Since her debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, mezzo-soprano Donna Morein continues to earn accolades for her beautiful singing and theatrical sensitivity on the operatic and orchestral stages of the United States, Europe, and Asia. Donna has performed over 60 roles, by 29 composers, and has performed in 10 different languages. She made her European debut with the Zürich Opera and has performed with opera companies such as the Cologne, Hannover, Braunschweig, Augsburg, Weimar, Chemnitz, Bavarian State Opera at Gärtnerplatz in Munich, Bergamo, Treviso, and Ravenna (Italy), New York City Opera and Santa Fe Opera. Additionally, she has sung at the Respighi Festival in Assisi, Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya, Japan, in Poznan, Poland and New Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv.
Ms. Morein received critical acclaim for her dramatic operatic portrayals, including Azucena in Il Trovatore, Eboli in Don Carlo, and Adalgisa in Norma, Venus in Tannhäuser, Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde, Ortrud in Lohengrin, Fricka in Die Walküre, Waltraute in Die Götterdämmerung, the Nurse in Die Frau ohne Schatten, and Klytämnestra in Elektra, among many others.
Conductors with whom Ms. Morein has worked include Sir Charles Mackerras, Christian Thielemann, Bruno Bartoletti, Donald Runnicles, Julius Rudel, Oleg Caetani, John Mauceri, Nello Santi, and Stéfan Soltész. She has worked with stage directors John Dew, August Everding, Brigitte Fassbaender, Bliss Hebert, Tony Palmer, Helmut Matiasek, Michael Heinicke and Peter Baumgardt; and with pianists John Wustman, Lambert Orkis, Vincenzo Scalera, Alexander Frey, Oresta Cybriwsky, Leone Magiera and Jeffrey Goldberg.
Her work on the concert stage ranges from the Baroque to the 21st century, including works of Bach, Handel, Pergolesi, Ravel, Rossini, Verdi, Mahler, Gubaidulina, Shostakovich, Kagel, Gill, Higdon and in several world premieres. In March of 2020, she will again perform Pulitzer Prize and three-time Grammy Winner Jennifer Higdon’s song “Lilacs” for which she sang the German premiere in 2016. She has sung with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Robert Schumann Philharmonie, the Tonhalle Orchestra in Zürich, at the Herkulessaal in Munich, Weill Recital Hall in New York, the Academy of Music in Philadelphia, and has appeared on television and radio in Europe and the U.S, and regularly at the Europäische Festwochen in Passau, Germany. She can be heard as La Voce in Respighi’s Lucrezia, recorded on the Swiss Pan label, Rossini’s Stabat Mater (Metronome Records AG), and in the German premiere of Kurt Weill’s The Eternal Road, recorded live by ARTE TV.
Ms. Morein is a first-prize winner of the Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition, and the XIV Toti dal Monte Concorso Internationale Per Cantanti in Treviso, Italy. She has also been a winner of the Metropolitan Opera Regional Auditions, the New Jersey State Opera Competition, the National Association of Teachers of Singing Regional Awards and has received numerous scholarships.
Donna Morein teaches classical voice in conjunction with her singing career. Ms. Morein began formal vocal teaching at Temple University Music Preparatory Division of the Boyer College of Music. In Europe, Donna taught at the Music Conservatory in Würzburg, Germany. She has taught vocal students throughout Germany and Switzerland and currently maintains private teaching studios in Berlin and Chemnitz. Her students have sung major roles with the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, New Israeli Opera, State Theater at Gärtnerplatz in Munich, and with the Bonn, Kassel, Augsburg, Braunschweig, Kiel, Weimar and Bremen opera houses. They have also appeared as soloists with the Munich Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, and have recorded and appeared on radio and TV.
Donna Morein studied voice with Prof. Klara Meyers at Temple University in Philadelphia, where she earned both Bachelor and Master of Music Degrees. A long-time student of the great mezzo-soprano Christa Ludwig, she was mentored by Luciano Pavarotti, coached with Antonio Tonini, Brigitte Fassbaender and extensively with Martin Rich and Luigi Ricci.
2020