About this Artist

Born in Lithuania, Violeta Urmana is one of the most highly sought-after singers of dramatic German and Italian repertoire. 

​At the very beginning of her career, Violeta Urmana made a name for herself worldwide as a highly acclaimed Kundry in Parsifal and as Eboli. She also sang Azucena, Amneris, Didon, Santuzza, Fides, Leonor de Guzman, Judith, Laura, Adriano Colonna, Fricka and others at all major opera houses in the world. In the years 2001-2002 she made the transition to dramatic soprano and sang parts such as Amelia in Un Ballo in Maschera, Elisabetta in Don Carlo, Leonora in La Forza del Destino, the Lady in Macbeth, Odabella in Attila, the title roles in Aida, La Gioconda, Medea, Tosca, Norma, Iphigénie en Tauride and Ariadne auf Naxos, Brünnhilde in Siegfried, Sieglinde in Die Walküre und Isolde.

Now Violeta Urmana continues to sing Italian and German dramatic mezzo-soprano repertoire, that is constantly expanding. V.Urmana is a regular guest at the world’s major opera houses - the Metropolitan Opera New York, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, the Opéra National de Paris, Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Vienna State Opera, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London - and at the festivals of Bayreuth, Salzburg, Aix-en-Provence, Edinburgh and the BBC Proms. 

She has worked with such conductors as Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Bertrand de Billy, Pierre Boulez, Semyon Bychkov, Riccardo Chailly, James Conlon, James Levine, Jesús López Cobos, Fabio Luisi, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Sir Simon Rattle, Donald Runnicles, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Franz Welser-Möst and Christian Thielemann. 

​As a highly acclaimed concert and recital singer Violeta Urmana performs music by G.Mahler, R.Strauss, A.Schoenberg, H.Berlioz, R.Wagner and G.Verdi in the most famous concert halls of Europe, the United States of America and Japan. 

​Many CD and DVD recordings document her career: La Gioconda, Il Trovatore, Oberto, Un Ballo in Maschera, Aida, La Forza del Destino, Macbeth, Don Carlo, Andrea Chenier, Parsifal, Cavalleria Rusticana, Verdi’s Requiem, Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde and Rückert-Lieder, Zemlinsky’s Maeterlinck-Lieder, Berlioz’ La mort de Cléopâtre, Bartok’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, Stravinsky’s Rossignol, songs by R.Strauss, A.Berg, F.Liszt and her CD Puccini Ritrovato a.o. She is Kundry in Tony Palmer's film The Search for the Holy Grail. 

Violeta Urmana has received many awards: in London the Royal Philharmonic Society Award for singers, in Vienna the title Österreichische Kammersängerin. In Lithuania she was awarded with the title "Commander's Grand Cross of the Order of Merit to Lithuania" and "Third class, Grand Duke Gediminas of Lithuania" and in Italy with the title "Commendatore dell'Ordine della Stella d'Italia". The Academy for Music and Theatre in Vilnius has awarded her an honorary degree. Violeta Urmana is Artist for Peace of UNESCO.