Marlis Petersen

Marlis Petersen (born 1968) is a German coloratura soprano, particularly known for her performances in the title role of Alban Berg's opera Lulu, and as Konstanze in The Abduction from the Seraglio and Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos.

Born in Tuttlingen, Marlis Petersen won six important piano competitions before eventually going to the Stuttgart Conservatory where she studied music education, flute and dance as well as voice. She made her operatic debut at the Staatstheater in Nuremberg as Ännchen in Der Freischütz which led to a contract with the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, where she primarily sang in operas by Mozart and Strauss. On 6 September 2007, she sang the role of Aphrodite in the world premiere of Hans Werner Henze's Phaedra at the Berlin State Opera. Another world premiere came in May 2008, when she sang the role of Marta in Manfred Trojahn's La Grande Magia at the Dresden Semperoper. She has also appeared on the stages of Vienna, Salzburg, Munich, London and Paris, Geneva, and Monte Carlo. In addition to her operatic roles, she is known for her performances in works by Johann Sebastian Bach with conductors Ton Koopman and Helmuth Rilling and for her Lieder recitals with pianist Jendrik Springer. She sang the title rôle in the premiere of the opera Medea by Aribert Reimann at the Vienna State Opera in 2010.

She made an exceptionally strong impression in her unexpected assumption of the role of Ophélie in Ambroise Thomas's Hamlet at the New York Metropolitan Opera in March 2010. She spent less than four days preparing for the role, for which a reviewer remarked, "that, to judge from her beautiful and emotionally vulnerable singing, she clearly relishes."