Manuela Uhl, soprano, German spinto

“Her sister Chrysothemis is Manuela Uhl, a true miracle of singing: Deutsche Oper Berlin can only and clearly be congratulated for having engaged this singer. She is singing with a really unbelievable stamina and intensity that knows how to get you addicted” –

This is what the renowned critic Klaus Geitel wrote in Berliner Morgenpost about Manuela Uhl’s Chrysothemis at Deutsche Oper Berlin.

Since the 2006/07 season Manuela Uhl appears regularly at  Deutsche Oper Berlin after having been invited there before as a guest on various occasions.  In her first Berlin season she directly sang the female lead role in three new productions: In “Germania” by A. Franchetti, in A. v. Zemlinsky’s “Traumgörge” and in “Freischütz”(Agathe). Beyond this she was to be heard as Freia (Rheingold) and as the Cunning little vixen (Janacek).

In the 2007/08 season Manuela Uhl was heard as Chrysothemis, Nedda and again with both female lead parts in “Traumgörge”.

The 2008/09 season started for her with her role debut as Senta in Wagner’s “Holländer”. On tour with Deutsche Oper Berlin to China she took on another Wagnerian role: Elisabeth in “Tannhäuser”.

The rest of the season was dedicated to the big Strauss roles such as Salome (cond. U. Schirmer) and Chrysothemis (cond. K. Ono), both at Deutsche Oper Berlin. She was also guest as Chrysothemis at Bayerische Staatsoper (cond. K. Nagano) and made her Musikverein Wien debut with Beethoven’s 9th symphony and her Italian debut at Teatro Massimo di Palermo as Marie/Marietta in Korngold’s “Die tote Stadt”.  With Beethoven Orchestra Bonn conducted by Stefan Blunier she recorded Schoenberg’s Lieder opus 8.

Manuela Uhl’s vocal knowledge was taught to her in Salzburg, Zurich and Freiburg – from 1995 she was engaged to Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe. There, she sang roles such as Pamina and Queen of the Night and the lead roles in “Daphne” (Strauss), “Marguerite” (Gounod), “Armida” (Haydn) and “Anne Frank”.

Changing for Bühnen der Landeshauptstadt Kiel Manuela Uhl enlargened her repertoire with the big parts of late romanticism: She sang the female lead in the world premiere of “Flammen” by F. Schreker, Roxanne in Alfano’s “Cyrano” and both Danae and Aminta by Strauss: “A stroke of luck- both as an actor and a singer: Manuela Uhl in the horribly difficult title role: A voice with a mezzo basis, full of expansion, rich in the middle range and still gleaming, securely managed and capable of dynamic differenciation even in the extreme top range” – this is what Germany’s leading vocal critic Jürgen Kesting has written about Manuela Uhl’s “Danae”.

Manuela Uhl was guest at Hamburg and Stuttgart State Operas, at both Deutsche and Staatsoper Berlin, in Cologne, Essen, Brauschweig, Münster, Innsbruck, Wiesbaden, Halle and Mannheim. With both Haendel festivals in Karlsruhe and Halle she interpreted main roles. She made her debut in Tokyo with Beethoven’s “Leonore” and gained international acclaim with Salome at Opera Montpellier. Salome was as well the opening of the International May Festival in Wiesbaden in 2008, again with Manuela Uhl in the lead role: “Her engagement to Wiesbaden can be called an extremely lucky choice”, Benedikt Stegemeann wrote in FAZ, Germany’s leading newspaper.

There are many CD releases with Manuela Uhl in the lead role on the market.

The season of 2009/10 was marked by her debut as Kaiserin in Frau ohne Schatten (2009) conducted by U. Schirmer, followed by a concert premiere of Waltershausen’s “Oberst Chabert” (incl. CD, 2010) - both at Deutsche Oper Berlin. Besides she sang Mahler 8 as guest in Tokyo and with Bayerische Staatsphilharmonie/ Bamberger Symphoniker (incl. CD, conducted by J. Nott); as well as Beethoven’s 9th symphony in Dresden (Frübeck de Burgos), Madrid (Gomez-Martinez) and in Bonn (Dir. S. Blunier, 2010). Further engagements included Elisabeth/Tannhäuser in Copenhagen, Chrysothemis under the baton of Chr. Thielemann in Baden-Baden and Munich and Marie/Marietta in Tote Stadt at Teatro Real in Madrid.

During the current season of 2010/11 and in the near future she will i.a. perform the title role in “Iphigénie en Aulide” in a new production at Oper Leipzig under the baton of P. Carignani; followed by Elsa, Irene/Rienzi, Venus/Elisabeth, Chrysothemis a.o. at Deutsche Oper Berlin under the baton of D. Runnicles; exactly there she will also sing in a new production auf Strauss’ “Danae” conducted by A. Litton.  She will furthermore be performing Senta/Holländer at Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège and at Deutsche Oper am Rhein; likewise Chrysothemis at Teatro Real Madrid (cond. S. Bychkov) and in Nice; Freia/Rheingold under Sir Simon Rattle, Agathe/Freischütz at Teatro della Maestranza in Sevilla and Els/Schatzgräber (Schreker) at the Netherlandse Opera Amsterdam under M. Albrecht. On top of this, she will sing Mahler’s 8^th symphony with Accademia St. Cecilia conducted by A. Pappano, same with KulturRuhrFestival in Essen under L. Maazel, with Münchner Philharmoniker under C. Thielemann and anew with J. Nott at Festspielhaus Baden-Baden.

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