Biography

The Austrian soprano Beate Ritter recently debuted as Donna Irene in Johann Strauss’ Das Spitzentuch der Königin at the Theater an der Wien as part of the Johann Strauss Year festivities.

In the 2023/24 season, she appeared as the Queen of the Night at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, including a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 at the International May Festival 2024. She also performed in Japan for the New Year’s concerts with the Symphony Orchestra of the Volksoper Vienna, with appearances in Tokyo’s Suntory Hall and Osaka’s Festival Hall.

In September 2023, she reprised the title role in Lakmé at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing. Earlier that year, she made her debut at the Teatro Regio di Torino as the Queen of the Night.

In 2022, she sang Zerbinetta (Ariadne auf Naxos) in Bielefeld and made a last-minute debut at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino under Daniele Gatti. In 2021, post-pandemic performances included Gilda (Rigoletto) and Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier) at the Volksoper Vienna and the Queen of the Night at the Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv.

Highlights from recent seasons include Olympia (Les Contes d’Hoffmann) at the Opéra de Lausanne (2019), Queen of the Night at the Volksoper Vienna and her appearance at Christmas in Vienna 2019 at the Wiener Konzerthaus with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra under Sascha Götzel.

From 2018, Ritter was engaged at the Staatsoper Stuttgart, where she sang leading roles such as Gilda, Musetta (La Bohème), Olympia, Zerbinetta, Queen of the Night, Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), Adele (Die Fledermaus), La Folie/Amour (Platée), Waldvogel (Siegfried), Sophie (Werther) and L’Ange (Saint François d’Assise), under the musical direction of Cornelius Meister.

In autumn 2017, she made her debut in the title role of Lakmé at Malmö Opera. The 2016/17 season featured her as Olympia in a new production of Les Contes d’Hoffmann at the Volksoper Vienna and as Zerbinetta at the Opéra national de Lorraine in Nancy.

Previous engagements include Queen of the Night at the Komische Oper Berlin and Opera Leipzig, Adele with the Orchestre National de Lyon, and Fiakermilli (Arabella) at the Cologne Opera. She debuted as Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro) at Dallas Opera in 2014/15 and performed Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis and the St. Matthew Passion in the Netherlands.

She has also appeared as Blonde (Die Entführung aus dem Serail) at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma and Komische Oper Berlin, and as Olympia at the Komische Oper Berlin.

At the Volksoper Vienna (2010–2014), she performed a wide range of roles including Adele (Die Fledermaus), Frasquita (Carmen), Papagena and Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflöte), Rosina (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Anna (Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor), Annina (Eine Nacht in Venedig), and Belotte (Madame Pompadour).

Her operatic debut took place in January 2009 at the Theater an der Wien as Yniold in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande under Bertrand de Billy. Additional appearances include productions at the Salzburg Festival with the Vienna State Opera Chorus Concert Association, and concerts in Europe, Asia, and the USA.

A prizewinner at the 2009 "Klassik Mania" competition in Vienna, she also performed in various children's operas at the Vienna State Opera and toured with the Vienna Vocalists in Korea and Vienna.

Beate Ritter began her musical education with a degree in musical theatre from the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. She continued with classical vocal studies at the Konservatorium Privatuniversität Wien with Kai Wessel, followed by Lied studies with Birgid Steinberger and Carolyn Hague.

Her broad concert and oratorio repertoire spans works by Bach (Passions, Jauchzet Gott, cantatas), Handel, Mozart (Exsultate jubilate, C minor Mass, concert arias), and Haydn, as well as Romantic and contemporary Lied from Schubert, Wolf and Strauss to Kagel and Reimann. Operetta and concert performances round out her diverse musical activities.