Diana Lamar | Soprano

Diana Lamar @atanaschervenkov – Paff Creative LTD.

Acclaimed for her “beauty of tone and dynamic phrasing” and “powerful and nuanced dramaticism,” Bulgarian-Swiss soprano Diana Lamar is an established presence on the international operatic stage. With Italian heritage and raised in Egypt, she is fluent in seven languages, including Italian, French, German, English, Russian, Bulgarian and Arabic. 

Her powerful dramatic soprano voice, vocal flexibility, and commanding stage presence make her a compelling interpreter of the great heroines of Strauss, Wagner and Puccini among others.

Often described as a “Strauss specialist,” Diana has performed Strauss’s Elektra in seven productions to date, including at Teatro Verdi di Trieste, Daegu Opera House in South Korea, Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, Sofia Opera and Ballet, and Teatro Juárez during Mexico’s Festival Internacional Cervantino as well as at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. Among the youngest sopranos to undertake the role for the stage, she received the Maria Callas Tribute Prize in New York for her interpretation. Critics have praised her as “an Elektra of volcanic intensity and unwavering vocal command.”

Puccini’s Tosca is another signature role, performed in seven productions to date, including at Teatro Comunale Pavarotti-Freni in Modena, Theater Trier, Teatro Vittorio Emanuele di Messina, and Teatro Municipal de Lima. She also appeared as Tosca at Deutsche Oper Berlin in Marina Abramović’s The 7 Deaths of Maria Callas. Her upcoming engagements include Tosca at Opera Wrocławska and Grand Theater Łódź.

Recent and upcoming highlights include Aida in Graz and Poland, Maddalena in Giordano’s Andrea Chénier under Yaroslav Shemet, and Cio-Cio-San in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly in Wrocław’s production of Giancarlo del Monaco.

Her other operatic roles include Senta in Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer at Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts, Abigaille in Verdi’s Nabucco, Elsa in Lohengrin, Liza in Tchaikovsky’s Pique Dame, the title role in Cherubini’s Medea, and Elle in Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine, directed by Renata Scotto. She has also performed alongside Roberto Alagna at Switzerland’s Paléo Festival.

On the concert stage, she has performed Strauss’s Vier letzte Lieder in Montreux, Schubert’s Mass D.105 at BOZAR with the National Orchestra of Belgium, and Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder. A committed advocate of contemporary music, she has participated in ENOA projects, including Morton Feldman’s Three Voices at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, and regularly collaborates with Ensemble Intercomunicazione.

Her distinctions include the Maria Callas Tribute Prize in New York, First Prize at the Concorso Internazionale “Città di Alcamo,” and grants from the Fritz-Gerber, Lyra, and Pour-cent Culturel Migros foundations. From 2011 to 2015, she was a soloist-in-residence at the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth under José Van Dam. She holds master’s degrees in Vocal Performance and Vocal Pedagogy from the Haute École de Musique de Genève and is based in Lausanne, Switzerland.