Soprano
Biography
Born in Zurich, Dimitra Theodossiou studied theory and singing in Germany and then at the opera school of the Munich academy, with stage training attached to the Bavarian State Opera and coaching from James King and Josef Metternich. The prizes came in quick succession in the mid-1990s: a special prize at the Maria Callas competition in 1993, the Viotti in 1994, first prize at the Giuseppe Di Stefano in 1995, and second place with the audience award at Operalia. Her Violetta debut followed in 1995 at the Athens Concert Hall, and from the 1998/99 season she has been closely tied to the Greek National Opera, where Anna Bolena, Norma and Aida have all been hers. The dramatic coloratura and spinto repertory of Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi is her territory — Odabella in Attila, Lucrezia Borgia, Leonora, Lady Macbeth — sung in the principal Italian theatres and across Europe, Israel and Asia. She was one of the soloists in Verdi's Requiem at La Scala under Riccardo Muti in the centenary year of 2001. She sang Odabella in Bologna and Parma in 1999 and took the same role for her Covent Garden debut in 2002, and in 2003 Muti had her as Lucrezia in I due Foscari at La Scala.