“Making the difficult look easy is one of her special talents” – NDRKultur

Russian soprano Katerina Tretyakova has been a member of the ensemble of Hamburg State Opera since the 2010/11 season. Here, she has thrilled audiences in numerous major roles of the repertoire, such as Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor), Gilda (Rigoletto), Adina (L’ Elisir d’ Amore), Adele (Die Fledermaus), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Musetta (La Bohème), Nannetta (Falstaff), Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel), and others.

With lightness, intensity and the perfection of her singing, her stage performances are compelling. She has received considerable acclaim for her interpretations of roles in seldom-performed works such as the opera Bliss by Australian composer Brett Dean, world-premiered in 2010; Cunibert in Georg Philipp Telemann’s baroque “Gänsemarkt opera”, Flavius Bertaridus, King of the Langobards; and Ighino in Hans Pfitzner’s Palestrina.

In addition to her performances at the Hamburg State Opera, Katerina Tretyakova frequently performs in Austria, working hand-in-hand with various renowned orchestras. Among other things, she made her debut at the Theater an der Wien as Regina in Paul Hindemith’s artist drama Mathis der Maler. As a soloist, she has sung with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, the Montpellier Radio Orchestra, the Dresden Philharmonic and the Hamburg Philharmonic among others. Her partners on stage and in the concert hall included Angela Gheorghiu, Anja Harteros, Franz Grundheber, Ramon Vargas, Giuseppe Filianoti and Roberto Saccà. In April 2009 the soprano made her debut at the Konzerthaus in Vienna under the baton of Bertrand de Billy; in 2011, she returned there for a solo concert of Russian songs.

Studying roles intensely, employing good technique and having tremendous fun at work – Katerina Tretyakova sees these elements as the secret of her success. The soprano, originally from Murmansk in Russia, knew early on that she wanted to be a singer. Growing up in Lithuania, at the age of 15 she began studying the art of conducting at the Conservatory in Vilnius, which she completed with honours in 2000. In the same year she continued her training at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, studying voice with Professor Giedre Kaukaite and graduating with a bachelor’s degree in 2005. As part of the Erasmus exchange programme, the young singer went to Salzburg in 2006. She continued her studies at the Mozarteum and in the same year made her debut at the Salzburg Festival as Hyacinthus in Mozart’s opera Apollo and Hyacinthus. In 2007, she completed her master’s degree studies with Josef Wallnig and KS Elisabeth Wilke, being awarded the highest distinction, and began song repertoire studies with Breda Zakonik.

In 2008, along with ten other young singers, Katerina Tretyakova was accepted onto the Young Singers Project of the Salzburg Festival, which was under the artistic direction of Barbara Bonney and Michael Schade and came to a glorious end with a gala concert in the Mozarteum’s Großer Saal under the conducting of Ivor Bolton.

From Salzburg, the soprano then moved to the Elbe: she decided to spend two years at the International Opera Studio of the Hamburg State Opera, where she quickly sang important roles such as Musetta (La Bohème), Valencienne (Die lustige Witwe), Oscar (Un Ballo in Maschera) and Frasquita (Carmen). Immediately after thecompletion of this training Simone Young, the Intendantand general music director of Hamburg State Opera, engaged the singer as a member of the ensemble.

Katerina Tretyakova has received numerous awards and distinctions. She won numerous singing competitions in Lithuania, Latvia, Belarus, the Czech Republic and Romania. In 2012 the Foundation for the Promotion of Hamburg State Opera awarded her the Dr. Wilhelm Oberdörffer Prize for her outstanding artistic development. In January 2013, she won the prestigious Francisco Vinas Competition in Barcelona, one of the most important in the world. In summer of 2013, she was further awarded first prize at the international competition Grand Prix de l’Opera in Bucharest, second prize at the Montserrat Caballé International Singing Competition in Zaragoza and first prize at the Marcello Giordani International Vocal Competition in Catania.

In October 2014, Katerina Tretyakova made her outstandingly successful debut as Violetta Valery in G. Verdi’s La Traviata, and appeared as a soloist at the opening of the philharmonic season at the Meistersingerhalle in Nuremberg. In 2015, she has made her Central American debut as Gilda at the Bogota Opera House, appeared in concerts in Spain, Italy, Germany and Panama before returning to the TAW (Theater an der Wien) with the main role in Marschner’s Hans Heiling.

Roles:

Violetta Valéry (G. Verdi “La Traviata”)
Lucia (G. Donizetti “Lucia di Lammermoor”)
Adina (G. Donizetti “L’Elisir d’Amore”)
Juliette (Ch. Gounod “Romeo et Juliette”)
Gilda (G. Verdi “Rigoletto”)
Nannetta (G. Verdi “Falstaff”)
Musetta (G. Puccini „La Boheme“)
Adele (J. Strauss “Die Fledermaus”)
Susanna (W. A. Mozart ” Le nozze di Figaro”)
Pamina (W. A. Mozart “Die Zauberflöte”)
Zerlina (W. A. Mozart “Don Giovanni”)
Marzelline (L. V. Beethoven “Fidelio”)
Gretel (E. Humperdink “Hänsel und Gretel”)
Valencienne (F. Lehar „Die lustige Witwe“)
Zdenka (R. Strauss “Arabella”)
Najade (R. Strauss “Ariadne auf Naxos”)
Oscar (G. Verdi „Un ballo in maschera“)
Frasquita (G. Bizet „Carmen“)
Lucy (B. Dean “Bliss”)
Ighino (H. Pfitzner “Palestrina”)
Death (Ch. Jost „Death Knocks“)
Antoinette (O. Strasnoy “Le Bal”)
Regina (P. Hindemith “Mathis der Maler”)
Blume 1/1 (R. Wagner “Parsifal”)
Waldvogel (R. Wagner “Siegfried”)
Woglinde (R. Wagner “Das Rheingold”)
Woglinde (R. Wagner “Götterdämmerung”)
Ortlinde (R. Wagner „Die Walküre“)
Anna (H. Marschner “Hans Heiling”)