Gabriele Schnaut

Gabriele Schnaut
Schnaut in c. 2000
Born	(1951-02-24)24 February 1951 Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, West Germany
Died	19 June 2023(2023-06-19) (aged 72)
Education	Peter Cornelius Conservatory University of Mainz Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts
Occupation(s)	Classical singer (mezzo-soprano and dramatic soprano)
Years active	1976–2019
Organizations	Bayreuth Festival Hamburgische Staatsoper Bayerische Staatsoper Universität der Künste
Title	Kammersängerin
Awards	Bavarian Order of Merit

Gabriele Schnaut (24 February 1951 – 19 June 2023) was a German classical singer who started her operatic career as a mezzo-soprano in 1976 and changed to dramatic soprano in 1985. She performed at the Bayreuth Festival from 1977, in the filmed Jahrhundertring, to 2000. After a breakthrough performance as Richard Wagner's Isolde at the Hamburgische Staatsoper in 1988, she became a leading dramatic soprano on the stages of the world in roles such as Wagner's Brünnhilde and Richard Strauss' Elektra. From 2008, she ventured into dramatic mezzo-soprano character roles such as Klytämnestra in Elektra, Herodias in Salome and Kostelnicka Buryjovka in Leoš Janáček's Jenufa.

She performed and recorded works by composers of the 20th century and appeared in the world premieres of operas by Wolfgang Rihm and Jörg Widmann. She portrayed her roles with "dramatic conviction".^[1]