DIANA SCHNÜRPEL - soprano

 The German soprano Diana Schnürpel, born in Russia, began her musical training at the Children's Music School in Lipetsk with piano and voice lessons. She graduated with distinction in 2001 from the Vocational School for Music and Art in Lipetsk, majoring in piano. From 2001 to 2005, she studied voice at the Academy of Choral Arts in Moscow under Prof. Nina Rautio, earning a bachelor’s degree. During this time, she gave solo piano concerts and worked as a vocal coach at the academy in 2004 and 2005.

In 2006, she continued her vocal studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Leipzig with Prof. Regina Werner-Dietrich, graduating with a diploma in 2010. She was a finalist in the Lortzing Competition (2010, 2011), won 3rd prize at the 7th National and 2nd International József Simándy Singing Competition in Szeged (2011), and was a finalist at the Grandi Voci Competition in Salzburg (2012). She also studied with Wagner tenor Manfred Jung before making her solo debut with Paul Hindemith’s Das Marienleben in Berlin, Bavaria, and Frankfurt am Main.

Schnürpel gained early stage experience as a guest with the MDR Radio Choir and at the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar. She notably sang the Bride in Stravinsky’s Les Noces at the Ruhr Piano Festival in July 2013. From 2013 onwards, she has regularly performed with widespread acclaim as the Queen of the Night in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, including at the Staatstheater Braunschweig, Landestheater Detmold, Stadttheater Klagenfurt, Landestheater Salzburg, Oper Graz, and, since 2015, at the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar. She has also appeared as the Snow Queen in Die Schneekönigin by George Alexander Albrecht.

A committed singer of art song and concert works, her repertoire includes works by J.S. Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Handel, Mozart, and Salieri. She launched her concert career in 2012 with Hindemith’s Das Marienleben and Dvořák’s Stabat Mater, and has since appeared as a soloist with the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, performing Janáček’s Nursery Rhymes, and songs by Richard Strauss and Othmar Schoeck. In 2020, she performed the closing concert The Beauty of Farewell at the “Musiksommer am Zürichsee” under Manuel Bärtsch.

From August 2016 to June 2021, she was a soloist at the Theater Luzern, where her roles included Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflöte), Venus and Gepopo (Le Grand Macabre), Euridice (Orfeo ed Euridice), Maria Stuarda (Maria Stuarda), the Vixen (The Cunning Little Vixen), and Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia). Since April 2021, she has held German citizenship and is a scholarship recipient from the Cultural Foundation of Thuringia.

She has received numerous international awards: in 2021, she was a prizewinner at the Quebec Music Competition (Voice, Piano, Clarinet Trio), named Grand Champion (Voice), and won prizes at the King’s Peak International Music Competition and the MAP International Music Competition (Voice & Chamber Duo). In 2022, she won 1st prize at the Canadian International

Music Competition (Voice & Piano), became Grand Champion at the Quebec Music Competition (Voice Duo DiaMar with Margarita Gritskova), and received a Platinum Award for her performance of Schubert’s Erlkönig at the Global International Music Competition.

Since the 2022/23 season, she has performed as the Queen of the Night at the Staatstheater Cottbus and the Bühnen Bern. In 2023, she appeared with the Norddeutsche Philharmonie in the Wiener Melange concert at Volkstheater Rostock and in an open-air concert on the Bundesplatz in Bern with the Bern Symphony Orchestra under James Conlon. She made her debut at the Deutsche Oper Berlin as the Queen of the Night in November 2023 and appeared at the Theater Bremen in Offenbach’s Orpheus in der Unterwelt.

In the 2024/25 season, she will reprise the Queen of the Night at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Komische Oper Berlin, and the Estates Theatre (Stavovské divadlo) in Prague. She is also scheduled to return to the Theater Bremen in the 2025/26 season.

*Translated from German to English by Nathan Blair