Edith Mathis

Edith Mathis (born 11 February 1938) is a Swiss soprano and a leading exponent of the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart worldwide. She is known for parts in Mozart operas, but also took part in premieres of operas such as Henze's Der junge Lord.

Her voice was featured in a key scene of the film, The Shawshank Redemption, joining with that of Gundula Janowitz in a duet from Le Nozze di Figaro, "soar over a prison yard, signifying joy and hope in a world of despair," according to a 2014 article in The New York Times.

Mathis was born, and studied, in Lucerne, and made her operatic debut in 1956 as the second boy in Die Zauberflöte. She continued gaining stage experience in her native Switzerland for the next three years. Her first appearance abroad was at the Cologne Opera in 1959. In the early 1960s she made frequent guest appearances in Hamburg, at the Glyndebourne Festival, and the Salzburg Festival. In 1963, she became a member of the Deutsche Oper Berlin. She made her debuts at Covent Garden and the Met in 1970. The 1970s saw her appear in great opera houses of Europe: the Vienna State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera, and the Opéra de Paris.

In addition to her operatic career, Mathis made numerous concert tours in Lieder recitals, including tours to Japan, the US, Australia, Russia, and Israel. She recorded Mahler's Fourth Symphony, singing the Finale's 'Child's View of Heaven', with the Berlin Philharmonic under Herbert von Karajan for Deutsche Grammophon.