Hanna Schwarz

Hanna Schwarz (born 15 August 1943), is a German mezzo-soprano and contralto singer in opera and concert. In 1976 she performed the parts of Fricka and Erda in the centenary production of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Bayreuth Festival, staged by Patrice Chéreau.

Schwarz studied psychology and voice in Hamburg and continued at the Folkwang Hochschule and at the Musikhochschule Hannover. She became a member of the Staatsoper Hannover and made her debut as Siegrune in Richard Wagner's Die Walküre. Her first major success was Maddalena in Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto. In 1972 she appeared in the title role of Carmen at the Eutiner Festspiele . From 1973 she was a member of the Hamburg State Opera, where she sang for more than 30 years.

She made her debut at the Bayreuth Festival in 1975 in the role of Floßhilde in Der Ring des Nibelungen and performed there until 1998. In 1976 she was Fricka and Erda in the centenary Ring production of Patrice Chéreau, shown until 1980, recorded for television and published on DVD. In Bayreuth, she sang Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde from 1981 and Waltraute in Götterdämmerung from 1984, as well as Roßweiße and Second Norn in the Ring, and Blumenmädchen and Knappe in Parsifal.

Schwarz made her US debut in 1977 as Fricka with the San Francisco Opera. She sang Cherubino in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. In 1979 she appeared in the three roles of Theatre Dresser, Schoolboy and Groom in the Paris premiere of Alban Berg's Lulu in the version completed by Friedrich Cerha. In 1980 she sang Waltraute in the 1980 Covent Garden Ring cycle. She appeared as Herodias in Salome by Richard Strauss in 1982 at the Salzburg Festival and in 1996 at the Metropolitan Opera. In the premiere of Alfred Schnittke's Historia von D. Johann Fausten on 22 June 1995, she performed Mephistophela.