"When we sing, we tell stories. And stories always have something human about them, because ultimately they are experiences that you collect and pass on."
Anna Lucia Richter
Anna Lucia Richter has established herself internationally as a versatile, intellectually and emotionally versatile mezzo-soprano in song, opera and concert. Her voice, which skilfully interweaves baroque lightness with romantic drama, as well as her dramatic power open up a wide-ranging repertoire for her, from Bach's oratorios and orchestral works by Berlioz, Ravel and Mahler to the lied works of Schubert, Wolf and Brahms and the important roles of her voice in the operas of Monteverdi, Handel, Mozart, Bizet and Strauss and contemporary works by Reimann, Holliger and Rihm.
In the 2023/24 season, Anna Lucia Richter can be seen as Idamante in Mozart's "Idomeneo" at the Cologne Opera and in the role of the composer in Strauss' "Ariadne auf Naxos" at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice. Concert engagements have taken the singer to the Munich Philharmonic under Philippe Herreweghe with Beethoven's "Missa solemnis" and to the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra with Bruckner's F major Mass. Together with the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne under François-Xavier Roth, she will perform at the Philharmonie Köln and interpret Schubert's Mass in A flat major with the Dresden Philharmonic. The mezzo-soprano has given recitals at the Philharmonie Essen, the Heidelberger Frühling and the Teatro de la Zarzuela Madrid.
Anna Lucia Richter has been a firm favourite in the world of opera since her debut as Zerlina at the 2021 Salzburg Festival under Teodor Currentzis. The singer regularly receives invitations to the Cologne Opera (including Sesto/Händel, Hänsel/Humperdinck), the Theater an der Wien (La Périchole/Offenbach, Elisabeth/Henze), Dutch National Opera, Staatsoper unter den Linden Berlin, Opera de Lille (La Musica and Euridice/Monteverdi) and impresses critics and audiences with her captivating and sensitive interpretations.
In concert, the mezzo-soprano has worked closely with renowned orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic, the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig, the London Symphony Orchestra, Il Giardino Armonico, MusicAeterna, the Orchestre de Paris, the Budapest Festival Orchestra, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra under conductors such as Iván Fischer, Paavo Järvi and the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra under conductors such as Iván Fischer, Paavo Järvi, Klaus Mäkelä, Franz Welser-Möst, Bernard Haitink (†), Herbert Blomstedt, Marin Alsop and Jakub Hrůša.
Anna Lucia Richter gives recitals in international music centres and has sung at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Wigmore Hall London, Bavarian State Opera Munich, Konzerthaus Vienna, Carnegie Hall and Park Avenue Armory New York, Suntory Hall Tokyo and Frankfurt Opera, among others. She is accompanied by piano partners such as Ammiel Bushakevitz, Sir András Schiff, Mitsuko Uchida, Daniel Heide, Igor Levit, Michael Gees and Gerold Huber. As a welcome guest, the mezzo-soprano receives invitations from renowned festivals, including the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg/Hohenems, the festivals in Lucerne, Granada, Verbier and Gstaad, the BBC Proms London, the Heidelberger Frühling and the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. Anna Lucia Richter was "Artist in Residence" at the Rheingau Music Festival in 2018 and organised the 2018/19 season at the Kölner Philharmonie in the same capacity.
Anna Lucia Richter's artistic work is documented on numerous award-winning albums. In October 2023, she released the CD "Licht" (Challenge Classics), a musical journey through 800 years of German lieder singing, in collaboration with Ammiel Bushakevitz. Previously, the singer released Brahms and Schubert songs and works by Monteverdi on Pentatone, Bach arias that won the "Diapason d'Or" on Alpha and Schumann songs and improvisations on Challenge Classics. For Accentus, he recorded Mahler's 4th Symphony with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra under Jakub Hrůša, which won the 2021 German Record Critics' Award. Songs by Schumann and Reimann, recorded together with the Schumann Quartet, were released by Berlin Classics - Anna Lucia Richter received the "Opus Klassik" award for this CD in 2019.
Anna Lucia Richter comes from a traditional family of musicians and began her career as a soprano. In 2020, she switched to mezzo under the guidance of Prof Tamar Rachum. Kurt Widmer, Klesie Kelly-Moog, Christoph Prégardien and Margreet Honig were also influential artists during her training. She counts Bernard Haitink, Mitsuko Uchida and Sir András Schiff among her most important influences and patrons. In addition to numerous other honours, Anna Lucia Richter is a winner of the prestigious Borletti-Buitoni Trust.
The singer regularly gives masterclasses and is a cultural ambassador for the organisation Casa Hogar Deutschland e.V., which works to empower girls and women in the Colombian crisis region of Chocó.