German mezzo-soprano Okka von der Damerau is a critically acclaimed Wagner specialist. She simultaneously, however, places great importance on offering a wide-ranging repertoire, and has mastered roles ranging from the Baroque to contemporary music, including, among others, Ulrica (Un ballo in maschera), Azucena (Il trovatore), Brangäne (Tristan und Isolde), Fricka (Das Rheingold and Die Walküre) and Ortrud (Lohengrin).

A member of the Bayerische Staatsoper since 2010, she is regularly invited to perform at prestigious festivals and opera houses including the Bayreuth Festival, the Wiener Staatsoper, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Teatro Real, Madrid and the Metropolitan Opera, New York. Von der Damerau collaborates with conductors such as Kirill Petrenko, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Antonio Pappano, Daniel Barenboim, Franz Welser-Möst, Kent Nagano and Vladimir Jurowski, and has appeared as a soloist with orchestras such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Orchestra, Rome and the Staatskapelle Berlin.