Biography

She received the Bavarian Order of Merit in 1999.

She also sang at the Royal Opera House in London with Otto Klemperer and first sang one of her signature roles for the reopening of the Theater an der Wien, the Queen of the Night in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, conducted by Herbert von Karajan.

Besides her very successful stage career, she also achieved great popularity during the 1960s and 1970s when she appeared in many operetta films such as Die Zirkusprinzessin or Wiener Blut, and musical television shows.

Her signature roles were the Queen of the Night in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte and Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss.

She created the role of Scolatella in the revised version of Henze's König Hirsch in Kassel in 1963, and Autonoe in his Die Bassariden at the 1966 Salzburg Festival.