Performance Database

She opens the season 2024/25 as Leonore (Fidelio) at Lyric Opera Chicago. The Metropolitan Opera presents the soprano als Empress (Frau ohne Schatten) and as Salome in two of her signature roles. She will make her debut at La Scala Milano as Sieglinde (Walküre) under the baton of Christian Thielemann and appear as Elettra (Idomeneo) at the San Francisco Opera under Eun Sun Kim. Concert engagements include a Strauss concert with the Metropolitan Orchestra under Yannick Nézet-Séguin at Carnegie Hall New York.

 

Outstanding engagements in recent seasons include the Empress under Christian Thielemann at the Vienna State Opera; her role debut as Elisabeth (Tannhäuser) at the MET; Chrysothemis (Elektra) under Kirill Petrenko at the Baden-Baden Easter Festival and in concert at the Philharmonie Berlin; her role debut as Sieglinde (Walküre) with the Rotterdam Philharmonic under Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Julia in Spontini's La Vestale in a new production staged by Lydia Steier with Bertrand de Billy conducting.

 

Also in the recent past Elza van den Heever achieved worldwide recognition with several important role debuts: As Senta (Der fliegende Holländer) under Thomas Guggeis at the MET, as Salome in Paris (Simone Young / Lydia Steier), as Julia in La Vestale at the Theater an der Wien under the baton of Bertrand de Billy, and as Wozzeck-Marie at the MET and as the Empress in Die Frau ohne Schatten in concert with the Rotterdam Philharmonic and Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducting.

 

Audiences in Vienna, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Zurich, Munich, Hamburg, Frankfurt and Bordeaux have celebrated the soprano for her outstanding performances. Her vocal capabilities allow her to sing a wide range of repertoire from Handel (Rodelinda), Mozart (Vitellia, Elettra, Donna Anna), Beethoven (Fidelio-Leonore), the bel canto repertoire (Norma, Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda) to Verdi (Elisabetta, Desdemona, Ernani-Elvira, Trovatore-Leonora), Puccini (Suor Angelica, Giorgetta), Wagner (Elsa, Senta) and into the 20th century to Strauss (Empress, Empress, Empress). Century to Strauss (Empress, Chrysothemis), Berg (Wozzeck-Marie) and Britten (Ellen Orford).

 

Elza van den Heever also cultivates the concert repertoire in addition to her opera engagements. Examples include Beethoven's 9th Symphony, Verdi's Messa da Requiem, Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem, Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder, Bruckner's Te Deum, Gustav Mahler's 8th Symphony and Richard Strauss' Four Last Songs. In concert, she regularly collaborates with conductors such as Simone Young, Kirill Petrenko, Bertrand de Billy and Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

 

Elza van den Heever was an ensemble member of the Frankfurt Opera from 2008 to 2013, where she was able to build up her extensive repertoire. She made her brilliant European debut there as Giorgetta in Puccini's Il trittico. Since then she has become one of the most sought-after sopranos of her generation.

 

Her interpretation of Giorgetta, conducted by Bertrand de Billy, has been released on CD by Capriccio. Her MET debut as Elisabetta (Maria Stuarda) is documented on DVD.