Laura Aikin
Soprano
Possessing a range of over three octaves, the repertoire of world-renowned American soprano Laura Aikin embraces works from the Baroque to the contemporary and makes her a most welcome artist at the world’s great opera houses and concert halls. She began her now more than 30 year career as a member of the ensemble at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin (1992-98) under the artistic direction of Daniel Barenboim. At the Staatsoper Unter den Linden she has performed more than 300 times in major roles like Lulu, Königin der Nacht, Zerbinetta, Feldman’s Neither, Sophie, Konstanze, as well as in the world premiere of Sciarinno’s Ti vedo, ti sento, mi perdo, co-production with La Scala.
Laura Aikin is a regular guest at, amongst others, the Vienna State Opera, La Scala Milano, Bavarian State Opera, Opernhaus Zurich, Netherlands Opera, Opéra National de Paris, Semperoper Dresden, Gran Teatro del Liceu Barcelona, Opera Frankfurt, Chicago Lyric Opera, Santa Fe Opera, San Francisco Opera and Metropolitan Opera New York.
At the Salzburg Festival, she has appeared among others as Königin der Nacht, in the world premiere of Henze’s opera L’Upupa (Bad’iat), as Blondchen and Konstanze Die Entführung aus dem Serail and was highly acclaimed by both audience and press for her interpretation of Marie in Zimmermann’s Die Soldaten in 2012, and as Morgan Le Fay in Birtwistle‘s Gawain in 2013. In addition she was highly acclaimed by both audience and press for her interpretation of Emilia Marty in a new production of Janáček´s Vec Makropulos at the Vienna State Opera, as Hilde Mack in Henze’s Elegie für junge Liebende at the Theater an der Wien, Donna Anna Don Giovanni under the baton of Iván Fischer in Budapest, Edinburgh Festival and New York, Schoenberg´s Erwartung in Salzburg, as well as Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus at the Vienna State Opera.
Being also a sought after concert singer, Laura Aikin performs with orchestras such as the Berlin, Munich and Vienna Philharmonic, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago and Vienna Symphonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the WDR, SWR and MDR Radio Symphony Orchestras as well as with the Ensemble Intercontemporain, Les Arts Florissants, the Gürnzenich Orchester and Concerto Köln, and Concentus Musicus Wien.
Her many recordings include Beethoven’s Christus am Ölberge with with both Daniel Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Nicholas Harnoncourt and Concentus Musikus, Schoenberg’s Die Jakobsleiter with the Südwestfunk Symphony Orchestra, Respighi’s La Campana Sommersa (Montpellier Opera), DVDs of Lulu (Opernhaus Zurich), Henze’s L’Upupa and Die Entführung aus dem Serail (both from the Salzburg Festival) and Dialogues des Carmélites with Riccardo Muti (La Scala), a solo recording of Songs and Cycles by Ned Rorem with pianist Donald Sulzen (Orfeo), and, most recently, a widely acclaimed recording of Johann Strauss’ Die Fledermaus with Laura Aikin as Rosalinde appeared (Pentatone) – recorded with the NDR Radio Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Lawrence Foster.
As a pedagog, Laura Aikin has been invited to give Masterclasses at, amongst others, the Hochschule für Musik in Würzburg, University of Michigan, Komische Oper Berlin, Vienna Staatsoper and the 2022 Jahreskongress of the Bundesverband Deutsche Gesangs Pädagogin. She has been Dozent at Lotte Lehmann Akademie since 2020, and Lehrbeauftragte at the Hochschule Osnabrück Institut für Musik. She is currently Univ.-Professor at the Universität der Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, Institut für Gesang und Musiktheater.