Artist database

Maiden name: Éva Heinrich

18 June 1943, Budapest.

Famous soprano singer, her uniquely wide repertoire consists mainly of the roles in operas by Mozart, Verdi, Puccini, Richard Strauss and Wagner, but she is familiar with the world of verismo (Giordano, Ponchielli) as well.

She studied music from 1962 to 1968 at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music as pupil of Endre Rősler and Dr. Jenő Sipos. She graduated as opera singer and music teacher. She debuted on the stage of the Hungarian State Opera in Rimsky-Korsakov's Golden rooster. This was followed by such significant roles as Tosca, Manon Lescaut, Rodelinda, Tatiana, Amelia Grimaldi and Freia. Christoph von Dohnany discovered her talent when she sang Freia and offered her a contract at Frankfurt Opera, where she could systematically build up a far-flung repertoire.

In 1972 she sang Matilde of Rossini's William Tell, conducted by Riccardo Muti (Maggio Musical, Florence), subsequently she performed in Budapest, singing Odabella's role of Verdi's Attila, conducted by Lamberto Gardelli. On the stage of the Wiener Staatsoper she debuted as Tosca in 1973, which was a huge success. Next year she was Donna Anna of Don Giovanni in the Bavarian State Opera, Munich. At the beginning of her career she gradually turned from lyrical soprano roles to the dramatic ones. Her performances raised remarkable international attention and regard, and as a corollary she has been invited to all the major opera houses of the world.

She debuted 1976 as Eva of the Mastersingers of Nuremberg at New York Metropolitan Opera. She sang Venus and Elisabeth of Tannhäuser at the Bayreuth Festival in 1977 and 1978. In 1978 she successfully debuted at the Scala as Leonora of The troubadour, conducted by Zubin Mehta. The premičre of Bluebeard's castle by Bartók was at the same venue and she performed with György Melis. In 1980 she was honored with the Silver Rose Prize for her outstanding artistic performance as singer in the Tosca-series at the Scala. The New York Times called her the Singer of the Year in 1981 and 1986, then the Artist of the Year in 1982. In 1987 she was awarded with the title Kammersängerin at the Wiener Staatsoper.

Throughout her career she performed with such famous conductors as Christoph von Dohnanyi, Riccardo Muti, Lorin Maazel, Sir Colin Davis, Zubin Mehta, Claudio Abbado, Sir György Solti, Giuseppe Patané, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Nello Santi, Jiri Kout, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Pinchas Steinberg, Kurt Adler, Erich Leinsdorf, Klaus Tennstedt, Edo de Wart, James Levine, Marek Janowski, Seiji Ozawa, Christian Thielemann, Riccardo Chailly, Kent Nagano, János Ferencsik, Miklós Erdélyi, Ádám Fischer, Iván Fischer, Zoltán Peskó and Zoltán Kocsis.

Her partners were Birgit Nilsson, Leonie Rysanek, Edita Gruberova, Giacomo Aragall, Franco Bonisolli, Giuseppe Giacomini, Nicolai Gedda, James King, Jon Vickers, Placido Domingo, Jose Carreras, Luciano Pavarotti, Renato Bruson, Leo Nucci, Ruggiero Raimondi, Bernd Weikl, James Morris, Peter Schreier, René Kollo, Peter Dvorsky, Reiner Goldberg, György Melis, László Polgár, Kolos Kováts and many more.

She worked with following directors: Franco Zeffirelli, Prof. August Everding, Prof. Götz Friedrich, Harry Kupfer, Nicolas Lehnhoff, Jonathan Miller, Giancarlo del Monaco, Ruth Berghaus, Joachim Herz, Maximilian Schell, András Békés, Andreas Homoki and Georg Pressburger.

She has recorded almost 30 complete operas, several arias and concerts, many of them on CD and DVD as well. Besides, she contributed to numerous radio and TV recordings. From 2002 to 2007 she was the art director of the International Opera Festival in Miskolc. She became Head of Department at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music and since 2007 she is a university professor. She frequently holds master courses and gets invitations to the jury of prestigious singing contests.

Her repertoire consists of almost 40 roles - each in original language. The most important ones are: Turandot (Puccini), Tosca (Puccini), Manon Lescaut (Puccini), Brünnhilde (Wagner: Ring-tetralogy), Elektra, Chrysothemis, Klytaimnestra (R. Strauss: Elektra), Salome (R. Strauss), Ariadne (Richard Strauss: Ariadne in Naxos), Empress, Dyer woman (R. Strauss: The woman without a shadow), Helena (R. Strauss: Helena of Egypt), Elsa, Ortrud (Wagner: Lohengrin), Fedora, Madeleine (Umberto Giordano: André Chénier), Judit (Bartók: Bluebeard's castle), Leonora (Beethoven: Fidelio), Elisabeth, Venus (Wagner: Tannhäuser), Church woman (Janáček: Jenufa), Aida (Verdi), Amelia (Verdi: Simone Boccanegra), Leonora (Verdi: La forza del destino), Leonora (Verdi: The troubadour), Odabella (Verdi: Attila), Desdemona (Verdi: Otello), Elvira (Verdi: Ernani), Alice (Verdi: Falstaff), Amelia (Verdi: Un ballo in maschera), Gioconda (Ponchielli: La Gioconda), Santuzza (Mascagni: Rustic chivalry), Mathilde (Rossini: William Tell) and Tatiana (Tschaikovsky: Onegin).

During her career she has received a number of awards: in 1991 the Bartók-Pásztory Prize and the Mario del Monaco Prize, then in Chicago the John W. Seabury Prize in 1993. Hungary honored her with the Kossuth Prize and the Prize for Hungarian Fame in 1997, then with the Middle Cross of the Order of Merit of the Hungarian Republic in 2003 and the Muse Award of Miskolc in 2005. Éva Marton became Freeman of Ferencváros (1996) and Miskolc (2008) and since 1991 she is eternal member of the Wiener Staatsoper. In 2009 she received the golden medal of the Teatro del Liceu of Barcelona and in 2010 the ISO d'ORO lifetime achievement award of Oper Graz.