Nadya Mickhael German opera diva Country: Germany

Biography of Nadja Michael

Nadja Michael is a German opera singer who performs leading soprano roles in major opera houses around the world, including Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, Metropolitan Opera in New York, Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, and Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. She was born in Wurzen, near Leipzig, in East Germany. As a child, she attended a sports school and trained in swimming. At the age of 14, she transferred to a specialized music boarding school, where she studied music education.

In 1989, Nadja Michael left East Germany and moved to Stuttgart, West Germany, where she worked as a model to fund her vocal education. She won a competition for vocalists organized by the Federal Association of German Industries and received a scholarship from the German National Academic Foundation. She later completed her musical education at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University in Bloomington, USA.

Currently, Nadja Michael resides in Berlin and is raising her two daughters. Her operatic debut took place in 1993 at the Ludwigsburg Castle Festival, where she portrayed the role of the Third Lady in Mozart's opera "The Magic Flute." Her first major role was Amastre in Handel's opera "Xerxes" at the Wiesbaden Opera House in 1996. Nadja Michael initially started her vocal career as a mezzo-soprano but made her debut as a soprano in 2005 at the Dutch National Opera, performing the role of Marietta in Erich Wolfgang Korngold's opera "Die Tote Stadt."

In 2007, she portrayed the role of Floria Tosca in Puccini's opera "Tosca" at the Bregenz Festival, which gained international recognition as the set design was used in the James Bond film "Quantum of Solace." A recording of the performance was released on DVD. In August 2009, Nadja Michael performed her own rock ballad, "The Day of the Days," at the opening ceremony of the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Berlin.

In 2012, she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, portraying the role of Lady Macbeth in Verdi's opera "Macbeth" alongside Thomas Hampson. She returned to the Metropolitan Opera in 2015 to participate in the production of Bela Bartok's opera "Duke Bluebeard's Castle." Nadja Michael's debut in Russia took place in 2009 when she performed a concert in Moscow with the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia. In 2016, she participated in the production of Dmitry Shostakovich's opera "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk" at the Bolshoi Theatre, for which she was nominated for the Russian National Theatre Award "Golden Mask" in the opera/female role category. In the same year, she portrayed the role of Ortrud in Richard Wagner's opera "Lohengrin" at the new stage of the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, with Anna Netrebko as Elsa.

In 2017, Nadja Michael served as a jury member for the fifth season of the television project "Great Opera - 2017" on the channel "Kultura." In 2022, she became a laureate of the 7th National Opera Award "Onegin" (award "From Russia with Love").