Master Class

Ildikó Raimondi

Ildikó Raimondi is not only a celebrated opera singer, but she is also a much sought-after interpreter of songs and concert vocalist. She is a member of the Vienna State Opera since 1991 (here she has sung more than 50 opera roles) and professor in solo voice at Mozarteum University Salzburg.

The artist, who resides in Vienna, has given guest performances at the German Opera in Berlin, the Semper Opera in Dresden, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the Zurich Opera House and this year for the first time at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, amongst others. These were augmented by concerts, radio and TV performances in many European countries, in Japan, the US (New York) and Israel; forgetting neither the sacred music during the Schubertiade at the Vienna Musikverein nor the great Bach and Haydn oratorios, in which she was a soloist under prominent conductors. Her engagements at international festivals include among others the Salzburg Festival, the Musica Sacra in Rome, the Bregenz Festival, the Wiener Klangbogen Festival, the ViennaFestival Weeks, the Edinburgh Festival, the Richard Strauss Festival in Garmisch, the Beethoven Festival in Bonn and the Johann Strauß Music Festival in Coburg.

Ildikó Raimondi has a particular fondness for 20th century music. Works by Franz Schmidt, Arnold Schönberg, Alexander von Zemlinsky, Egon Wellesz, Ernst Krenek, Gottfried von Einem – and contemporary music by e.g. Friedrich Cerha and Thomas Daniel Schlee – belong to the repertoire of this internationally appreciated Soprano. Her song recital evenings in the Vienna Musikverein, at the Ludwigsburg Castle Festival and in many cities, both at home and abroad, continually set standards for interpretation and programme arrangement. In 2003, within the scope of a major scientific song project, Ildikó Raimondi published Bohemian composer Wenzel Johann Tomaschek’s collection of 41Goethe songs.

More recently, her projects have consisted of e.g. song recitals at the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, at the Beethoven Festival in Bonn, in the Philharmonie in Luxembourg and concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Leopold Hager in Rome, as well as with the Saxon State Choir in Dresden, conducted by Zubin Mehta. Under Zubin Mehta, she also sang at the grand opening of the new Opera House in Valencia as Marzelline in Beethoven’s "Fidelio".

At the Vienna State Opera, Ildikó Raimondi could recently be seen as Dame (Cardillac), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus), Pamina (The Magic Flute), Alice (Falstaff), Musetta (La Bohème) and also in the first performance of Iván Eröd’s children’s opera "Pünktchen and Anton".

Ildikó Raimondi was a guest performer at the ‘Theater an der Wien’ in 2012 in the celebrated First performance of the chamber opera "Premiere" by Tristan Schulze. In the critical and simultaneously humorous pastiche about the opera world, she played a culturally zealous and perfect, spirited Diva.

In March 2013, "Der neue Merker" wrote of a guest performance as the "Capriccio" Countess in the Budapest Palace of Arts: "A perfect technique permits the artiste to reproduce the floating notes demanded by Richard Strauss not only effortlessly in all circumstances, but also with audible enjoyment. Without deliberately showcasing herself, she was the quiet but at the same time lively centre of attraction. She accomplished the final scene of the opera, which is centred completely on the Countess, with the melodious tones of her undiminished youthful-sounding soprano voice and the required soaring virtuosity, just as the composer and the lyricists had intended."
In May 2014, Ildikó Raimondi sang the title role in "Arabella" at the Hungarian State Opera.

A while ago Ildikó Raimondi has recorded songs by Wenzel Johann Tomaschek based on poems by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, accompanied on the piano by Leopold Hager. In addition to this, her musical achievements are documented in numerous CD and DVD recordings, as well as radio and television recordings.

Ildikó Raimondi is an Austrian Kammersängerin and Austrian Ambassador for Integration.

Languages: German, English, French, Italian, Hungarian, Romania