ANNETTE SEILTGEN grew up in an artistic environment. Her father was a stage director and led the Municipal Theatre Ingolstadt for many years. Her mother is concert singer Emmy Lisken (Seiltgen). During her school years Annette acted as an extra at the theatre and sang in several choirs. She studied singing under her mother at the Leopold Mozart Conservatory in Augsburg. During her studies she became a member of the Opera Studio of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich.

In 1991 she won third prize in the Bertelsmann competition “Neue Stimmen”. In 1993 she was awarded the Bavarian State’s Promotional Prize for Young Artists for her outstanding achievements. In 1995 she was awarded 4th prize in the Queen Sonja International Competition in Oslo. In 1998 she was mentioned as one of the best young singers by the journal OPERNWELT.

The singer began her career as a mezzosoprano at the Kassel State Theatre and soon moved on to the State Theatre at Gärtnerplatz in Munich. From 1996 to 2011 she was part of the ensemble at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein (DOR) Düsseldorf/Duisburg. During this time she sang important lyric and dramatic mezzo-soprano roles such as Ruggiero (“Alcina”), Sesto (“La clemenza di Tito”), Octavian (“The Knight of the Rose”), Composer (“Ariadne on Naxos”), Adalgisa (“Norma”), Brangäne (“Tristan and Isolde”), Fricka (“Valkyrie”), Venus (“Tannhäuser”) and many other roles.

Annette has given guest performances at theatres in Berlin (Komische Oper), Darmstadt, Dortmund, Essen, Frankfurt, Hanover, Leipzig, Mannheim, Munich (State Opera), Nuremberg and Stuttgart.

International guest appearances have taken her to Amsterdam, Buenos Aires (Teatro Cólon), Geneva, Madrid, Maastricht, Nice, Savonlinna, Santiago de Chile and Strasbourg.

She has sung under conductors such as Adam Fischer, Semyon Bychkov, Sylvain Cambreling, Paolo Carignani, Hartmut Hähnchen, Jun Märkl, Edo de Waart, Hans Wallat, Ralph Weikert and Lothar Zagrosek.

She has worked with directors such as Claus Guth, Peter Konwitschny, Harry Kupfer, David McVicar, Nikolaus Lehnhoff, Christof Loy, Christine Mielitz, Christof Nel, Werner Schroeter and Jossi Wieler.

Her activities as concert singer include recordings with national TV channel ZDF, the Hessian and Bavarian Public Radio and VARA Radio Amsterdam.

During her time at Deutsche Oper am Rhein she began her shift towards dramatic soprano roles such as Cassandre (“Les Troyens”) and Leonore (“Fidelio”). She achieved great success in the title role of Salome at both Mainz State Theatre (2010) and at the Komische Oper Berlin (2011 and 2012). She also received much recognition for her debut as Medea (“Fremd”), at Hans Thomalla’s premiere at the Stuttgart State Opera, for which she received outstanding acclaim from the national and international press. Following this in 2013 she was involved in a Salome production at the Municipal Münster Theatre and played a role debut as Senta (“The Flying Dutchman”) at Koblenz Theatre. At the Komische Oper Berlin she sang Fata Morgana (“The Love for Three Oranges”) in 2014. During this time she also devoted herself to creating a song recital “ALTE HEIMAT – NEUE HEIMAT” at the Konzertverein Ingolstadt, which she combined with the youth project “WEIMARER REPUBLIK & NS-REGIME. In the same year she sang the role of Brangäne (“Tristan and Isolde”) for the last time at the Staatsheater Darmstadt.

Highlight of the 2015/16 season was her debut as Isolde (“Tristan and Isolde”) at the Landestheater Niederbayern, which won critical acclaim in the press, including opera magazines. The production received star rating from the online magazine “Der Opernfreund” for its outstanding quality.

During the 2016/17 season she sang the Mother (Gertrud) (“Hansel and Gretel”) at the Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern and the Theatre Chemnitz. She also gave guest performances as Fata Morgana (“The Love for Three Oranges”) at the Aalto-Musiktheater Essen. In May 2017 she appeared once again as Isolde (“Tristan und Isolde”) at the Landestheater Niederbayern.

In July 2017 she sang Senta (“The flying Dutchman”) in a new production for the Opernfestspiele Heidenheim conducted by Marcus Bosch.

During the season 2017/18 she will also appear in the role of Senta at the Landestheater Niederbayern and will be in the reopening of (“Hansel and Gretel”) as Gertrud at the Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern.

Starting in December 2017 Annette will play Leonore in the premiere production of (“Fidelio”) at the Nationaltheater Mannheim.