Biography
The path of Cologne-born mezzo-soprano Ursula Hesse von den Steinen led her to the Semperoper Dresden, where she built up her repertoire under conductors such as Antonio Pappano, Semyon Bychkov, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Riccardo Chailly, Pinchas Steinberg and Michael Boder, and sang the specialist roles of the German and Italian repertoire at all the major European stages in Amsterdam, Munich, Berlin, Vienna, Brussels, Barcelona, Toulouse, Glyndebourne and Paris.
Ursula Hesse von den Steinen began her development in Wagner with a sensational debut as Fricka/Rheingold in Karlsruhe. Since then, she has sung Fricka in Die Walküre in various productions, including at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, in Riga (Stefan Herheim), in Essen (Dietrich Hilsdorf) and in Nuremberg. In Mannheim, she interpreted Venus/Tannhäuser, followed by Adriano/Rienzi in Riga and Ortrud/Lohengrin in Bern.
On the concert stage, the artist has worked with ensembles such as Concerto Köln, the Ensemble Intercontemporain, the Sächsische Staatskapelle, the Berliner Philharmoniker, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre National de France under the baton of Michael Gielen, Vladimir Jurowski, Markus Stenz, Eliahu Inbal, Riccardo Chailly and Pierre Boulez.
In the concert field, she sang Glanert's Requiem for Hieronymus Bosch with the Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam and with the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra in the Elbphilharmonie, both conducted by Markus Stenz, Messa da Requiem in Düsseldorf, Waltraute in a concert performance of Die Walküre with the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Jurowski at the Royal Festival Hall (London).
CD recordings with songs by Reimann, Rihm, Webern and Widmann, as well as the Echo-award-winning recording of Hindemith's Das lange Weihnachtsmahl under Marek Janowski and Glanert's Requiem for Hieronymus Bosch under Markus Stenz document her career.
Highlights of recent seasons include Herodias/Salome in Klagenfurt, Hanover and at the Staatstheater Braunschweig, Klytämnestra/Elektra at the Theater Basel, Fremde Fürstin/Rusalka, Mother Goose/The Rake's Progress, Pelagea Grigorjewna Podtochina/ Die Nase and the Queen in the world premiere of Jaromír Weinberger's Schwanda the Bagpiper at the Komische Oper Berlin, Irene/Theodora at the Potsdam Winter Opera, Fricka/Das Rheingold in Dortmund, Annina in Der Rosenkavalier, La suora zelatrice/Suor Angelica and Ursuline Sister Claire in the premiere of Pendecki's The Devils of Loudun at the Bavarian State Opera, as well as Klytämnestra in a new production of Elektra at the Theater Erfurt, Margret/Wozzeck at De Nationale Opera Amsterdam and Matilde/Lotario in Bern and at the International Handel Festival in Göttingen. In Bari, she made her debut as Begbick in The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny.
In the 2025/26 season, Ursula Hesse von den Steinen will appear as Nell in Fin de Partie at Theater Basel.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
Management
General ManagementArtist Manager

Boris Orlob
Managing Director
boris@orlob.net
Mobil: +49-172-8 51 55 14
Repertoire
Repertoire Concert
Bach, J.S. | B minor mass |
BWV 1083 (nach Pergolesi) | |
Christmas Oratorio | |
St. John Passion | |
St. Matthew Passion | |
Beethoven | Symphony no. 9 |
Brahms | Alt-Rhapsodie |
Bruckner | Te Deum |
de Falla | El amor brujo |
Siete Canciones Populares | |
Hindemith | Des Todes Tod |
Die junge Magd | |
Händel | Judas Maccabäus |
Messiah | |
Janacek | Das Tagebuch eines Verschollenen |
Mahler | Symphony no. 2 |
Symphony no. 3 | |
Kindertotenlieder | |
Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen | |
Wunderhornlieder | |
Das Lied von der Erde | |
Mendelssohn | Elias |
Mozart | Concert arias (e.g. KV 272, 383, 505) |
Requiem | |
Pergolesi | Stabat Mater |
Purcell | Dido and Aeneas |
Ravel | Trois Poemes de St. Mallarmé |
Reimann | Eingedunkelt (Altsolo nach P.Celan) |
Rihm | Lieder nach Paul Celan |
Rossini | Petite Messe solennelle |
Stabat Mater | |
Shostakovich | From Jewish Folk Poetry, Vocal cycle Op. 79 |
Stravinsky | Pribautki |
Wagner | Wesendonck-Lieder |
Weber | Nachgelassene Stücke (nach George) |
Wolf | Der Corregidor |
Repertoire Opera
Berg | Lulu | Gräfin Geschwitz |
Wozzeck | Marie | |
Bizet | Carmen | Carmen |
Mercedes | ||
Britten | A Midsummer Night's Dream | Hermina |
Dvorak | Rusalka | Foreign Princess |
Jezibaba | ||
Gluck | Orpheus und Eurydike | Orpheus |
Händel | Alcina | Ruggiero |
Xerxes | Amastris | |
Xerxes | ||
Monteverdi | L'Orfeo | Messagiera |
L’incoronazione di Poppea | Nerone | |
Mozart | Betulia liberata | Judita |
Così fan tutte | Dorabella | |
Die Zauberflöte | 2. Dame, 3. Dame | |
Le nozze di Figaro | Cherubino | |
Titus | Sextus | |
Nicolai | Die lustigen Weiber | Frau Reich |
Offenbach | Les contes d'Hoffmann | Giulietta |
La Muse / Nicklausse | ||
Pintscher | Thomas Chatterton | Mutter |
Puccini | Gianni Schicchi | Ciesca |
Zita | ||
Il tabarro | Frugola | |
Manon Lescaut | Musiker | |
Rossini | Il barbiere di Siviglia | Rosina |
Il turco in Italia | Donna Fiorilla | |
Zaida | ||
L' Italiana in Algeri | Isabella | |
La Cenerentola | Angelina | |
Shostakovich | The Nose | Podtotschina |
Strauss, J. | Die Fledermaus | Prinz Orlofsky |
Strauss, R. | Elektra | Klytämnestra |
1. Magd | ||
Salome | Herodias | |
Ullmann | Der Kaiser von Atlantis | Trommler |
Verdi | Don Carlo | Eboli |
Falstaff | Meg Page | |
Rigoletto | Maddalena | |
Wagner | Das Rheingold | Fricka |
Wellgunde | ||
Der fliegende Holländer | Mary | |
Die Meistersinger v. Nürnberg | Magdalene | |
Die Walküre | Fricka | |
Roßweiße | ||
Götterdämmerung | 2. Norn | |
Waltraute | ||
Wellgunde | ||
Lohengrin | Ortrud | |
Tannhäuser | Venus | |
Weill | Die 7 Todsünden | Anna |
News

Walhall in Dortmund
Dortmund is not only in football fever because of the Champions League semi-finals, but is also eagerly awaiting the premiere of Peter Konwitschny's interpretation of Wagner's Rheingold with Ursula Hesse von den Steinen as Fricka this week. Alongside Tommi Hakala as Wotan, Matthias Wohlbrecht as Loge and Joachim Goltz as Alberich, she can be seen on stage in Dortmund from 9 May 2024 under the musical direction of Gabriel Feltz.Further performance dates:
19./24.05., 01./08.06.24, 09.03.25
Further information can be found here:
www.theaterdortmund.de

Highly romantic
Ursula Hesse von den Steinen starts her season with the role of the messenger in Korngold’s masterpiece „Das Wunder der Heliane” directed by Jakob Peters-Messer under the musical direction of Jac van Steen at the Reisoper in the Nederlands.Performances are in Enschede on September 30th, in Eindhoven on October 6th, in Maastricht on October 14th, in Leeuwarden on October 20th, in Utrecht on October 28th, in Breda on October 31st, in Zwolle on November 3rd, in The Hague on November 6th, in Amsterdam on November 9th and in Apeldoorn on November 11th, 2023.
Following this performance tour, she will sing one of her signature roles, Herodias in a new production of “Salome” directed by Isabel Ostermann at the Staatstheater Braunschweig and under the baton of Srba Dinić.
Performances are: December 9th, 15th, 22nd and 30th, 2023, as well as 5th, 10th, 19th, 21st and 26th January and 1st and 11th February, 2024.
Media
Images
Photo: Anna Thorbjönnsson
Download available

Photo: Anna Thorbjönnsson
Download available

Photo: Anna Thorbjönnsson
Download available

Photo: Anna Thorbjönnsson
Download available

Photo: Anna Thorbjönnsson
Download available

Photo: Holger Talinski

Photo: Paul Leclaire

Photo: Hans Jörg Michel
Audio

ECHO Klassik 2006 in der Kategorie "Weltersteinspielung des Jahres"
Marek Janowski, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin
Ursula Hesse von den Steinen, et al.
Wergo, WER 66762
Audio Excerpt

Live 2018

Live 2018
Press
Das Rheingold / Theater Dortmund / 17.05.2024 / welt.de
"Vergesst Bayreuth - Warum Wagner-Fans jetzt unbedingt nach Dortmund müssen: [...] [Fricka] stiehlt Wotan vokal die Butter vom Ehebrot"Das Rheingold / Theater Dortmund / 13.05.2024 / opera-online.com
"[...] Wotan [...] wird von seiner Frau Fricka - Ursula Hesse von den Steinen - virtuos kontrolliert"Das Rheingold / Theater Dortmund / 10.05.2024 / klassikfavori.de
"[...] Fricka (Ursula Hesse von den Steinen) mit rund vollem Volumen [...]"Elektra / Theater Erfurt / 10.10.2022 / mdr.de
"Ursula Hesse von den Steinen als moderne Königen Klytämnestra hat ihren Machtruach bis ins Schrille hörbar gemacht, zeigte sich mit enormen Potential jederzeit glaubhaft."
Elektra / Theater Erfurt / 10.10.2022 / thueringer-allgemeine.de
"Als Klytämnestra liefert Ursula hesse von den Steinen im Rollstuhl, mit blonder Perücke und atemberaubenden vokalen Abgründen ein grandioses Kabinettstück menschlicher Verwüstung."
Theodora / Winteroper Potsdam / 23.11.18 / hundert11.net
"die durchaus Wagner im Organ hat, aber dem Barockgesang nichts schuldig bleibt"
Theodora / Winteroper Potsdam / 23.11.18 / onlinemerker.com
"aus voller Kehle gesungen, aber dennoch höchst präzise in den Koloraturen und kleinen Noten"
CD review "Das lange Weihnachtsmahl" / musicalifeiten.nl
"[...] en Ursula Hesse von den Steinen als Ermengarde in de ontroerende slotaria voor de hoogtepunten zorgen"
Elektra / Theater Basel / 17.01.18 / peterhagmann.com
"einen phantastisch disponierten, weiten und herrlich ausgeglichenen Mezzosopran"
Elektra / Theater Basel / 15.01.18 / bzbasel.ch
"weiss ihre kraftvolle und dramatische Stimme gekonnt einzusetzen"
Elektra / Theater Basel / 15.01.18 / nzz.ch
"mit ihrer enormen Präsenz und ihrem farbenreichen, deunklen Mezzo"
Elektra / Theater Basel / 15.01.18 / bazonline.ch
"Ihr Mienenspiel und ihre intensive musikalische Gestaltung"
Elektra / Theater Basel / 15.01.18 / der-neue-merker.eu
"volle Mezzosopranstimme und [...] ausgezeichnete Diktion"
Elektra / Theater Basel / 12.01.18 / oper-aktuell.info
"zeichnet ein intensives Porträt dieser von Ängsten und Schlaflosigkeit getriebenen Frau"
Requiem for Hieronymus / Concertgebouw Amsterdam / 07.11.16 / bachtrack.com
"glittered with sinister elegance"
Rusalka / Komische Oper Berlin / 23.10.16 / bachtrack.com
"powerful high notes delivered with fierce intensity and sensuality"
Geschichten aus dem Wiener Wald / Komische Oper Berlin / 23.05.16 / morgenpost.de
"mit ihrem betörend warmen Mezzo"