The daughter of German and Ukrainian parents, Dorothee Mields was born in Gelsenkirchen in 1971. As a child, she learned violin and piano. She received vocal instruction from Therese Maxsein in Essen and then from Elke Holzmann in Bremen. There, she discovered a love for music of the 17th and 18th centuries. She went on to study under Julia Hamari in Stuttgart.

Dorothee Mields has sung in many operas, such as Eurydice in Monteverdi’s Orfeo in the Viennese Festival, and in productions under important directors such as Thomas Hengelbrock, Philippe Herreweghe and Gustav Leonhardt. She also has many recording and broadcast productions to her credit, and is one of the finest interpreters of 17th- and 18th-century songs.