Helga Dernesch

Helga Dernesch is an Austrian soprano and mezzo-soprano born in 1939 in Vienna. She studied at the Vienna Hochschule für Musik and made her professional debut in 1961 as Marina in the opera Boris Godunov in Bern. During her career, her voice transitioned through four successive phases, moving from mezzo-soprano to lyric soprano and dramatic soprano before returning to mezzo-soprano roles around 1980. She performed at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden between 1963 and 1965 and at the Cologne Opera from 1965 to 1968. Dernesch first appeared at the Bayreuth Festival in 1965 as Wellgunde in Der Ring des Nibelungen and later performed as Elisabeth in Tannhäuser in 1967. In 1969, she made her debut at the Salzburg Easter Festival. Her work with Scottish Opera included the roles of Gutrune (1968), Leonore (1970) and the Marschallin (1971). She created the role of Goneril in the 1978 premiere of Aribert Reimann’s Lear and later performed the title role in the 2000 production of Bernarda Albas Haus. Her recording history included the opera Götterdämmerung with the conductor Herbert von Karajan and Tannhäuser (1974) with Georg Solti.