Gun-Brit Barkmin

The German soprano Gun-Brit Barkmin has won great acclaim for her breathtaking voice and dramatically intense portrayals of leading roles in operas by Janacek, Britten, Berg and Richard Strauss.

In the 2009–10 season, Ms. Barkmin sang Ellen Orford in a new production of Peter Grimes with the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf. She made her role debut as Elsa in Peter Konwitschny’s production of Lohengrin with Oper Leipzig and returns to Prague for performances as Emilia Marty in Janacek’s The Makropulos Case. Ms. Barkmin ends her season singing the title role in a new production of Salome with Opernhaus Zürich, conducted by Christoph von Dohnányi and directed by Sven-Eric Bechtolf.

Ms. Barkmin continued her close working relationship with director Christopher Alden in the 2008–09 season, singing Emilia Marty in his production of Janacek’s The Makropulos Case in Prague and the title role in his new production of Salome at the Saarländisches Staatstheater, Saarbrücken. A season earlier, she appeared as Laura in Hindemith's Neues Vom Tage with Fondazione Teatro delle Muse for which she was recognized with the Franco Corelli award.

Ms. Barkmin performed Mimi in La bohème at Seattle Opera in the 2006–07 season, making both her company and U.S. debuts. She also sang concert performances of Wagner’s Wesendonck-Lieder and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde with the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, conducted by Andris Nelsons. In June 2006 she sang the role of Anna in François Girard’s production of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's Seven Deadly Sins with Opéra National de Lyon, followed by performances at the Edinburgh International Festival and New Zealand International Festival of Arts. She was also heard as Anna in Rio de Janeiro and in Campos de Jordaõ with Robert Minczuk. In April 2005, Gun-Brit Barkmin sang at the Welsh National Opera as Marie in a new production of Wozzeck directed by Richard Jones and conducted by Vladimir Jurowski.

Ms. Barkmin has had a close association with the Komische Oper Berlin where her many roles have included Marie in Wozzeck, Alice Ford in Falstaff, Ghita in a new production of Zemlinsky’s Der Zwerg, and Amelia in Reimann's Bernarda Albas Haus, a role she reprised at the 2001 Perlada Festival in Spain. She had a great success in 2004 in the title role of the new Willy Decker production of Jenufa at the Komische Oper Berlin. Other recent roles there have included Sylva Varescu in Emmerich Kalman’s Die Csárdásfürstin and Mimi in La bohème. The Berlin Theatergemeinde awarded her the 2002 Daphne Prize for best young actor, the first time in eight years that a singer had won the award, for her portrayal of the Governess in The Turn of the Screw to mark Harry Kupfer’s farewell production at the Komische Oper Berlin.

As a concert soloist, Ms. Barkmin has been featured in Mahler's Fourth Symphony with the Staatskapelle in Dresden and Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder at the International Festival in Nagoya, Japan. She has performed Shostakovich's Blok Romances and selections from Beethoven's Scottish songs in recital with the Southwest German Radio Orchestra in Baden-Baden, and has sung solo recitals under the auspices of the Komische Oper.