Mezzo soprano Constance Heller was born and raised in the picturesque city of Laufen, located in Upper Bavaria’s Berchtesgadener Land. She began appearing on stage while still in her school years with first performances of lead roles in mystery plays by Cesar Bresgen. This experience kindled her interest in singing as a career, and after finishing secondary school she went on to study at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, earning a Master of Arts degree with distinction. While still a student, she also made her operatic debut at the Giessen Theatre in Offenbach’s Tales of Hofmann, in the twin mezzo soprano roles of the Muse and Nicklausse. Regular opera and concert appearances followed in cities such as Augsburg, Krefeld/Mönchengladbach, Munich, and Hamburg.
In 2006, Constance Heller made her debut at the Berlin State Opera with the role of Anna Kennedy in Maria Stuarda and since then has appeared in Die Zauberflöte, Faust, Elektra, Der Spieler, and Parsifal (with Placido Domingo in the title role) with the company. She also sang in Moses und Aron in Tokyo during the Berlin State Opera’s tour of Japan. In addition to the Berlin State Opera, Heller has also been working regularly with the Semperoper in Dresden, and has been heard in their productions of Faust, Elektra, and Wagner’s Ring cycle. Other recent appearances include performances at La Scala in Milan, the Ruhrtriennale, Esplanade Concert Hall in Singapore, Festpielhaus in Baden-Baden, Philharmonie in Gasteig, Philharmonies of Berlin and Cologne, Berlin Konzerthaus, Bern Theatre, Rome Opera, Deutsche Oper in Berlin, Erfurt Theatre, and — as ensemble member — at the State Theatre in Schwerin. Heller has worked with conductors such as Jonas Alber, Alain Altinoglu, Daniel Barenboim, Michael Boder, Johannes Debus, Asher Fisch, Daniel Huppert, Alexander Joel, Dorian Keilhack, Juri Lebedev, Kent Nagano, Julien Salemkour, Peter Schneider, Alexander Soddy, Stefan Soltesz, Christian Thielemann, and Sebastian Weigle. Stage directors include Willy Decker, Peter Dehler, Dieter Dorn, Bernd Eichinger, August Everding, Dieter Kaegi, Nikolaus Lehnhoff, Peter Mussbach, Georg Rootering, Dmitri Tcherniakov, Keith Warner, and Karsten Wiegand.
Along with all the standard trouser roles for mezzo and a large number of roles from the Wagner operas, Heller has sang Olga, Paulina, Fenena, Ulrica, Amneris, Mignon, and Dalila. She has also performed a substantial portion of the oratorio and concert literature. Among her recordings are live video productions of Der Spieler (Unitel/Barenboim), Moses und Aron (EuroArts/Boder), and Elektra (opus arte/Thielemann). She also makes an appearance in Thielemann’s DG compact disc release of Elektra.
