With a voice described as “brilliant to its highest notes” (Süddeutsche Zeitung), Greek coloratura soprano Danae Kontora is already a name of note in repertoire ranging from Classical to contemporary, with the role of Die Königin der Nacht (Die Zauberflöte) forming the backbone of recent seasons.
Since her first appearance in the role at Oper Leipzig, Kontora has subsequently performed Die Königin at Semperoper Dresden, Oper Frankfurt, Aalto Musiktheater Essen, Staatsoper Stuttgart, Teatro Regio Torino and in Barrie Kosky’s iconic production for the Komische Oper at their home in Berlin but also on tour in Beijing, Macao and Taiwan.
Danae Kontora recently sang her first Zerbinetta (Ariadne auf Naxos) at Finnish National Opera and Oscar (Un ballo in maschera) for Israeli Opera and made debuts at Wiener Staatsoper as Frantzi in Johannes Maria Staud’s Die Weiden and at Bayerische Staatsoper as Philippe in a new production of Penderecki's Die Teufel von Loudun under Vladimir Jurowski, as Adele (Die Fledermaus) with Teatro Carlo Felice Genova under Mo Fabio Luisi and at Staatsoper Hamburg as Blonde (Die Entführung aus dem Serail) with Mo Adam Fischer. She also sang Frasquita (Carmen) for Greek National Opera and Olympia for Theater Erfurt and Gärtnerplatztheater.
On the concert stage, Kontora joined the Gewandhausorchester under Andris Nelsons as part of the orchestra’s 275th Anniversary Celebrations, the Münchner Rundfunkorchester for Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream under Mario Venzago, the Orchestra of Oper Frankfurt and Sebastian Weigle for Mendelssohn’s Elias, the Bamberger Symphoniker under Juraj Valcuha at Würzburg’s Mozartfest for Mozart’s Requiem and appeared at the Munich Biennale Festival of Contemporary Music in Claude Viviers’ Kopernikus. Following her debut at the Edinburgh International Festival as Waldvogel (Siegfried), Kontora was invited to return as Woglinde (Götterdämmerung) with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra under Sir Andrew Davis and also made her BBC Proms debut with Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen under Constantinos Carydis in a virtuosic programme of Mozart and Strauss. She also made her debut with Tapiola sinfonietta at Espoo cultural Centre in Finland singing Brett Dean's And once I played Ophelia. She recently made her debut with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks under Sir Simon Rattle as Waldvogel at Isarphilharmonie München, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and Philharmonie Luxembourg.
Danae Kontora trained at Munich’s Hochschule für Musik und Theater and Bayerische Theaterakademie August Everding, and was awarded the Bayerische Kunstförderpreis in 2015, the same year of her nomination for "Best Young Singer" by Opernwelt.