Biography
Hanna-Elisabeth Müller was born in Mannheim and had her first singing lessons when she was eleven. The young soprano won prizes at the national music competition 'Jugend Musiziert' on a number of occasions and received a scholarship from the 'Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes', from the Zukunftsinitiative Rheinland-Pfalz, the Yehudi Menuhin 'Live Music Now' Organization, the Paula-und-Albert Salomon-Stiftung, and the des Richard-Wagner-Verband Heidelberg. In 2009, together with the pianist Mihaela Tomi she won first prize at the Internationaler Lied-Duo-Wettbewerb in Enschede, as well as the prize for the best performance of the obligatory modern piece, and the audience prize. In 2010 she won the Musikpreis des Kulturkreises der deutschen Wirtschaft, which carries a substantial financial award. In 2011 at the International Ada Sari Competition she won not only first prize, but all the other prizes open to her at the event: the Mozart Prize, the Lied Prize and the opportunity to give concerts with the Krakow Opera and the Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra.
Hanna-Elisabeth Müller studied under Rudolf Piernay at the University of Music Mannheim, with whom she continues to work closely, following her graduation as a soloist. She applied the finishing touches to her training by attending master classes by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Julia Varady, Edith Wiens, Elly Ameling, Thomas Hampson and Wolfram Rieger.
Following first guest performances as Eurydike in Gluck's Orpheus and Eurydice at the Kammeroper Rheinsberg - 'Eurydice outclassed everyone else in stage presence: With her clear, yet expressive soprano, Hanna-Elisabeth Müller created the most touching moments of the evening' Opernglas, June 2010 - she was a member of the Bavarian State Opera's studio during the 2010/11 season. In 2012 she made her debut at the Teatro dell'opera di Roma as Pamina. Since the 2012/13 season she has been a member of the ensemble of the Bavarian State Opera, where she can be heard in such disparate roles as Pamina, Zerlina, Susanna, Servilia or as Gretel, Hüter der Schwelle in Frau ohne Schatten and outstandingly as Infantin Donna Clara in Zemlinsky's Der Zwerg. In 2013, as a member of the ensemble, she received the Festival Prize of the Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Münchner Opernfestspiele (Society of Friends of the Munich Opera Festival).
In 2014 she was fêted as the discovery of the Salzburg Easter Festival for her sensational debut as Zdenka alongside Renée Fleming and Thomas Hampson under the baton of Christian Thielemann. In the new Munich production of Richard Strauss's Arabella under Philippe Jordan, too, she will be slipping into this role during the 2015 season, before making her local and role debut the following autumn as Sophie in a new production of Strauss's Rosenkavalier in Amsterdam, this time under Marc Albrecht.
The soprano is also a regular performer in recitals and concerts, if her busy opera activity leaves her enough time. Her concert repertoire reaches from Bach's secular cantatas to The Creation by Haydn to Beethoven's Missa solemnis or Mahler's Symphony No 4, all of which she performed at the Ansbach Bach week, with the RIAS Kammerchor, on tours with the Orchestre des Champs Elysées under Philippe Herreweghe, the Oregon Bach Festival under Helmuth Rilling and at the European Music Festival in Stuttgart under Michael Sanderling. In 2013 she worked for the first time with Robin Ticciati and the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra (Bruckner's F-minor Mass - a project that has been released on CD by Tudor). In the coming season, she will be a guest with the WDR Symphony Orchestra under Jukka Pekka Saraste (concerts and CD with Brahms's Ein Deutsches Requiem) and the Symphony Orchestra of Bayerischer Rundfunk under Sir Simon Rattle (Rheingold/Woglinde).
Since her lieder debut at the Heidelberger Frühling in 2011, she has been a guest with Wolfram Rieger at the Schubertiade Vilabertran, with Juliane Ruf at the Schwetzingen Festival, at the Philharmonie in Cologne, and in De Singel in Antwerp. She will be opening the coming season with a CD production (hänssler) with lieder by Strauss, Berg and Schoenberg. Lieder recitals will take her to the Rheinvokal Festival, the Philharmonie in Essen, and once again to the Heidelberger Frühling. Since the start of 2013 Hanna-Elisabeth Müller has been SWR2 New Talent, the title of the newly introduced promotion of young artists by the broadcaster Südwestrundfunk, which will accompany her for three years and also release her lieder CD.
