Cheryl Studer
[3] She attended Herbert Henry Dow High School,[4] then transferred to the Interlochen Arts Academy for her junior and senior years and graduated from there in 1974.
Following high school, Studer studied at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music but left the program after a year, deciding to move with her family to Tennessee.
[5] In the summer of 1979, Studer attended a course for foreign students on the art of the German Lied at the Schubert Institute in Baden bei Wien, Austria.
She sang the role of Gilda in act 3 of Verdi's Rigoletto at the Metropolitan Opera's 25th Anniversary Gala, opposite Luciano Pavarotti and Leo Nucci.
[13] In 1990, she also sang Odabella in Verdi's Attila at La Scala and Countess Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro at the Vienna State Opera.
[17] In 2000 Studer returned to the Metropolitan Opera to sing the role of Princess von Werdenberg (the Marschallin) in Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier.
In February 2001, Studer sang the role of the Kaiserin (Empress) in Richard Strauss' Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Dresden Semperoper conducted by Giuseppe Sinopoli.
In June 2001, Studer sang Elisabeth in performances of Werner Herzog's production of Richard Wagner's Tannhäuser at the Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
[20] Also in 2003, she sang her final Sentas in Der fliegende Holländer in May at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and she gave a Liederabend "In Memoriam Maria Callas" in Athens, Greece, with pianist Charles Spencer,[21] featuring songs and Lieder by Verdi, Wagner, Barber, Richard Strauss, and Copland.
[citation needed] In October 2005, Studer sang the role of Sieglinde in Richard Wagner's first-ever Ring Cycle in China, at Beijing's Poly Theatre.
In November 2005 it was reported, but never confirmed, that Studer had suffered a mild heart attack, forcing her to cancel a number of scheduled concerts in Spain.
[22] In June 2007, Studer gave a series of Masterclasses and an all-Richard Strauss Lieder recital with pianist Semyon Skigin in St. Petersburg, Russia.
[24][25] In November 2008, she gave another recital in Germany with Dutch pianist Fred Oldenburg [nl] featuring Lieder by Schumann, Brahms, Mahler, and Richard Strauss.
[27] On July 9, 2010, Studer made her directorial debut in a new production of Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Bayerische Kammeroper [de] in Würzburg, Germany.
The all-Wagner concerts, also featuring Belgian bass-baritone Wilfried Van den Brande,[30] were recorded and released as part of the orchestra's "Nürnberger Symphoniker Live" series.
[35] In October 2016, Studer sang the Overseer/Confidant (Die Vertraute/Die Aufseherin) in the late Patrice Chéreau's production of Richard Strauss' Elektra at the Staatsoper Berlin, conducted by Daniel Barenboim.
[36] She revisited the roles in June 2022, October 2023 and January/February 2025, again at the Staatsoper Berlin, in performances conducted by Thomas Guggeis (2022), Markus Poschner (2023) and Alexander Soddy / Simone Young (2025).
In December 2016, she sang the role of Nettie Fowler in Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical Carousel at Theater Basel in Switzerland, in a run of performances through April 2017.
[37] In September 2018, Studer sang the contralto role of Mamma Lucia in a new production of Pietro Mascagni's opera Cavalleria rusticana at Oper Graz in Austria.
[40] Studer conducts a yearly series of master classes and opera workshops at her own North Aegean Music Festival in the island of Lesbos, Greece.
