Anja Silja
| Anja Silja | |
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Anja Silja in 1968
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| Born |
April 17, 1940 Berlin, Germany |
| Occupation | Opera singer (soprano) |
| Years active | 1956-present |
Anja Silja Regina Langwagen (pronounced [ˈanja ˈzɪlja], born April 17, 1940 in Berlin) is a German soprano who is known for her great abilities as a singing-actress and for the vastness of her repertoire.
Silja began her operatic career at a very early age, with her grandfather, Egon Friedrich Maria Anders van Rijn, as her voice teacher. She sang Rosina in Rossini's The Barber of Seville at Braunschweig in 1956, following this with Micaëla in Carmen and Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos.
The important part of her career began in 1959, when she sang the Queen of Night in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte at the Vienna State Opera (under Karl Böhm) and at the Aix-en-Provence Festival. France-Soir dubbed her "a second Callas." Other early roles included Leonora in Il trovatore, Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana, the four heroines of Les contes d'Hoffmann, Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, and Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte.
She made her debut in 1960 at the Bayreuth Festival, as Senta in Der fliegende Holländer. At Bayreuth (until 1967), she also sang Elsa von Brabant in Lohengrin (opposite Astrid Varnay), Elisabeth in Tannhäuser, Eva in Die Meistersinger, Venus in Tannhäuser, Freia in Das Rheingold, the Waldvogel in Siegfried, etc. Outside Bayreuth, the soprano appeared in Wieland Wagner's productions of Salome, Tristan und Isolde, Die Walküre and Siegfried (as Brünnhilde), Elektra, Fidelio, Otello, Lulu, Wozzeck (conducted by Pierre Boulez), and other operas. Of her Salome, Harold Rosenthal wrote in Opera, in 1968:
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