Anna Justine Steiger (born 13 February 1960

Slonimsky, Nicolas Nicolas Slonimsky ( – December 25, 1995), born Nikolai Leonidovich Slonimskiy (), was a Russian-born American musicologist, conductor, pianist, and composer. Best known for his writing and musical reference work, he wrote the ''Thesaurus ...

and Kuhn, Laura (eds.) (2001)
"Steiger, Anna"
''

Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians ''Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians'' is a major reference work in the field of music, originally compiled by Theodore Baker, PhD, and published in 1900 by G. Schirmer, Inc. The ninth edition, the most recent edition, was published in ...

'', 10th Edition, Volume 6. Accessed online via

Highbeam HighBeam Research was a paid search engine and full text online archive owned by Gale, a subsidiary of Cengage, for thousands of newspapers, magazines, academic journals, newswires, trade magazines, and encyclopedias in English. It was headquarte ...

, 12 July 2012.) is a British and American

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

singer who has sung leading

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

and

mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano (, ), or mezzo ( ), is a type of classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A bel ...

roles in British, European and North American opera houses. She has sung many recitals at festivals which have been broadcast live on the BBC, Radio France and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. In 2010, she was invited to participate in the Australian Chamber Music Festival.

Early life

Steiger was born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, the daughter of actors

Claire Bloom Patricia Claire Bloom (born 15 February 1931) is an English actress. She is known for leading roles on stage and screen and has received two BAFTA Awards and a Drama Desk Award as well as nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award, a Grammy Award an ...

and

Rod Steiger Rodney Stephen Steiger ( ; April 14, 1925 – July 9, 2002) was an American actor, noted for his portrayal of offbeat, often volatile and crazed characters. Ranked as "one of Hollywood's most charismatic and dynamic stars", he is closely associ ...

. She trained with

Noelle Barker Noelle Barker OBE (28 December 1928 – 15 May 2013) was an English soprano singer and singing teacher. She was considered one of the most outstanding singing teachers of her generation.

at the

Guildhall School of Music The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a music and drama school located in the City of London, England. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz along with dram ...

in London from 1977 to 1983 and then with

Vera Rózsa Vera Rózsa OBE (or Vera Rózsa-Nordell, ; 16 May 1917 – 15 October 2010) was a Hungarian singer, voice teacher, and vocal consultant. She lived in the United Kingdom from 1954. Education She started her music education at the age of five. He ...

at the

National Opera Studio The National Opera Studio in London, England was established in 1977 by the Arts Council of Great Britain, Arts Council as a link between the music colleges and the six main UK opera companies. It was resident at Morley College in Lambeth until ...

from 1985 to 1986. She won the Sir

Peter Pears Sir Peter Neville Luard Pears ( ; 22 June 19103 April 1986) was an English tenor. His career was closely associated with the composer Benjamin Britten, his personal and professional partner for nearly forty years. Pears' musical career started ...

Award in 1982, the

Richard Tauber Richard Tauber (16 May 1891, Linz – 8 January 1948, London) was an Austrian lyric tenor and film actor. He performed the tenor role in numerous operas, including ''Don Giovanni'' by Mozart and Lorenzo Da Ponte. Early life Richard Tauber was b ...

Prize in 1984, and the John Christie Award in 1985.

Career

Her professional debut was as Dorabella in ''

Così fan tutte (''Women are like that, or The School for Lovers''), Köchel catalogue, K. 588, is an opera buffa in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was first performed on 26 January 1790 at the Burgtheater in Vienna, Austria. The libretto was written ...

'' in 1984 with

Opera 80 English Touring Opera (ETO) is an opera company in the United Kingdom founded in 1979 under the name Opera 80 by the then-existing Arts Council of Great Britain. In 1992 the company changed to its present name. Today it is sponsored in part by Ar ...

. In 1986 she sang the title role in Monteverdi's ''

L'incoronazione di Poppea ''L'incoronazione di Poppea'' (Stattkus-Verzeichnis, SV 308, ''The Coronation of Poppaea'') is an Italian List of operas by Claudio Monteverdi, opera by Claudio Monteverdi. It was Monteverdi's last opera, with a libretto by Giovanni Francesco Buse ...

'' at

Glyndebourne Glyndebourne () is an English country house, the site of an opera house that, since 1934, has been the venue for the annual Glyndebourne Festival Opera. The house, located near Lewes in East Sussex, England, is thought to be about six hundre ...

, and she returned to sing in many productions there in roles such as Concepción in ''

L'heure espagnole ''L'heure espagnole'' is a French one-act opera from 1911, described as a ''comédie musicale'', with music by Maurice Ravel to a French libretto by Franc-Nohain, based on Franc-Nohain's 1904 play ('comédie-bouffe') of the same name The opera, s ...

''. With Glyndebourne Touring Opera, she sang the role of Sashka in the 1987 world premiere of

Nigel Osborne Nigel Osborne (born 23 June 1948) is a British composer, teacher and aid worker. He served as Reid Professor of Music at the University of Edinburgh and has also taught at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover. Known for his e ...

's ''

The Electrification of the Soviet Union ''The Electrification of the Soviet Union'' is an opera in two acts by Nigel Osborne. The libretto was written by Craig Raine and based on ''The Last Summer'' and ''Spectorsky'', two semi-autobiographical works by Boris Pasternak who appears as a ...

''. From 1988, she sang at other opera houses in the UK, including the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is a theatre in Covent Garden, central London. The building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. The ROH is the main home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orch ...

, Covent Garden, with roles in ''

Parsifal ''Parsifal'' ( WWV 111) is a music drama in three acts by the German composer Richard Wagner and his last composition. Wagner's own libretto for the work is freely based on the 13th-century Middle High German chivalric romance ''Parzival'' of th ...

'', ''

Jenůfa ''Její pastorkyňa'' (''Her Stepdaughter''; commonly known as ''Jenůfa'' ) is an opera in three acts by Leoš Janáček to a Czech libretto by the composer, based on the Play (theatre), play ''Její pastorkyňa'' by Gabriela Preissová. It was ...

'' and ''

The Knot Garden ''The Knot Garden'' is the third opera by composer Michael Tippett for which he wrote the original English libretto. The work had its first performance at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, on 2 December 1970 conducted by Sir Colin Davis and p ...

'', and the

English National Opera English National Opera (ENO) is a British opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in E ...

in ''

The Makropulos Affair ''Věc Makropulos'' is a Czech play written by Karel Čapek. Its title—literally ''The Makropulos Thing''—has been variously rendered in English as ''The Makropulos Affair'', ''The Makropulos Case'', or ''The Makropulos Secret'' (Čapek's o ...

''. Abroad, her roles have included Despina in ''Così fan tutte'' (Amsterdam, Stuttgart and Zurich), Zerlina in ''

Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; full title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanish legen ...

'' (

Seattle Opera Seattle Opera is an American opera company based in Seattle, Washington. The company's season runs from August through late May, comprising five or six operas of eight to ten performances each, often featuring double casts in major roles to all ...

, Stuttgart and Nancy), Governess in ''

The Turn of the Screw ''The Turn of the Screw'' is an 1898 gothic horror novella by Henry James which first appeared in serial format in '' Collier's Weekly'' from January 27 to April 16, 1898. On October 7, 1898, it was collected in ''The Two Magics'', publis ...

'' (

La Fenice Teatro La Fenice (; "The Phoenix Theatre") is a historic opera house in Venice, Italy. It is one of "the most famous and renowned landmarks in the history of Italian theatre" and in the history of opera as a whole. Especially in the 19th cen ...

), Jenny in ''

Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny ''Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny'' () is a political-satirical opera composed by Kurt Weill to a German libretto by Bertolt Brecht. It was first performed on 9 March 1930 at the in Leipzig. Some interpreters have viewed the play as a ...

'' (

Los Angeles Opera The Los Angeles Opera, originally called the Los Angeles Music Center Opera, is an American opera company in Los Angeles, California. It is the fourth-largest opera company in the United States. The company's home base is the Dorothy Chandler P ...

), the Composer in ''

Ariadne auf Naxos (''Ariadne on Naxos''), Op. 60, is a 1912 opera by Richard Strauss with a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. The opera's unusual combination of elements of low commedia dell'arte with those of high opera seria points up one of the work's ...

'' (

Opera Theatre of St. Louis Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (OTSL) is an American summer opera festival held in St. Louis, Missouri. Typically four operas, all sung in English, are presented each season, which runs from late May to late June. Performances are accompanied by the ...

), Concepción (

New York City Opera The New York City Opera (NYCO) is an American opera company located in Manhattan in New York City. The company has been active from 1943 through its 2013 bankruptcy, and again since 2016 when it was revived. The opera company, dubbed "the peopl ...

and Geneva), Serpetta in ''

La finta giardiniera ' ("The Pretend Garden-Girl"), Köchel catalogue, K. 196, is an Italian-language opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart wrote it in Munich in January 1775 when he was 18 years old and it received its first performance on 13 January at the in M ...

'' (Frankfurt and Lausanne), and Damigella in ''L'incoronazione di Poppea'' at the

Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival () is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer, for five weeks starting in late July, in Salzburg, Austria, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart's operas are a focus of ...

. She has sung many times with Nicolaus Harnoncourt and in 1991 recorded with him the role of Despina with the

Concertgebouw Orchestra The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (, ) is a Dutch symphony orchestra, established in 1888 at the Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw (concert hall). It is considered one of the world's leading orchestras. It was known as the Concertgebouw Orchestra u ...

for the Teldec/Warner Classics label. She appeared at the 2024

Grange Park Opera Grange Park Opera is a professional opera company and charity whose base is West Horsley Place in Surrey, England. Founded in 1998, the company staged an annual opera festival at The Grange, in Hampshire and in 2016–7, built a new opera ho ...

festival as the Marquise of Berkenfield, "a model of haughty ''noblesse oblige'', stern in voice and nature", in ''

The Daughter of the Regiment ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' ...

''.

Mid-1990s – present

In the mid-1990s Steiger began concentrating on the

repertoire and went on to sing: *Melanto in ''

Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria ''Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria'' ( SV 325, ''The Return of Ulysses to his Homeland'') is an opera consisting of a prologue and five acts (later revised to three), set by Claudio Monteverdi to a libretto by Giacomo Badoaro. The opera was first p ...

'' at the

Brooklyn Academy of Music The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a multi-arts center in Brooklyn, New York City. It hosts progressive and avant-garde performances, with theater, dance, music, opera, film programming across multiple nearby venues. BAM was chartered in 18 ...

in New York with the

Dutch National Opera The Dutch National Opera (DNO; formerly De Nederlandse Opera, now De Nationale Opera in Dutch) is a Dutch opera company based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Its present home base is the Dutch National Opera & Ballet housed in the Stopera building, a m ...

(1993) *Magdalene in ''

Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (; "The Master-Singers of Nuremberg"), WWV 96, is a music drama, or opera, in three acts, by Richard Wagner. It is the longest opera commonly performed, taking nearly four and a half hours, not counting two breaks between acts, and is traditio ...

'' in Stuttgart (1994) *Meg Page in ''

Falstaff Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare and is eulogised in a fourth. His significance as a fully developed character is primarily formed in the plays ''Henry IV, Part 1'' and '' Part 2'', w ...

'' at the Dutch National Opera (1994, as part of the Holland Festival) *Maddalena in ''

Rigoletto ''Rigoletto'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play '' Le roi s'amuse'' by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had c ...

'' at the

Opéra de Monte-Carlo The Opéra de Monte-Carlo is an opera house which is part of the Monte Carlo Casino located in the Monaco, Principality of Monaco. With the lack of cultural diversions available in Monaco in the 1870s, Charles III, Prince of Monaco, Prince Charl ...

(1995) *La libellule, La tasse chinoise, and Maman in ''

L'enfant et les sortilèges ''L'enfant et les sortilèges: Fantaisie lyrique en deux parties'' (''The Child and the Spells: A Lyric Fantasy in Two Parts'') is an opera in one act, with music by Maurice Ravel to a libretto by Colette. It is Ravel's second opera, his first b ...

'' at

(1996) *Flora in '' La traviata'' at the Dutch National Opera (1997) *Giunone in '' Agrippina'' in

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

(1997) *Dorothée in Massenet's '' Cendrillon'' in Geneva (1998) *Marcellina in ''

The Marriage of Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' (, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienn ...

'' at Monte Carlo,

Teatro Real The Teatro Real () is an opera house in Madrid, Spain. Located at the Plaza de Oriente, opposite the Royal Palace, and known colloquially as "''El Real''" (The Royal One). it is considered the top institution of the performing and musical arts ...

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

(1998) and at the Dutch National Opera (2001) *Tisbe in ''

La Cenerentola ("Cinderella, or Goodness Triumphant") is an operatic in two acts by Gioachino Rossini. The libretto was written by Jacopo Ferretti, based on the libretti written by Charles-Guillaume Étienne for the opera '' Cendrillon'' with music by Nico ...

'' at the

Opéra Bastille The Opéra Bastille (, "Bastille Opera House") is a modern opera house in the 12th arrondissement of Paris, France. Inaugurated in 1989 as part of President François Mitterrand's '' Grands Travaux'', it became the main facility of the Paris N ...

(1998), Marseilles and Geneva, and at the Opéra de Rennes (2015) *Marquise in ''

La fille du régiment LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the United States of America. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note *"L.A.", a song by Elliott Smi ...

'' in St Gallen (2000) and at the Opéra de Lausanne (2016) *Baronessa in Il cappello di paglia di Firenze by

Nino Rota Giovanni "Nino" Rota Rinaldi (; ; 3 December 1911 – 10 April 1979) was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor and academic who is best known for his film scores, notably for the films of Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti. He also composed ...

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

(2000) *Ragonde in ''

Le comte Ory ''Le comte Ory'' (''Count Ory'') is a comic opera written by Gioachino Rossini in 1828. Some of the music originates from his opera ''Il viaggio a Reims'' written three years earlier for the coronation of Charles X. The French libretto was by Eug� ...

'' in Toulouse (2001) and Paris (2003) *Auntie in ''

Peter Grimes ''Peter Grimes'', Op. 33, is an opera in three acts by Benjamin Britten, with a libretto by Montagu Slater based on the section "Peter Grimes", in George Crabbe's long narrative poem '' The Borough''. The "borough" of the opera is a fictional ...

'' in Nancy, Toulouse, and Toronto (2003) *Kunstgewerblerin in ''

Lulu Lulu may refer to: Companies * LuLu, an early automobile manufacturer * Lulu.com, an online e-books and print self-publishing platform, distributor, and retailer * Lulu Hypermarket, a retail chain in Asia * Lululemon Athletica or simply Lulu, a C ...

'' at the Opéra Bastille (2003) *Alisa in ''

Lucia di Lammermoor ''Lucia di Lammermoor'' () is a (tragic opera) in three acts by Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian-language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's 1819 historical novel '' The Bride of Lammermoor''. ...

'' at the Dutch National Opera (2007)Dutch National Opera archive
''Lucia di Lammermoor'' (2007-08)
. Retrieved 6 September 2016 *'' Pierrot Lunaire'' for the

Opéra National de Montpellier The Opéra national de Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon () is an opera company located in the Place de la Comédie in Montpellier, France. The company was established in 1755 and was granted the status of "National Opera" in 2002 by the Minister ...

(2009) and Australian Festival of Chamber Music (2010) * ''La Cenerentola'' for the Opera de Rennes (2015) * ''

'' for the Opéra de Lausanne (2016) * ''La Traviata'' for Capitole de Toulouse (2018) * ''Le Comte Ory'' (Ragonde) for Opera Rouen (2019) * Bélize in ''Les Femmes Savantes'' by Molière at La Scala theatre in Paris (2019)

Discography

* Bellini: ''

Norma Norma may refer to: * Norma (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) ** Norma Lizbeth Ramos, a Mexican bullying victim Astronomy *Norma (constellation) * 555 Norma, a minor asteroid * Cygnus Arm or Norma Arm, a spiral ...

'' – Julian Reynolds conducting the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, recorded live at Het Muziektheater, Amsterdam, 2005 (Anna Steiger as Clotilde). Label: Opus Arte (DVD) * Mozart: ''

'' – Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, 1991 (Anna Steiger as Despina). Label: Teldec/Warner Classics (CD) *

Milhaud Darius Milhaud (, ; 4 September 1892 – 22 June 1974) was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as ''The Group of Six''—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions ...

: ''Les malheurs d'Orphée'' – Robert Ziegler conducting the Matrix Ensemble, 1991 (Anna Steiger as Euridice). Label: AVS (CD) * Ravel: ''

'' – Simon Rattle conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra, recorded live at

Glyndebourne Festival Opera Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an annual opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England. History Under the supervision of the Christie family, the festival has been held annually since 1934, e ...

, 1987 (Anna Steiger as Concepción). Label: Kultur/Warner Classics (DVD)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Steiger, Anna 1960 births Living people American emigrants to the United Kingdom American people of German-Jewish descent American people of Russian-Jewish descent British mezzo-sopranos British sopranos American operatic mezzo-sopranos Singers from Los Angeles Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama Lycée Français de New York alumni 20th-century American women opera singers 21st-century British women opera singers Classical musicians from California