Tanja Ariane Baumgartner, mezzo-soprano, became known for her interpretation of Schöck's Penthesilea at the Theater Basel (2007). She began her career at the Lucerne Theatre and then continued her career at the Frankfurt Opera. In the summers of 2020 and 2021 she was Klytemnaestra in Strauss' Elektra at the Salzburg Festival, in 2017 she sang Fricka in Bayreuth.
She first studied violin in Freiburg (played in the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie and as a student assistant at the theatre in Freiburg), then singing in Karlsruhe, Vienna, Sofia and New York. Her path led her from a dramatic colouratura soprano to a lyric mezzo and finally to a dramatic mezzo-soprano. Her repertoire is broad and ranges from Handel roles to modern music.
She made her debut as Rosina at the Vienna Chamber Opera in the Schönbrunn Palace Theatre. This was followed by her first permanent engagement at the Lucerne Theatre, where she sang roles such as Charlotte (Massenet-Werther), Mrs Quickly (Verdi -Falstaff) and Kokozowa in Lehàr's operetta The Count of Luxembourg. In Basel she sang Eboli (Verdi-Don Carlo) in the French version, Penthesilea (Schöck-Penthesilea), Countess Geschwitz (Berg-Lulu), Carmen (Bizet-Carmen) Amneris (Verdi-Aida).
She was a member of the Frankfurt Opera ensemble for ten years, where she sang all the major Verdi roles in her repertoire. She made her debut at the Salzburg Festival as Countess Geschwitz (2010) and in Berg's Lulu, then appeared as Charlotte in Zimmermann's Soldaten in 2012 and sang Agave/Agaue in Henze's Bassarides in 2018. A milestone in her career was the world premiere of Beat Furrer's Bianca Notte at the Hamburg State Opera, where she sang Indovina. Known as a singer-actress, she has worked with directors such as Calixto Bieito, Hans Neuenfels, Claus Guth, Krzystof Warlikowski, Kornel Mondruzco, Michael Thalheimer and others
She is a guest at the Vienna State Opera, the Hamburg State Opera, the Munich State Opera, the Zurich Opera House, the Grand Théâtre de Genève, Lyric Opera Chicago and others.
In concert, she can be heard above all with Mahler (Lied von der Erde, Lieder, Klagendes Lied), Verdi's Requiem, Beethoven's Missa Solemnis and others.
Lieder recitals at the Frankfurt Opera, Liestal as part of the Stimme zu Gast festival and at the Schlosskonzerte Beuggen with Malcolm Martineau, Tatiana Korsunskaya and Riccardo Bovino.
She has had a private singing studio in Lucerne since 2004, before that she taught privately since 1998 and gave masterclasses as part of the Mediterranean Opera Festival in Sicily (with Jack Livigni, Nelly Miriciou and Salvatore Fisichella in 2016/2018/2021 (online) and 2022).
She gave a masterclass at the Young Singers Project of the Salzburg Festival in 2021, at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg (2021) and at the Opera Studio of the Hamburg State Opera in 2022.
