Frederica von Stade

Mezzo-soprano Frederica Von Stade launched her stage career with a debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1970. By the close of the decade she had achieved worldwide recognition, particularly for her signature portrayals of Octavian in Richard Strauss operas and Cherubino in Mozart’s works.

She entered the world on June 1, 1945, in Somerville, New Jersey, and secured her first professional engagement directly from Sir Rudolph Bing after winning the Metropolitan Opera auditions that same year. Across the United States she has appeared with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Los Angeles Music Center Opera, the San Francisco Opera and the Dallas Opera, while European engagements have taken her to La Scala, Covent Gardens and the Vienna State Opera. Her command of a versatile bel canto technique has drawn invitations from leading conductors including Sir Georg Solti, Claudio Abbado, Andre Previn and Michael Tilson-Thomas. In 1983 President Reagan recognized her artistic contributions with an official honor.

Marking her twenty-fifth anniversary with the Metropolitan Opera in 1995, she created a new production of Pelleas et Melisande mounted expressly for the occasion. That November a recital at New York’s Carnegie Hall sold out completely, consistent with the reception most of her programs receive. Those programs have ranged from Broadway selections drawn from Showboat and The Sound of Music to major concert works such as Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust and Bellini’s La sonnambula.

More than three dozen recordings document her artistry, which has received six Grammy nominations, two Grand Prix du Disc awards, Italy’s Primo della Critica Discografica and “Best of the Year” citations from both Stereo Review and Opera News.

In addition to frequent appearances with major American orchestras, Von Stade has brought her performances to television, appearing regularly on Live from the Met and in several PBS presentations that include I Hear America Singing and Flicka and Friends. She joined Kathleen Battle and Wynton Marsalis for the 1991 PBS holiday broadcast Carnegie Hall Christmas Concert under Andre Previn’s direction, and she served as guest soloist at the Berlin Philharmonic’s 1992 New Year’s Eve gala led by Claudio Abbado.

Invitations to perform with symphonies and orchestras continue to arrive from across the United States and abroad, where audiences consistently fill her concerts and recitals in appreciation of her wide-ranging musical approach and vivid dramatic characterizations.