Hanna-Elisabeth Müller (born 3 May 1985 at Mannheim) is a German soprano in opera, concert and recitals.
Life
Musical education
As a child, Müller took violin lessons with Dinu Hartwich and later joined a choir. Since the age of 11, she took vocal lessons with Judith Janzen to sing solo parts. In 1998, she performed the boy soprano in Leonard Bernstein's MASS during the Kultursommer Ludwigshafen. She continued singing as a hobby during her high school education and earned several prizes in the junior musician's competition Jugend musiziert.
Early career
Following her high school degree, she studied vocal arts in the soloist class of former opera singer Rudolf Piernay at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Mannheim. To complete her studies, she attended master classes of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Júlia Várady, Edith Wiens, Elly Ameling, Thomas Hampson and Wolfram Rieger.
In the song duo competition 2009 at Enschede, Netherlands, she gained, together with her accompanist Mihaela Tomi, the highest award, the audience award and the award for the best interpretation of a contemporary opus. In 2010 she gained the 1st prize in the competition Ton und Erklärung – Werkvermittlung in Musik und Wort of the Kulturkreis der Deutschen Wirtschaft. This award was given by a jury of nine experts chaired by Francisco Araiza and attests that she is not only able to perform music on the highest level but also to explain it convincingly. In 2011, she obtained awards in the Ada Sari International Vocal Art Competition at Nowy Sącz.
Her first stage debuts in important roles were Euridice in Orfeo ed Euridice (April 2010) at Kammeroper Rheinsberg and Pamina in Die Zauberflöte (November 2011) at Theater & Philharmonie Thüringen, Gera. She also represented this role at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma in March 2012. On 22 December 2013 she was featured by Rolando Villazón in the series Stars de Demain by Arte.
Bavarian State Opera
At the Bavarian State Opera, Munich, Müller was member of the opera studio in the season 2010/11 and member of the company from the season 2012/2013 to 2015/2016. This resulted in a number of successful role debuts, e.g. as Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel (March 2013), Zerlina in Don Giovanni (May 2013), Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro (September 2013), Sophie in Werther (October 2015) und Marzelline in Fidelio (February 2016). Furthermore, she presented roles which she already had performed at other opera houses, i.e. Zdenka in Andreas Dresen's new production of Arabella during Munich Opera Festival in July 2015 and Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier in July 2016. In 2013 she obtained the "Festspielpreis der Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Münchner Opernfestspiele".
Other opera houses
On 12 April 2014 she debuted as Zdenka in Arabella by Richard Strauss during the Salzburg Easter Festival. She was on stage together with Renée Fleming and Thomas Hampson and convinced the audience as well as the critics. This success was crucial for the election as Nachwuchskünstlerin des Jahres (upcoming artist of the year) by the critics of the journal Opernwelt. As Zdenka she also debuted at the Semperoper Dresden in November 2014. On 5 September 2015 she debuted as Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier at De Nederlandse Opera Amsterdam.
In 2017 Müller passed important milestones of her international career, namely her debut at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, as Marzelline in Jürgen Flimm's production of Fidelio (March 2017), and at La Scala, Milan, where she had her role debut as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni. Her first performance at Zürich Opera House was in February 2018 in the new role of Ilia in Idomeneo,
Oratorios and recitals
Beside her engagements at opera houses, Müller frequently sings in recitals and oratorios. Sponsoring by Südwestrundfunk in the SWR2 New Talent Program from 2013 to 2015 gave her the opportunity to reach a broad audience with the audio transmissions of two song recitals. One of them was her debut at Schwetzinger Festspiele, together with the pianist Juliane Ruf, on 26 May 2013.