The main focus of Marlis Petersen's repertoire is the field of lyric soprano, however she has also made a name for herself as an interpreter of contemporary music. After studying at the Music Academy Stuttgart and with Sylvia Geszty, she supplemented her training in the specialised areas of opera, new music, and dance. She started her career as a member of the ensemble at Städtische Bühnen Nuremberg, where she sang roles such as Ännchen, Blonde, Adele, Rosina, Lulu, and Queen of the Night. From 1998 to 2003 she was engaged at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Dusseldorf. Marlis Petersen gave her debut at the Vienna State Opera with Lulu. She also sang the role, which is central to her repertoire, in Peter Konwitschny's much admired staging in Hamburg, at the Chicago Lyric Opera, and in a new production in Athens. In the meantime, she has been a regular guest at the most important opera houses worldwide, e.g. Opéra de Paris, Théâtre de la Monnaie Brussels, state operas of Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Vienna, Theater an der Wien, Metropolitan Opera New York, Los Angeles Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera and at the Festivals of Salzburg and Aix-en-Provence.
Apart from Lulu, important roles of her repertoire are Violetta (La Traviata), Susanna (The Marriage of Figaro), Pamina (The Magic Flute), Adele and Rosalinde (Fledermaus), Marguerite (Les Huguenots), Manon, Thais and Elettra (Idomeneo). Recently, she has had a sensational success in a new Lulu production at the Bavarian State Opera, which she repeated at the Metropolitan Opera New York as an extraordinary farewell from this role. Outstanding attention was also paid to her performance in Peter Konwitschny's La Traviata production in Graz and Vienna. Marlis Petersen participated in important world premieres such as Werner Henze's Phaedra in Berlin and Brussels, Manfred Trojahn's La grande magia at Semperoper Dresden and Aribert Reimann's Medea at the Vienna State Opera.
In the concert field, the soprano has already worked with the greatest conductors worldwide such as Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel, Antonio Pappano, Jeffrey Tate, Ingo Metzmacher, Thomas Hengelbrock and collaborated also with several specialists in the historical performance practice as René Jacobs, Ton Koopman, Trevor Pinnock, and Helmuth Rilling.
In the upcoming season, opera appearances will take Marlis Petersen Vienna's Theater an der Wien (Maria Stuarda), to Frankfurt Opera (Merry Widow) and on tour with Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and René Jacobs with Beethoven’s Leonore.
Furthermore, she was just part part of the opening ceremonies of the Elbphilharmonie, where she sang in a world premiere of Jörg Widmann's oratorio Arche under the baton of Kent Nagano.
Marlis Petersen received the very first Austrian Music Theatre Award for her interpretation of the three female main roles in Les Contes d'Hoffmann at the Theater an der Wien and was named 'Singer of the Year' for the third time by the magazine Opernwelt.
(photo: the artist's archive)
