Irina Simmes
Soprano
© Björn Hickmann
Irina Simmes is back at Oper Frankfurt, where she made her debut singing Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail which was followed by Gerhilde in Die Walküre (2019), to sing the 3 lead ladies in this new production of Aribert Reimann’s L’invisble. She enjoyed great success last summer at the Tirol Festival in Erl, with Sieglinde and Gutrune in Brigitte Fassbaender’s wonderful new ring – she was nominated for »Best Singer of the Year« in Austria and in Opernwelt magazine’s annual critics survey. You can hear her singing her first Agathes in Der Freischütz at the 2025 Bregenz Festival. Other important roles in recent seasons have included Violetta (La traviata) at the Aalto-Theater in Essen, Pat Nixon in John Adams’ Nixon in China and Freia (Das Rheingold) directed by Peter Konwitschny at Oper Dortmund, where she recently took part in The Ring in One Evening. She was under contract in Dortmund from 2018 – 2021, where roles included Lisa inThe Land of Smiles. During her time as a member of the ensemble at Theater Heidelberg she thrilled audiences with Mozart’s Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Countess Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro) and Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Laura (Korngold’s Polykrate’s Ring), Musetta (La Bohème), Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus) and Micaëla (Carmen). In 2017 she made her debut, singing Isolde in the world premiere of Avner Dorman‘s Wahnfried at Baden’s Staatstheater in Karlsruhe, returning in 2017/18 for Mozart’s Lucio Silla, a co-production with the Théâtre La Monnaie in Brussels. She studied with Rachel Robins at the Folkwang University of Arts in Essen before joining the Musiktheater im Revier in Gelsenkirchen’s Opera Studio.