GOLDA SCHULTZ, soprano
Whilst still a member of the Opernstudio of Munich’s Bayerische Staatsoper, in May 2012 South-African Golda Schultz made her main stage debut as Contessa Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro. She returned for the 2014 Münchner Opernfestspiele, in highly-acclaimed performances as Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier, conducted by Constantin Trinks. This season Golda joins the Bayerische Staatsoper ensemble where her roles include Musetta (La Bohème), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Micaela (Carmen) and Freia (Das Rheingold).
In addition to her Munich commitments, the 2014/15 season sees Golda debut at Staatsoper Hamburg under Music Director Simone Young in La bianca note (a world premiere from composer Beat Furrer), return to South Africa to sing Contessa Almaviva at Cape Town Opera and join Andrew Litton and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra in Strauss’ Brentano Lieder.
Golda spent last season as a member of the ensemble at Stadttheater Klagenfurt where she enjoyed great success in new productions of Der Rosenkavalier (Sophie) and Giulio Cesare (Cleopatra), as well as taking roles in The Love of Three Oranges and Macbeth. In concert, Golda joined Paavo Järvi and The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen on tour to Japan as Marzellina (Fidelio), performed in the Bayerische Staatsoper’s Strauss Gala under Franz Welser-Möst and debuted at the Rheingau Musik Festival in Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Nights Dream, again under Paavo Järvi.
Early performance experience includes Magda (La Rondine) and Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni) for Cape Town Opera, La Fortuna and Valetto (L’incoronazione di Poppea) and Mrs. Jenks (The Tender Land) at New York’s Juilliard School, as well as Alice Ford (Falstaff) and Rosina (The Ghosts of Versailles) at the Aspen Music Festival.
Golda’s orchestral and recital repertoire ranges from Telemann to Barber, with a particular affinity for the early Romantic composers. She has collaborated with conductors William Christie, Kent Nagano, Harry Bicket, Tomáš Netopil, Michael Christie, Paolo Carignani and Dan Ettinger, and with pianists Brian Zeger and Ken Noda. She has participated in masterclasses with Kiri Te Kanawa, Sondra Radvonovsky and Michelle Breedt.
Initially a student of Virginia Davids at the University of Cape Town, Golda subsequently joined the studio of Cape Town Opera before winning a place at the Juilliard School to study with Edith Bers, graduating in 2011.