This fall, Elza van den Heever returns to Oper Frankfurt, reprising her performances of Puccini’s Turandot in Andrea Breth’s bold production. Her interpretation of Puccini’s icy princess has been highly praised, described as “lending Turandot not only a radiant clarity in her high notes… Her high C also expresses profound despair when she rejects Calaf as a husband” (Online Merker).
These performances highlight her long and fruitful history of performing in Frankfurt, having begun her European operatic career as an ensemble member at Oper Frankfurt from 2008 to 2013.
Van den Heever is joined by Alfred Kim as Calaf, Thomas Faulkner as Timur, Julia Stuart as Liù, Michael McCown as Altoum, Liviu Holender as Ping, Sven Hjörleifsson as Pang, and Michael Porter as Pong, under the baton of Simone Di Felice.
Elza van den Heever joins The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, for performances at the BBC Proms on August 26 and at the Philharmonie de Paris on September 1. As part of a program devoted to the radiant world of Richard Strauss, van den Heever will perform the gripping final scene of Salome.
Van den Heever’s previous interpretations of the iconic role have received high praise, with Parterre Box describing her portrayal of Salome as “mingling moments of childlike vocal sweetness with a soaring, rapturous sound that was undeniably adult.” She was last seen in the title role alongside Peter Mattei in a new production at The Metropolitan Opera in May 2025, which was also featured in The Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD series for the 2024–25 season.
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Elza van den Heever returns to the Bayreuth Festival as Sieglinde in Wagner’s Die Walküre. She made her highly anticipated festival debut last season as Elsa von Brabant in Lohengrin.
Van den Heever has previously performed Sieglinde at the Opéra National de Paris, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, and with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. Her portrayal of the Wagnerian heroine has been described as “rapturous and devastatingly sorrowful” (Financial Times), with DrehPunktKultur saying she sang the role “as if it had been composed for her and no other soprano.”
Under the baton of Christian Thielemann, van den Heever is joined by Klaus Florian Vogt as Siegmund, Mika Kares as Hunding, Michael Volle as Wotan, Anna Kissjudit as Fricka, Camilla Nylund as Brünnhilde, Magdalena Hinterdobler as Helmwige, Brit-Tone Müllertz as Ortlinde, Martina Welschenbach as Gerhilde, Karis Tucker as Waltraute, Alexandra Ionis as Siegrune, Natalia Skrycka as Rossweisse, Marie Henriette Reinhold as Grimgerde, and Freya Apffelstaedt as Schwertleite.
This July, Elza van den Heever joins the Bayreuth Festival, performing Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony under the baton of Christian Thielemann. She will be joined by soloists Christa Mayer, Piotr Beczała, and Georg Zeppenfeld.
Celebrated for her international success as Leonore in Beethoven’s Fidelio, van den Heever sings Beethoven’s music with deep sensitivity and commanding presence, “artfully combining body language and communicative singing” (Chicago Sun-Times). She last performed the soprano solo in the Ninth Symphony in 2022 at The Metropolitan Opera under the baton of Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin as part of The Metropolitan Opera’s A Concert for Ukraine.
This April and May, Elza van den Heever returns to Oper Frankfurt, making her long-awaited role debut as Puccini’s titular ice queen, Turandot. It’s a welcome return to Frankfurt for the soprano, who has been a regular guest of the company and was a member of their ensemble from 2008 to 2013.
Van den Heever joins a fantastic cast, under the baton of Thomas Guggeis, featuring Alfred Kim as Calaf, Guanqun Yu as Liù, Liviu Holender as Ping, Magnus Dietrich as Pang, and Michael Porter as Pong. Andrea Breth’s new production is preceded by a newly composed prologue by Lucia Ronchetti, which conveys a premonition of the catastrophe that is about to unfold.
This January and February, Elza van den Heever joins the Staatsoper Berlin for Wagner’s Lohengrin, returning to Calixto Bieito’s dark, surreal production. She will bow as Elsa von Brabant, an innocent woman who is falsely accused of murdering her brother. The knight Lohengrin agrees to marry her on the condition that she never ask his name or origin, but manipulation and doubt, stoked by the sorceress Ortrud, drive Elsa to break her promise.
Van den Heever has previously bowed as Elsa at the Wiener Staatsoper, Bayerische Staatsoper, Oper Frankfurt, and Opernhaus Zürich, and most recently at the Bayreuth Festival, where her performance was praised as “radiantly sung and acted” (Operawire) and “bold and searching, every phrase alive with intention” (Opera Scene).
She joins a fantastic cast of Wagnerians, under the baton of Simone Young. Eric Cutler sings the title role, with René Pape as Heinrich der Vogler, Wolfgang Koch as Friedrich of Telramund, and Anja Kampe as Ortrud.
This November, Elza van den Heever brings her “rapturous and devastatingly sorrowful” (Financial Times) Sieglinde in Wagner’s Die Walküre to audiences in Paris. Van den Heever has won rave reviews for her interpretation of this iconic role, with Dreh Punkt Kultur saying, “Elza van den Heever sang the role of Sieglinde as if it had been composed for her and no other soprano. She sang it with sovereignty, with beguiling ease in the use of her voice, naturally and eloquently in the quasi-speaking or quiet passages, and with reserves of volume and expressiveness that she used in the emotional turmoil.”
Die Walküre marks a triumphant return to Opéra Bastille for the soprano, who has previously bowed there in Così fan tutte (2011), Elektra (2022), Salome (2022), and La Vestale (2024). Van den Heever appears in Calixto Bieito’s production alongside Stanislas de Barbeyrac as Siegmund, Iain Paterson as Wotan, Günther Groissböck as Hunding, Tamara Wilson as Brünnhilde, and Eve-Maud Hubeaux as Fricka. Pablo Heras-Casado conducts.
On September 26 and 28, Elza van den Heever joins the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra for Anton Bruckner’s monumental choral-orchestral work, Te Deum.She has previously sung the Te Deum with the Philadelphia Orchestra, where she was complimented on her “stunning high pianissimos” (Bachtrack).
This program is part of a multi-year Bruckner cycle, beginning in 2018 and spearheaded by Rotterdam’s Chief Conductor, Lahav Shani. Shani will lead this concert from the podium, which also features Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony. Van den Heever will be joined onstage by mezzo-soprano Gerhild Romberger, tenor Daniel Behle, and bass-baritone Kostas Smoriginas.
This program marks a triumphant return to Rotterdam for van den Heever, who joined the orchestra last season for her highly anticipated role debut as Sieglinde in Wagner’s Die Walküre.
