Tanja Ariane Baumgartner

Source: Arsis Artists

Tanja Ariane Baumgartner is among the leading mezzo-sopranos of our time. With her portrayals of Fricka (Rheingold/Walküre), her formidable Kundry (Parsifal), her Klytämnestra (Elektra) and Amme (Die Frau ohne Schatten), and her spectacular Ortrud (Lohengrin), she has established herself as one of the foremost dramatic mezzo-sopranos at the most important international opera houses and festivals.
The 2025/26 season opens for Tanja Ariane Baumgartner as Herodias in concert performances of Salome with the WDR Symphony Orchestra in Bucharest and Cologne. She will then appear at San Francisco Opera as Kundry in Parsifal under Eun Sun Kim. As Herodias she returns to Lyric Opera of Chicago, and she will present herself as Ortrud in the new production of Lohengrin (Johannes Erath/Joana Mallwitz) at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden. On the concert stage, she can be heard in Das Lied von der Erde under Zubin Mehta at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, in Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, and as Brangäne in concert performances of Tristan at Radio France under Jaap van Zweden in Montpellier.
Highlights of recent seasons include Ortrud (Lohengrin), Fricka (Der Ring des Nibelungen), Brangäne (Tristan und Isolde), and the Amme (Die Frau ohne Schatten) at the Vienna State Opera; Mrs. Quickly (Falstaff), Countess Geschwitz (Lulu), Charlotte (Die Soldaten), and Mother (Il prigioniero) at the Salzburg Festival; Lisa (The Passenger) at the Bavarian State Opera; Brangäne and Leonore in the world premiere of Glanert’s Die Jüdin von Toledo at the Semperoper Dresden; Kundry (Parsifal) at the Grand Théâtre de Genève and at the Tokyo Spring Festival; Venus (Tannhäuser) in Hamburg in Tcherniakov’s new production and at Zurich Opera; Brangäne (Tristan und Isolde) at the Deutsche Oper Berlin; Mary (Der fliegende Holländer) and Clairon (Capriccio) at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich; Carmen at Covent Garden, London; Judith (Bluebeard’s Castle) at the Edinburgh Festival; Agaue (The Bassarids) at the Komische Oper Berlin; Kostelnicka (Jenufa) in Santiago de Chile; as well as her debut with Schönberg’s Erwartung with the WDR.
From 2009 to 2020, Tanja Ariane Baumgartner was a member of the Frankfurt Opera ensemble. Her successes there included, among others, the title role in Schoeck’s Penthesilea, the Amme in Die Frau ohne Schatten, Eboli (Don Carlo), Azucena (Il trovatore), Principessa de Bouillon (Adriana Lecouvreur), Clairon (Capriccio), Gaea in Daphne, Preziosilla, the Foreign Princess (Rusalka), Brangäne, Cornelia (Giulio Cesare in Egitto), Gora in the German premiere of Reimann’s Medea (released on CD by OehmsClassics), Jocasta (Oedipe), and Charlotte (Werther).
Concert engagements have included Das Lied von der Erde at the Salzburg Festival, with the Vienna Philharmonic at the Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, and with the Munich Philharmonic in Munich and Hamburg. In Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 she appeared with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. She has sung Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 under Sebastian Weigle in Tokyo, in Paris with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and at the Konzerthaus Berlin under Joana Mallwitz. She most recently performed Verdi’s Requiem under Thomas Guggeis in Frankfurt. With Glanert’s Pariser Symphonie she appeared with the Concertgebouworkest in Amsterdam.
Tanja Ariane Baumgartner first studied violin at the Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg, then voice in Karlsruhe, Vienna, and Sofia. She is Professor of Voice at the Hochschule der Künste in Bern.