Leading Opera solist.

Maria Radner was born in Düsseldorf, Germany and passed her studies with distinction.

She working with KS Marga Schiml in Karlsruhe and was scholarship holder of the Richard Wagner Association Bayreuth.

In previous seasons she gave a series of top-class opera debuts at Salzburger Festspiele (new production of Elektra under Daniele Gatti and Frau ohne Schatten, conducted by Christian Thielemann), at Salzburger Osterfestspiele (Götterdämmerung conducted by Sir Simon Rattle), at Teatro alla Scala Milano (Faust Scenes under Pinchas Steinberg), Erda in a concert performance of Rheingold and Siegfried under Ulf Schirmer at Leipzig Opera and Ariadne auf Naxos conducted by Bertrand de Billy at Theater an der Wien,  at Bavarian State Opera Munich (Zauberflöte) and at Canadian Opera Toronto (Rossignol).

In the 2014/15 season she was expected for her debut at the Bayreuth Festival under Kirill Petrenko in Rheingold and Götterdämmerung. As Erda she can be heard at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Siegfried, and as Anna at the Teatro Colon Buenos Aires in Les Troyens. At the Beethoven Festival Bonn she will interpret Mahler's third symphony.

Ms Radner, who performed all over the world including the Metropolitan Opera in New York and theatres in Milan and Buenos Aires, was on the crashed plane with her husband and baby. She had just finished performing in the Richard Wagner opera Siegfried at Barcelona’s Liceu.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3009151/headlines-news-Germanwings-plane-crash-french-alps-crash-Airbus-A320-Barcelonnette-Barcelona-Dusseldorf-francois-hollande-Lufthansa-4U9525.html#ixzz3VKx6nvLe   http://www.ia-ac.com/MariaRadner

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Maria Friderike Radner (1 January 1981, Düsseldorf – 24 March 2015, Le Vernet, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, France) was a German contralto and internationally renowned opera singer.

Early life and education, 1981-2008

Radner was born in Düsseldorf. In 2000, she finished her high school education at the St Ursula Gymnasium in Düsseldorf.

According to the biography on her management company website, she studied music and had received a scholarship by the Richard Wagner Association, Bayreuth. While still a student she made her first public appearance under Zubin Mehta at Palau de les Arts in Valencia singing Martin y Soler's 'oratorio Philitaei a Jonatha disperse and a recital in June 2008.

In August 2008, she performed the title role of Haendel's Salomo at the Bregenzer Festspiele; she was praised in the local newspapers as "outshining" the other, more established British soloists (Vorarlberger Nachrichten, August 19, 2008) and as possessing the "rare pitch of a true alto, having an impressive charisma and great musicality" (Vorarlberger Neue Tageszeitung, 20 August 2008).

She participated in a then new production of Parsifal under Lorin Maazel in Valencia, and Arthur Honegger's Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher under the direction of Antonio Pappano at Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Roma. She sang the third norn in Mozart's Zauberflöte under Tomas Netopil at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich.

Career 2009-2015

After graduating with distinction, she performed Schumann's Faust-scenes under Jesus Lopez-Cobos at the Teatro Real Madrid. She sang in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 conducted by Gianandrea Noseda at the Teatro Regio Torino. Conductor Sir Simon Rattle won her for the roles of First Norn and Flosshilde in Götterdämmerung at the 2009 Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and again at the Salzburger Osterfestspiele in 2010. In 2009/10 she was part of a new production of Strawinsky's Rossignol by the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto. She then sang Beethoven's Missa Solemnis under Philippe Herreweghe at Concertgebouw Amsterdam, and in December 2009 returned for five performances of the Zauberflöte at the Bayerische Staatsoper München.

In 2010, she performed the role of Erda for the first time in a concert performance of Rheingold at the Opernhaus Leipzig, a role she was invited to perform every year until her death, per Operabase. then Mahler's Symphony No 2 under Antonio Pappano in Rome and Milano. In the summer of 2010 she was part of a new production of Elektra at her first summer Salzburger Festspiele under Daniele Gatti and 'Die Frau ohne Schatten, conducted by Christian Thielemann.

In 2011 she performed in 7 different operas, 4 of those in Salzburg: in March/April the third lady in Die Zauberflöte at the Scala, under Roland Böer; in April Rheingold's Erda in Essen conducted by Stefan Soltesz, in July and August at the Salzburger Festspiele as 'Eine Stimme von oben' and 'servants in Die Frau ohne Schatten under Christian Thielemann, in August the Martha in Iolanta, and 'death' in Le Rossignol both under Ivor Bolton; and lastly Siegfried's Erda in Leipzig under Ulf Schirmer.

In January 2012, Radner had her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City in Götterdämmerung. In March 2012, she participated in Richard Strauss's Die Frau ohne Schatten at La Scala under Semyon Bychkov. In the fall of 2012, she was in London performing in three Wagner operas conducted by Pappano: the Erda in Siegfried and Rheingold during September and October, and the first norn in Götterdämmerung during October and November.

In January 2013, she played the Schwertleite in Die Walkure at the Teatro Comunale Florence, Italy under Zubin Mehta, and in March the Erda at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, conducted by Ingo Metzmacher.

In April 2014, she performed the role of Anna in the Berlioz opera Les Troyens. In May she played the Erda in Das Rheingold for the last time at the Grand Théâtre de Genève under Ingo Metzmacher.

Death

Radner died on 24 March 2015 along with her colleague Oleg Bryzhak, her husband, and her infant child in the Germanwings Flight 9525 crash in France, during her return from performances of Richard Wagner's Siegfried at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona.

Discography

• Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin Choir / Wagner - Richard Wagner: Das Rheingold. May 28, 2013. PentaTone Classics
• Gürzenich-Orchester Köln / Markus Stenz, conductor: Gustav Mahler: Symphony No 8 in Es-Dur. Oehms Classics; recording of a September 2011 live performance in the Philharmonie Köln .