Born in Mannheim, Germany on February 24, 1951, Gabriele Schnaut was a classical / opera singer who performed works by many 20th Century composers but is best known for her roles in Wagner’s operas. Her musical journey began when she was young, studying violin and voice as a child. She studied violin at the Peter Cornelius Conservatory and musicology at the University of Mainz. Beginning in 1971, she studied voice under Swiss vocalist Elisa Cavelti at the Frankfort University of Music and Performing Arts. Gabriele Schnaut made her debut in 1976 as a mezzo soprano at the Staatsoper Stuttgart. The following year, she became a popular performer and appeared in many productions and at several festivals. She became a member of theater company Staastheater Darmstadt in 1978 and appeared for the first time at the Bayreuth Festival the following year. Gabriele Schnaut performed in Wagner’s The Twilight of the Gods in 1980 and joined the Mannheim National Theatre and appeared as Ophelia in Wolfgang Rihm’s Die Hamletmaschine. After many years performing as a mezzo-soprano, she began to study dramatic soprano singing under Hanne-Lore Kuhse in 1985 and began to sing in that range during performances of Wagner operas at the Theater Dortmund, the Metropolitan Opera (New York), and the Vienna Opera. She also performed in Schönberg's Gurre-Lieder (1992) and Richard Strauss' Elektra at La Scala in Milan, Italy (1994), which was her favorite title role. In 2000, she performed in Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Bayreuth Festival, as well as the title roles in Puccini's Tosca and Turandot at the Salzburg Festival in 2002. She began playing character roles in the mezzo-soprano range again in 2008 and appeared as Emilia Marty in Janáček’s Věc Makropulos as well as roles in Elektra and Strauss’ Salome. In 2012, she played the role of Euphrat in the premiere of Jörg Widmann’s Babylon (2012) and continued playing many other roles to critical acclaim. Gabriele Schnaut also served as a professor of voice between 2005 and 2014 at the Universität der Künste in Berlin, Germany. Her musical legacy was captured on releases such as Bach: Cantata 196 ‘Der Herr Denket An Uns’ / Cantata 18 ‘Gleichwie Der Regen Und Schnee Vom Himmel Fallt’ (1978), Hindemith: Cardillac (1988), Wagner: Die Walküre (1997), and Rossini: Petite Messe Solennelle (2022). Gabriele Schnaut died on June 19, 2023, at the age of 72.
