Soprano Linda Watson has gained international recognition as one of the most important Wagnerian artists to have emerged in recent seasons. Her debut at the Bayreuth Festival in 1998 as Kundry in Parsifal under Giuseppe Sinopoli was followed by prestigious invitations for important debuts throughout the world. She has since appeared as Kundry, Isolde, Ortrud in Lohengrin, both Venus and Elisabeth in Tannhäuser and Brünnhilde in the Ring cycle at stages all over the world. She interpreted Isolde at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and with the company in Japan, on both occasions under the baton of Music Director Zubin Mehta, who also conducted her Isolde at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Ms. Watson has appeared as Isolde in Prague, Bern, Florence and Düsseldorf. She made her debut with the Munich Philharmonic in 2000 singing Act 3 of Siegfried with Ben Heppner in concerts conducted by James Levine. She has collaborated with many of the leading conductors of our day including, aside from those already mentioned, Valery Gergiev, Christian Thielemann, Antonio Pappano and Kent Nagano.

Born in San Francisco, Linda Watson completed her initial studies at the New England Conservatory of Boston, after which she received numerous scholarships, including a Fulbright, which allowed her to continue her studies at the Vienna Conservatory. She started her operatic career in Aachen, after which she joined the Leipzig Opera in 1995. Like many of the famous Wagnerian sopranos of the past, she began her career as a mezzo-soprano and was heard in Leipzig in roles which included Venus in Tannhäuser and Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde. She debuted at the Vienna State Opera as Venus in 1997.

She sang her first soprano role, Sieglinde in Die Walküre, in a new production mounted by the Essen Opera. She subsequently joined the ensemble of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein as leading dramatic soprano, adding Kundry, Isolde, Leonore in Beethoven's Fidelio, and the title role in Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos to her repertoire. She has also appeared on numerous occasions as the Marschallin in Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier, and in this role made her first appearances in Amsterdam under Edo de Waart and in Prague under Jiri Kout. In the 1999/2000 season, she added three new roles to her repertoire. She sang her first Ortrud in Lohengrin at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in 1999 and appeared in this role at the Bayreuth Festival in 2000 and 2001. The artist sang her first Siegfried Brünnhilde in a new staging by the Bonn Opera. She performed Elisabeth in Tannhäuser for the first time in Toulouse in 2000. She made her Italian and Spanish stage debuts as Isolde in Florence and as Kundry in Madrid in 2001. She later repeated this role under Christian Thielemann at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. She made her debut in Bayreuth as Kundry under Giuseppe Sinopoli in 1998, followed by Ortrud there in 2000, 2001 and 2002.

Photo by Russell Hirshon

Recent engagements include Kundry in Parsifal in Los Angeles, the Ring at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris in the 2005/06 season conducted by Christoph Eschenbach and directed by Robert Wilson). In 2006 she appeared as Brünnhilde in Tankred Dorst's new Ring staging in Bayreuth under the baton of Christian Thielemann.  Current and future projects include among others Ortrud at La Scala, Brünnhilde in Die Walküre in Washington in 2007, the Ring revival in Bayreuth 2007, Tannhäuser in Tokyo, Tristan und Isolde at the Bavarian State Opera and at the Los Angeles Opera,  and the Dyer’s Wife in Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein.

During her most recent visit to Chapman, music students were fortunate to have Ms. Watson work with chosen singers.  At the time, she was in Los Angeles performing the role of Isolde in LA Opera’s production of Tristan und Isolde.  Ms. Watson also discussed the in's and out's of starting a career and the life of an opera singer.  Future plans include other visits to Chapman when she returns to Los Angeles Opera in 2009 and 2010 as Brunnhilde in the Company’s first staging of Wagner’s Ring cycle.