Claudia Barainsky

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Claudia Barainsky (born 30 September 1965 in Berlin) is a German operatic soprano known for both contemporary and classic roles. She trained at the Berlin University of the Arts, studying with Ingrid Figur and taking lessons from Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Aribert Reimann.

Career highlights
Barainsky began performing at festivals and concerts before making her stage debut in 1993 at the Stadttheater Bern as Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail. The next year she sang Lulu at Bern and later appeared as Melusine at the Semperoper Dresden. In 1995 she joined Deutsche Oper am Rhein, portraying Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier, Musetta in La Bohème, and Blonde in Die Entführung. She first appeared at the Bayreuth Festival in 1998 as the Flower Maiden in Parsifal and returned in 2000 as Waldvogel in Siegfried.

In 2000 she took part in the premiere of Aribert Reimann’s Bernarda Albas Haus at the Bayerische Staatsoper as Martirio, a role she also performed at the Komische Oper Berlin. In 2001 she sang Anna in Hans Heiling at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Barainsky won the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik in 2007 for Marie in Zimmermann’s Die Soldaten.

Her career has included appearances at Handel Festival Karlsruhe and major houses in Amsterdam, Avignon, Brussels, and Tokyo. In 2009 she sang Badi’at in Henze’s L’Upupa at the Semperoper. She premiered Reimann’s Medea at the Frankfurt Opera in 2010 and earned the Der Faust theater prize in 2011 for that role; she repeated Medea at the Vienna State Opera in 2017. In 2014 she played the title role in Daphne at Toulouse’s Théâtre du Capitole, and in 2017 she premiered Uri Caine’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn song cycle. Composers have written works for her, including Reimann’s Tarde in 2003.

Barainsky has worked with renowned conductors such as Gerd Albrecht, Herbert Blomstedt, Sylvain Cambreling, Christoph Eschenbach, Michael Gielen, Christian Thielemann, and others, collaborating with orchestras around the world.

Recordings and awards
In 2008 Barainsky was the soprano soloist in Zimmermann’s Requiem für einen jungen Dichter, recorded by Cybele Records with the Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno, EuropaChor Akademie, Eric Vloeimans Quintet, and Holland Symfonia, conducted by Bernhard Kontarsky. She is known for her interpretations of contemporary works as well as classic operatic roles, and she continues to perform on international stages. Her official website is claudiabarainsky.de.