About this Artist

Soprano CHEN REISS has established a strongly-acclaimed and distinctive career, enchanting audiences with “one of the most perfect Strauss voices one could wish for” (Classical Source), “a voice of silver brightness and clarity” (Bachtrack) with “immaculately produced and enticing tone matched by superb musicianship” (Opera News). 

Born in Israel, she came to prominence as a member of the ensemble of the Bavarian State Opera under the music directorship of Zubin Mehta and has for a number of years been a resident artist at the Vienna State Opera. She has also performed leading parts at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Teatro alla Scala, Semperoper Dresden, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Hamburg State Opera, Netherlands Opera, Wiener Festwochen, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Opera Company of Philadelphia, and the Israeli Opera.

In 2018 she made her debut at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden as Zerlina in Kasper Holten’s production of Don Giovanni conducted by Marc Minkowski, and her debut at Teatro Real in Madrid and Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona as Ginevra (Ariodante) under William Christie, a role she also performed at the Vienna State Opera in David McVicar’s new production. In 2017 she performed in Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 at the BBC Proms, Lucerne Festival, George Enescu Festival, and at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam under the baton of Daniele Gatti, made her debuts with the Chicago Symphony under Charles Dutoit, the Philharmonia Orchestra under Lahav Shani and sang Liu (Turandot) with the Israel Philharmonic orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta. In 2016 she sang Morgana (Alcina) under Marc Minkowski at the Vienna State Opera, and with the Vienna Philharmonic under the baton of Zubin Mehta, she was the guest soloist at a gala concert for the 30th anniversary celebrations of Tokyo’s Suntory Hall.

She is a frequent presence on the concert stage and a regular guest with distinguished ensembles and institutions, including the Salzburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Ludwigsburg, Rheingau, and Lucerne Festivals, the Vienna Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Berlin, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Concerto Köln, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de France, Pittsburgh and Dallas Symphony orchestras, and London’s Philharmonia and BBC Symphony orchestras, as well as in Carnegie Hall, Vienna’s Musikverein, Wigmore Hall, Philharmonie Berlin, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Laeiszhalle Hamburg, and the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. She counts among her collaborators such conductors as Daniel Barenboim, Christoph Eschenbach, Daniel Harding, Manfred Honeck, Marek Janowski, Paavo Järvi, Zubin Mehta, Marc Minkowski, Donald Runnicles, Christian Thielemann, and Franz Welser-Möst.

Highlights of this season and beyond include her debuts as Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro) and Ännchen (Der Freischutz) at the Vienna State Opera, where she also will return in signature roles including Zdenka (Arabella), Marzelline (Fidelio), and Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), performances of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Munich Philharmonic and on tour across Europe under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel, Haydn’s The Seasons with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra under Vladimir Jurowski, the solo roles of Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms and Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 in the opening season concerts of the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Bernstein’s Symphony No. 3 “Kaddish” with the Israel Philharmonic and Ilan Volkov.

Her operatic repertoire includes Gilda (Rigoletto), Adina (L’elisir d’amore), Amina (La Sonnambula), Nannetta (Falstaff), Oscar (Un ballo in maschera), Marie (La fille du régiment), Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Ilia (Idomeneo), Servilia (La clemenza di Tito), Konstanze (Die Entfuehrung aus dem Serail), Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel), Euridice (Orfeo ed Euridice), Adele (Die Fledermaus), and the title role in Janacek’s The Cunning Little Vixen. Her concert repertoire includes the sacred works, concert scenes, and arias of Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, and Schumann, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Christus am Olberge, the Requiems of Brahms and Fauré, the Stabat Mater settings by Rossini and Szymanowski, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Gorecki’s Symphony No. 3, and the songs of Mahler, Zemlinsky, Berg, and Richard Strauss.

In December 2014 Chen Reiss was invited to sing for Pope Francis during the Christmas Mass, which was broadcast worldwide. She has recorded a wide range of repertoire including a disc of Mozart, Salieri, Haydn, and Cimarosa arias, and a recital “Le Rossignol et la Rose” presenting a romantic compilation of songs with distinguished pianist Charles Spencer (both for Onyx Classics), roles in complete recordings of Die Fledermaus (Capriccio), Don Giovanni, and Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem (Helicon), and Lehar’s Das Fürstenkind (CPO), and in DVD releases of Fauré’s Requiem with Orchestre de Paris conducted by Paavo Järvi, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Accompanied by the Berlin Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle, she sang on the soundtrack to Tom Tykwer’s film Perfume: The Story of a Murderer.