In the 2019/20 season, Mezzo Soprano Annika Schlicht will make her role debuts as Fenena (NABUCCO), Mary (FLYING DUTCHMAN) and Fricka (RHEINGOLD) in the new RING CYCLE directed by Stefan Herheim at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
After her successful appearance as Auntie in PETER GRIMES at the Bergen International Festival in 2017, Annika returns to the Bergen National Opera in 2019/2020 for her debut as Sesto in LA CLEMENZA DI TITO.
Future concerts include Gustav Mahler’s “Das Lied von der Erde” in Klagenfurt, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s “1. Walpurgisnacht” in the Elbphilharmonie with Kent Nagano, the “Glagolitic Requiem” by Kuljerić with the Munich Radio Orchestra under the baton of Ivan Repušić in Munich and Zagreb, a Verdi Requiem in Essen, as well as Beethoven’s 9th Symphony in Berlin, Brussels and Antwerp with Donald Runnicles and Stéphane Denève.
The German Mezzo was born in Stuttgart and studied at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” in Berlin with professor Renate Faltin.
In 2015/16, Annika Schlicht joined the Deutsche Oper Berlin as a member of the ensemble. Since then, she has performed numerous roles including Prince Orlovsky (DIE FLEDERMAUS), the Mezzo Soprano soloist in a staged version of Verdi’s MESSA DA REQUIEM, as well as Wagner’s Wesendonck songs, Hansel (HANSEL AND GRETEL), Olga (EUGENE ONEGIN), Dorabella (COSI FAN TUTTE), Marchesa Melibea (VIAGGIO A REIMS), Maddalena (RIGOLETTO), Auntie (PETER GRIMES), Siegrune (WALKÜRE) and Flosshilde in DAS RHEINGOLD and GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG.
In 2017/18, she sang the roles of Marthe and Bellangère in the very successful world premier of Aribert Reimann’s opera L’INVISIBLE at Deutsche Oper Berlin and in 2019, debuted the role of Adriano in RIENZI which excited audiences and earned many accolades from critics.
Annika’s most recent guest engagements have taken her to the Hamburg State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera, the Opèra de Paris, the Semperoper Dresden and the Berlin State Opera.
While still a student, Annika was engaged on a scholarship from the Liz Mohn Foundation for Culture and Music at the International Opera Studio of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin and debuted in the seasons 2013/14 and 2014/15 in various comprimario roles.
Master classes with Julia Varady and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Deborah Polaski, Patricia McCaffrey and Brigitte Fassbaender, who is still a mentor of the singer, have had a deep effect upon the young artist. She is the recipient of the Richard Wagner Association scholarship and has won prizes at numerous competitions.
In 2014, Annika joined the Salzburg Festivals Young Singers Project and made her Festival Debut as Angelina in a children’s version of Rossini’s LA CENERENTOLA and in the world premier of Marc-André Dalbavie’s CHARLOTTE SALOMON. That same summer, she was invited by the eminent Brigitte Fassbaender to present the Lieder matinee at the “Eppaner Liedsommer” featuring works by Richard Strauss.
Annika Schlicht’s extensive operatic work is supplemented regularly by her appearances in concerts and as a Lieder singer. Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s STABAT MATER, Johann Sebastian Bach’s CHRISTMAS ORATORIO, Richard Wagner’s WESENDONCK LIEDER, Antonio Vivaldi’s GLORIA, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s REQUIEM and Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’s SAINT PAUL and ELIJAH are just a few highlights from her repertoire to date.
She has worked with such celebrated conductors as Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, Donald Runnicles, Alondra de la Parra, Enrique Mazzola, Asher Fisch, Stéphane Denève , Kent Nagano, Edward Gardner, Ingo Metzmacher, Christopher Moulds, Stefan Soltesz, Sebastian Weigle, alongside directors including Harry Kupfer, Hans Neuenfels, Luc Bondy, Claus Guth, Dmitri Tcherniakov and Johannes Erath, and with orchestras such as the Staatskapelle Berlin, Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin and Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, with the Wiener Symphoniker, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Munich Radio Orchestra and the Ensemble Modern.
She sang Wagner´s Wesendonck Lieder with the orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin under the baton of Donald Runnicles at the Ravello Festival in the summer of 2018.
To mark the centenary of the end of the First World War, Annika Schlicht has been engaged by the UNESCO World Orchestra for Peace as a soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.
