Iris Vermillion

Iris Vermillion initially studied in Detmold and at the Musikhochschule Hamburg. During the course of her studies she attended master classes of Christa Ludwig and Hermann Prey. Iris Vermillion rose to international fame by singing Dorabella and Cherubino under the baton of Nikolaus Harnoncourt in Amsterdam as well as Clairon in Strauss’ CAPRICCIO in a production of Johannes Schaaf at the Salzburg Festival under the baton of Horst Stein. Other important roles in those ealier years also include Sesto/LA CLEMENZIA DI TITO and Octavian/DER ROSENKAVALIER In recent years, she has been appearing regularly on the stages of some of the foremost European Opera companies such as the Deutsche Staatsoper unter den Linden and the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Vienna State Opera, the Semperoper in Dresden and the Teatro alla Scala, adding more dramatic roles to her repertory including Komponist/ARIADNE AUF NAXOS as well as Gräfin Geschwitz/LULU, Fricka/RING DES NIBELUNGEN, Waltraute/GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG and Adriano/ RIENZI. Important debuts of the last seasons were Brangäne/TRISTAN UND ISOLDE in a concert performance in Bonn under Marc Soustrot and Venus/TANNHÄUSER in Dresden. New productions of Schulhoff’s DIE FLAMMEN at the Theater an der Wien and her first Herodias/SALOME with Munich’s State Opera are on the agenda for summer respectively fall 2006 as well as the Strauss-Wallerstein version of Mozart’s IDOMENEO with Salzburg Festival 2006. Iris Vermillion has always been careful never to neglect her expansive concert and recital repertory and to keep enough time in her calendar free for her appearances with the most famous conductors and orchestras and with works that range from ancient music up to the 20th century. She has especially made a name for her interpretation of Gustav Mahler’s symphonies and song cycles. The artist has sung under the direction of renowned conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Gerd Albrecht, Semyon Bychkov, Daniel Barenboim, Riccardo Chailly, Christoph von Dohnány, Vladimir Fedosejev, Michael Gielen, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, René Jacobs, Armin Jordan, Philippe Jordan, Marek Janowski, Kurt Masur, Georges Prêtre, Helmuth Rilling, Donnald Runnicles, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Sir George Solti und Marcello Viotti. Recent projects include Mahler’s KINDERTOTENLIEDER and Symphony no. 3 with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra under Eliahu Inbal, Dvorák’s STABAT MATER and Mendelssohn’s ELIJAH with Helmuth Rilling and Bruckner’s TE DEUM with the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra under Christian Thielemann, Mahler’s KINDERTOTENLIEDER with Bamberg Symphony Orchestra in Bamberg, Hamburg and the Rheingau Festival, Bach’s MAGNIFICAT under Helmuth Rilling at Vienna’s Musikverein, the world premiere of Jean-Luc Darbelley’s REQUIEM in Leipzig under Fabio Luisi, Schubert’s E-flat-minor Mass at the Konzerthaus Berlin, Sesto/LA CLEMENZA DI TITO at the Festival de Canarias 2006, Brittens PHAEDRA in Madrid and Barcelona, Brangäne/TRISTAN UND ISOLDE and Idamantes/IDOMENEO (Strauss-Wallerstein version) at Dresden’s Semperoper and recitals at the Tonhalle Dusseldorf and the Musikverein in Vienna. Iris Vermillion has made well over thirty highly acclaimed recordings including works by Beethoven, Bellini, Donizetti, Goldschmidt, Graun, Liszt, Loewe, Mahler, Mozart, Pfitzner, Schulhoff, Schumann, R. Strauss, Ullmann, Wagner and Zemlinsky for Labels such as Deutsche Grammophon, Sony, Decca, Philips, Harmonia Mundi, CPO, Erato and BMG. (2005/2006)