Sarah Ferede

The versatile mezzo-soprano Sarah Ferede has built up an exceptionally wide repertoire in opera, concert and art song – ranging from Wagner and Mahler to Mozart, Berlioz and Schubert.

She is a member of the ensemble at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein.

Her repertoire is wide-ranging: in the Italian repertoire, she has sung Adalgisa (Norma), Eboli (Don Carlos) and Santuzza (Cavalleria rusticana); in the Mozart repertoire, Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni) and Vitellia (La clemenza di Tito). In the French repertoire, she has performed the roles of Charlotte (Werther), Giulietta (The Tales of Hoffmann) and Mère Marie (Dialogues des Carmélites). She has also appeared as Gertrud (Hansel and Gretel), Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus) and the Foreign Princess (Rusalka). In the Wagner repertoire, she captivates audiences as Kundry (Parsifal), Sieglinde, Waltraute (Götterdämmerung) and the Second Norn in ‘Der Ring des Nibelungen’. With her portrayal of Yü-pei in Zemlinsky’s ‘Der Kreidekreis’ and her role debut as Marie in Berg’s ‘Wozzeck’, she is equally at home in the 20th-century repertoire.

This season, Sarah Ferede will be performing in a Wagner gala in Weimar alongside Catherine Foster, as well as taking on the role of Kundry in Wagner’s ‘Parsifal’, directed by Valentin Schwarz and conducted by Daniel Carter. In January, she will be appearing at the Schubertiade in Hamburg, and at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein she will once again be performing the role of Yü-pei in Zemlinsky’s ‘Der Kreidekreis’, which will also be broadcast on the radio in January.

Her collaborations with influential directors and conductors are wide-ranging: at the Komische Oper Berlin, she sang the role of Boulotte in ‘Bluebeard’, directed by Stefan Herheim, with Stefan Soltesz conducting. At the Zurich Opera House, she appeared as Waltraute (‘Götterdämmerung’) in ‘The Ring’, directed by Andreas Homoki and conducted by Gianandrea Noseda (also released on DVD). In Düsseldorf, under Axel Kober, she sang the role of Kundry in Michael Thalheimer’s production of ‘Parsifal’, as well as Sieglinde and Waltraute (‘Götterdämmerung’) in ‘Der Ring’, directed by Dietrich Hilsdorf; the complete recording with the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra has been released. Guest engagements have taken her to the Hanover State Opera, the Bonn Theatre and the Mannheim National Theatre.

In concert, she sang Mahler’s Second Symphony under Kent Nagano with the Prague Symphony Orchestra, Mahler’s Third Symphony under Stefan Soltesz with the Braunschweig State Orchestra, and Berlioz’s ‘Les nuits d’été’ under Axel Kober with the Slovenian Philharmonic in Ljubljana. Under the baton of Adam Fischer, she performed Mozart’s concert aria ‘Ch’io mi scordi di te’ and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. She has also collaborated with Enoch zu Guttenberg, Ulf Schirmer, Charles Dutoit, Killian Farrell, Stefan Blunier and Alexander Joel.

The German-Ethiopian mezzo-soprano, who was born in Hanover and grew up in Hamburg, is a student of Prof. Charlotte Lehmann. Following engagements at the Landestheater Coburg, the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Staatstheater Braunschweig, she is now a member of the ensemble at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein.