Dagmar Manzel
Singer
© Janine Guldener
Berlin born Dagmar Manzel , who graduated from the Ernst Busch Drama School there, is one of Germany's most popular and successful actresses, a fact corroborated by her winning, amongst others, the Adolf Grimme Prize, being named Actress of the Year, Germany's Television Prize, Actors Prize and Film Prize. Now she's back in Frankfurt, where she appeared for the last time in 2017. She also loves music, thrilling audiences in places including Cologne Opera, the Hans Otto Theater in Potsdam, Deutsche Theater in Berlin, the Cité de la Musique in Paris, Wigmore Hall in London, the Edinburgh International and Salzburg festivals and the Konzerthaus and Philharmonie in Berlin in recital and lead roles in musicals. She's been appearing regularly at the Komische Oper in Berlin for more than two decades, trumphing in roles including Oscar Straus‘ A Woman, who knows what she wants, Paul Abraham's Ball im Savoy, Cole Porter's Kiss me, Kate, Ralph Benatzky's Im Weißen Rössl and Kurt Weill's Seven Deadly Sins. Some of these shows went on tour to places including the Philharmonie in Cologne, the Hamburg State Opera and the State Operetta in Dresden. Evening's devised by her, MENSCHENsKIND and Longing/Sehnsucht (both available on CD), have enjoyed great success at the the Rheingau Music Festival, the Staatstheater in Saarbrücken and May Festival in Wiesbaden, where she also performed the lead role in the world premiere of Helmut Oehring's Agota? Die Analphabetin (Gestern, Irgendwo) at the Staatsoper there. She was invited to the Bayerische Staatsoper, to take part in Stravinsky's A Soldier's Tale under Vladimir Jurowski. She directed her first work, Pippi Langstrumpf, in 2022/23 which was followed by a very successful production of Hänsel und Gretel in 2024/25. She was then back on stage as Mrs. Lovett in Barrie Kosky's new production of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd at the Komische Oper in Berlin, rounding the season off with tours to the Chorin Musiksommer and Salzburg festivals (Michael Jarrell's Cassandra with the Ensemble Modern). Later this season projects include appearances at the Komische Oper and Kissinger Summer Festival. A film started being shown in cinemas in early May: The Lost Man, with Dagmar Manzel as Hanne, an artist.