Blossoming (voted world premiere of the Year by Opernwelt) for this new Parsifal. Recent productions, and this is the 95th! have included a wonderful Ring at the Tirol Festival in Erl, Dame Kobold and Lucia die Lammermoor at Theater Regensburg, Martha at Schloss (castle) Tabor, Henze's The Young Lord at the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich, Die Frau ohne Schatten in Kiel, Hänsel und Gretel at the Staatstheater in Braunschweig, where she was interim Opera Director from 1995-1997, and Il barbiere di Siviglia, Gianni Schicchi and La cambiale di matrimonio in Bregenz. She was Intendant of the Landestheater in Innsbruck from 1999-2012, where her many successful productions included Carmen, Les Troyens, Arabella Der Rosenkavalier Elektra and a Britten cycle, Artistic Director of the Richard Strauss Festival in Garmisch-Partenkirchen from 2009-2017 and has been running the »Eppaner Liedsommer« festival since 2002. Brigitte Fassbaender was born in Berlin and studied with her father, Ks Willy Domgraf-Fassbaender. Her long and triumphant career as a mezzo-soprano began when she made her debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich when she was 21. She appeared at leading opera houses and festivals around the world until she retired from the stage in 1995. This award winning artist and much sought-after singing teacher's career is documented by an extensive discography, of roughly 300 recordings. She was awarded an ECHO Classic in 2017 for her lifetime's achievements and the 2002 German recording critics' »Nightingale« prize and her fascinating memoirs I can't stop being amazed was published by C.H, Black Verlag in 2019.