Doris Soffel (born 12 May 1948, Hechingen, Germany) is a German mezzo-soprano.
Doris Soffel first played the violin, then switched to singing at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München. She was member of the Stuttgart Opera ensemble from 1973 to 1982. Her international breakthrough was as Sesto in Mozart's La clemenza di Tito at the Royal Opera House, London in 1982. She sang Fricka in the Bayreuth Festival 1983 and was the only German coloratura mezzo with an international career, singing in works by Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti, and Vincenzo Bellini. She sang world premieres by contemporary composers like Aribert Reimann and Krysztof Penderecki and had performances worldwide of Gustav Mahler's vocal works. From 1994, more dramatic roles like Judith in Béla Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle, Eboli in Verdi's Don Carlo and Amneris in his Aïda. Since 1999 she belongs to the most important interpreters of operas by Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss (e.g. Ortrud, Kundry, Fricka, Herodias and Amme). In 2007 she sang the female principal part (Marfa) in the Mussorgsky's Khovanshchina in Munich. She appears on about 60 CDs and several DVDs.
In 1994, she performed at the Nobel Prize Award ceremony.
Honours 2025: Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 2025: Honorary Member of the Deutsche Oper Berlin 2007: Kammersängerin 2001: Order of the Polar Star
Repertoire Opera
Composer Opera Part Béla Bartók A Kékszakállú herceg vára (Bluebeard's Castle) Judit Vincenzo Bellini Norma Adalgisa Alban Berg Lulu Gräfin Geschwitz Hector Berlioz Les Troyens Didon Georges Bizet Carmen Carmen Francesco Cilea Adriana Lecouvreur La Principessa di Bouillon Gaetano Donizetti Anna Bolena Giovanna di Seymour La Favorita Leonora di Guzman Maria Stuarda Elisabetta Antonín Dvořák Rusalka Hexe Jezibaba Friedrich von Flotow Martha oder Der Markt zu Richmond Nancy Christoph Willibald Gluck Orfeo ed Euridice Orfeo George Frideric Handel Hercules Dejanira Leoš Janáček Káta Kabanová Kabanicha Pietro Mascagni Cavalleria rusticana Santuzza Jules Massenet Hérodiade Hérodiade Werther Charlotte Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Così fan tutte Dorabella La Clemenza di Tito Sesto Die Zauberflöte Zweite Dame Modest Mussorgsky Boris Godunow Marina Mnisek Chowantschina Marfa Krzysztof Penderecki Ubu Rex Mère Ubu Amilcare Ponchielli La Gioconda Laura Adorno Francis Poulenc Dialogues des Carmelites Madame de Croissy Aribert Reimann Troades Kassandra Gioachino Rossini Cenerentola Angelina Il Barbiere di Siviglia Rosina L'Italiana in Algeri Isabella Mosè in Egitto Sinaide Camille Saint-Saëns Samson et Dalila Dalila Othmar Schoeck Penthesilea Penthesilea Louis Spohr Jessonda Amazili Johann Strauss Die Fledermaus Prinz Orlofsky Richard Strauss Elektra Klytämnestra Ariadne auf Naxos Der Komponist Capriccio Clairon Die Frau ohne Schatten Die Amme Der Rosenkavalier Octavian Salome Herodias Igor Stravinsky Oedipus Rex Jocaste Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Orleanskaja Deva Jeanne d'Arc Pique Dame Gräfin Giuseppe Verdi Aida Amneris Don Carlos Eboli Un ballo in Maschera Ulrika Il Trovatore Azucena Richard Wagner Götterdämmerung Waltraute Lohengrin Ortrud Parsifal Kundry Das Rheingold Fricka Rienzi: Der letzte der Tribunen Adriano Tannhäuser und der Sängerkrieg auf Wartburg Venus Tristan und Isolde Brangäne Die Walküre Fricka Hugo Wolf Der Corregidor Frasquita Alexander Zemlinsky Eine Florentinische Tragödie Bianca
Concerts Johann Sebastian Bach Passionen und Oratorien Mezzo Ludwig van Beethoven Missa solemnis D-dur op.123 Mezzo Symphonie No. 9 Alto Hector Berlioz Mort de Cleopâtre Mezzo Nuits d´été Mezzo Damnation de Faust Marguerite Johannes Brahms Lieder Brahms Mezzo Anton Bruckner Mass No. 3 in F minor Alto Joseph Haydn Harmoniemesse B-dur Hob.XXII:13 Alto Heiligmesse B-dur Hob XXII:10 Alto Missa Sanctae Caeciliae C-dur Alto Karl Amadeus Hartmann Symphonie 1 Versuch eines Requiem (on texts by Walt Whitman) Alto Gustav Mahler Das Lied von der Erde Mezzo Kindertotenlieder Mezzo Sinfonie Nr.2 c-moll (Auferstehung) Alto Sinfonie Nr.8 Es-dur (Sinf.der Tausend) Alto Symphonie No. 3 Mezzo Rückert-Lieder Mezzo Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen Mezzo Hermann Reutter Lieder Mezzo Franz Schubert Lieder und Liederzyklen Mezzo Erwin Schulhoff Landschaften/Menschheit Mezzo Robert Schumann Lieder und Liederzyklen Mezzo Arnold Schoenberg Gurrelieder Waldtaube Wolfgang von Schweinitz Liederzyklus "Papiersterne" Mezzo Alexander Scriabin Symphonie Nr. 1 E-Dur Mezzo Richard Strauss Lieder und Liederzyklen Mezzo Giuseppe Verdi Requiem Mezzo Richard Wagner Wesendonk-Lieder Mezzo Alexander Zemlinsky Maeterlink Orchesterlieder Mezzo
References
Doris Soffel at Boris Orlob Management Bach Cantatas website biographical page, accessed 25 January 2010 Klassik Heute biographical page, accessed 25 January 2010 Guy Barzilay Artists biographical page, accessed 25 January 2010