Laura Aikin
Possessing a range of over three octaves the repertoire of the American soprano Laura Aikin embraces works from the Baroque to the contemporary. Her career started at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden where she was part of the ensembles from 1992 to 1998, where she performed roles like Lulu, Zerbinetta, Amenaide (in Rossinis Tancredi), Sophie, Adele as well as the title role in Zaide. As a guest she sang at the Wiener Staatsoper, La Scala in Milano, at the Bayerischen Staatsoper Munich, the Opernhaus Zurich, the De Nederlandse Opera, the Opéra National de Paris, as well as at the Chicageo Lyric Opera and the Metropolitan Opera New York.
Apart from numerous concerts at the Salzburger Festspielen Aikin performed in the Opera L’Upupa und der Triumph der Sohnesliebe by Henze in 2003. In 2012 her interpretation of Marie in Die Soldaten by Bernd Alois Zimmermann was highly praised, as well as her performance in the new production of Birtwistles Gawain in 2013. The soprano is a regular guest at Festivals like the Festival Présences in Paris, Mostly Mozart in New York and Festivals in Schleswig Holstein, Edinburgh, Luzern as well as the Wiener and Berliner Festwochen.
Aikin has appeared as a concert artist throughout the world with renowned orchestrasand has performed with many of the greatest conductors of our time including Pierre Boulez, Ivor Bolton, Sylvain Cambreling, William Christie, Daniele Gatti, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Zubin Mehta, Ingo Metzmacher, Riccardo Muti, Kent Nagano, Donald Runnicles, Michael Tilson Thomas and Franz Welser Möst.
Recent operatic successes have included her first Giunia in Mozarts Lucio Silla in Barcelona, Marguérite in Les Huguenots in Strasbourg, Aithra in Die Ägyptische Helena at Deutsche Oper Berlin, Lulu in Paris and at the Lyon Opera, La Scala and the Wiener Festwochen in the new Peter Stein production, Marilyn Monroe in the première of De Raaff’s opera Waiting for Miss Monroe in Amsterdam, as well as Feldmans Neither in Berlin.
Her many acclaimed recordings include Beethoven's Christus am Ölberg, Songs and Cycles by Rorem with pianist Donald Sulzen, Schönberg's Die Jakobsleiter, Respighi's La campana sommersa and Poulencs Les dialogues des Carmélites at La Scala with Riccardo Muti.