In memoriam Edita Gruberová

3 December 1946 – 18 October 2021

Rarely in the subjective world of opera is a singer accorded the mantle of queen by general consensus. Edita Gruberová, born in Bratislava in 1946, was one such person. As the queen of dramatic bel canto for over a quarter of a century, she dominated a landscape that had the Romantic operas of Bellini and Donizetti at its core. And much in the vein of Elisabeth I, whom she rendered so well in Donizetti’s ROBERTO DEVEREUX, she travelled widely, held court and appeared before her faithful, cheering subjects. In Berlin it was at the Deutsche Oper Berlin that Gruberová granted audiences; from 2013 until her retirement from the stage in 2019 she was a regular guest here. Flanked by an impressive entourage of comprimarii, she interpreted Norma, Lucrezia and Elisabetta in concertante performances, displaying her unbroken sovereignty in this section of the repertoire. These appearances harked back to Gruberová’s 1980 Deutsche Oper debut in the much-feted premiere of Donizetti’s LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR and served notice that she had not only lost none of her tonal edge in the intervening period but had even achieved a new level of expressivity. In actual fact, in a career that was long associated with coloratura roles such as Mozart’s Konstanze, the Queen of the Night and in particular Zerbinetta in Strauss’s ARIADNE ON NAXOS, Gruberová’s eventual hegemony over female roles in Romantic, largely Italian opera, filling the vacuum left by Joan Sutherland, Montserrat Caballé and Leyla Gencer, was the result of sheer hard work. The heights she achieved in the latter part of her career were in part the result of her benchmark collaborations with Christof Loy on new productions of Bellini and Donizetti works, in which she also demonstrated her proficiency in dramatic roles. We are now saddened by the news that Edita Gruberová has passed away suddenly in her adoptive home of Zurich.

Berlin can be thankful to have witnessed the remarkable late career of one of the great opera singers of our time.

The Deutsche Oper Berlin will always cherish the memory of Edita Gruberová.

 

Newsletter

News about the schedule
and the start of advance booking
Personal recommendations
Special offers ...
Stay well informed!

Subscribe to our newsletter

Subscribe to our Newsletter and receive 25% off your next ticket purchase.

* Mandatory field





Newsletter