Dalia Schaechter

The Israeli mezzo-soprano Dalia Schaechter began her career as a member of the opera studio of the Vienna State Opera, where she sang minor roles and worked with renowned conductors. She soon caught the attention of Claudio Abbado, who engaged her for concerts, recordings and operas in Vienna, Paris and New York. She has performed at the Vienna State Opera, the Berlin State Opera, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris and the Teatro Comunale in Bologna, and at the Salzburg and Bayreuth Festivals.

Since the 1995/96 season she has been a permanent member of the Cologne Opera, where she has enjoyed success in roles such as Ulrica (Un ballo in maschera), Venus (Tannhäuser), Kundry (Parsifal), Eboli (Don Carlo), Ortrud (Lohengrin), Santuzza (Cavalleria rusticana), Lady Macbeth (Macbeth), Kostelnička (Jenůfa), Klytämnestra (Elektra), Fricka and Waltraute in Der Ring des Nibelungen and Josefa Miranda in Peter Eötvös’s Love and Other Demons. Other important roles in her repertory include Herodias (Salome), Ježibaba (Rusalka), Mary (Der fliegende Holländer), Adelaide (Arabella), Amneris (Aida), Larina (Eugene Onegin), Mrs Quickly (Falstaff) and The Old Lady (Candide).

In 2025 she celebrated her 30th anniversary as a member of the ensemble of the Cologne Opera.

Guest engagements have included Herodias at the Bavarian State Opera and the Zurich Opera House, Azucena (Il trovatore) at the Nuremberg State Theatre and Auntie (Peter Grimes) at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia. She has also appeared in Wiesbaden, Saarbrücken, Palermo and Tel Aviv. She sang the role of Nell in the new production of György Kurtág‘s Fin de partie at the Berlin State Opera, Herodias and Kabanicha (Kát’a Kabanová) at Theater Bielefeld and the Kassel State Theatre, and in the world premiere of Zesses Seglias’s chamber opera To the Lighthouse at the Bregenz Festival.

Alongside her operatic work, she has been active for many years in the field of folk song. Her many solo recitals of Yiddish songs enjoy great popularity in Cologne and have broadened her artistic profile.

Dalia Schaechter studied singing at the University of Music and Theatre in Munich with Yaron Windmüller and Brigitte Fassbaender. Since 2008 she has been a Kammersängerin of the city of Cologne.