Biography
Deborah Mayer's interpretation of the demanding soprano roles of Wagner, Verdi, and Mozart have received critical acclaim in several of the world's leading opera houses. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Gerhilde in Die Walküre in Robert LePage’s new landmark production of The Ring Cycle conducted by Fabio Luisi, which also marked her Metropolitan Opera Radio Broadcast debut. She has also sung the role of Gerhilde in Die Walküre with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the Tanglewood Music Festival, Brünnhilde in Siegfried and "Brünnhilde's Immolation Scene" from Götterdämmerung with the Toledo Symphony.
Ms. Mayer's Paris debut was at the Théâtre du Châtelet as Ada in Richard Wagner's first opera Die Feen, led by Marc Minkowski and acclaimed stage director Emilio Sagi. The Wiener Zeitung hailed her performance as a "magical, then dramatic Ada" while the Frankfurter Rundschau extolled her "focused beguiling Ada". The role of Ada in Die Feen represented Ms. Mayer's foray into Wagnerian repertory with the Mainfranken Theater Würzburg in celebration of the theater's 200th Anniversary. Among the distinguished guests in attendance at the gala premiere of Wagner's first and rarely performed opera was the composer's grandson, Wolfgang Wagner. Of her performance, the Frankfurter Neue Presse exclaimed, "Hochdramatische, Deborah Mayer (Ada) portrayed the Wagnerian role to its fullest. A real Wagnerian".
Other career highlights include the title role in Aida, and Madame Lidoine in Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites with the Eugene Opera, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni at the Landestheater Salzburg, and Elettra in Idomeneo with the Mainfranken Theater as part of the Mozart Festival. While at the Mainfranken Theater Würzburg, she has bowed as Abigaille in Nabucco, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, and Martha Marnis in Limonen aus Sizilien by Manfred Trojahn in a new version of the work, directed by the composer. She has sung the role of Leonora in Il Trovatore with the Baltimore Opera, opposite tenor Chris Merritt, and Leonora in Il Trovatore with the Syracuse Opera, the title role in Aida at Opera Roanoke and the title role in Tosca with the Opera Theater of Connecticut. Honored as a two time winner in the Palm Beach Opera Awards, her professional debut came in La Traviata with Palm Beach Opera, conducted Maestro Anton Guadagno, and directed by Tito Cappobianco.
Ms. Mayer's European orchestral debut was as the soprano soloist in Verdi's Messa di Requiem with the Philharmonia Orchestra London at England's Chichester Festival. In Würzburg, Germany she was the soprano soloist in Verdi’s Messa di Requiem and the Beethoven's 9th Symphony with the Würzburg Philharmonic Orchestra for a concert commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the end of World War II. She has reprised Beethoven's 9th Symphony at the Astoria Music Festival, and twice with the South Bend Symphony, and was the soprano soloist in Mendelsohn’s Elijah opposite baritone, Nathan Gunn. Other orchestral performances include Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder at the Astoria Music Festival, as well as in Seoul, Korea with the Daejeon Philharmonic at the Seoul Arts Center for a concert that was telecast nationally with additional performances in Daejeon, Korea.
An accomplished recitalist, she was invited by the Richard Wagner Society of Bayreuth to present a recital in Bayreuth. Germany. She holds the distinction of being the first American awarded a stipendium by this prestigious organization. Ms. Mayer also sang Richard Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder in recital for the Richard Wagner Society of Chicago. As a recipient of the American Wagner Association prize in the Liederkranz Competition in 2010, she performed in recital at Carnegie Hall (Weill Hall) . She received her Bachelor of Music, and Master of Music degrees from Indiana University where she studied with world-renowned soprano Virginia Zeani, and her husband, the legendary basso Nicola Rossi-Lemeni.
Ms. Mayer can be heard singing excerpts from Cavalleria Rusticana in the 2016 film Through the Looking Glass, available on Netflix.