Anja Silja to receive music theatre lifetime achievement award

German soprano Anja Silja will receive the lifetime achievement award at the Austrian Music Theatre Awards on September 8, ORF reported. The 86-year-old singer will accept the honour at Vienna’s Votivkirche.

“Anja Silja did not interpret roles; she made them her own,” award founder Karl-Michael Ebner said, explaining the decision. “Where others sought fidelity to the work, she sought access to the character, its contradictions and its abysses.”

Silja began receiving singing lessons from her grandfather, Egon van Rijn, as a child and gave her first concert at the age of 10. She made her debut at the Staatstheater Braunschweig in 1956 as Rosina in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. At 19, she was already singing the Queen of the Night in Vienna and Aix-en-Provence.

Her international breakthrough came with her 1960 Bayreuth debut as Senta in Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman. The role brought attention to the 20-year-old singer, who had little significant stage experience at the time.

Silja then developed a close artistic relationship with Wieland Wagner, who cast her in leading roles until his death in 1966. They included Elsa in Lohengrin, Venus and Elisabeth in Tannhäuser, Eva in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Freia in Das Rheingold. She remained one of Bayreuth’s defining voices until 1967.

After Wieland Wagner’s early death, Silja withdrew from Wagner roles but continued to attract attention with her bright, dramatic voice and stage presence. Her roles included Micaëla in Carmen, the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute and Leonore in Il trovatore.

Her repertoire also covered an exceptional range of styles. She performed Marie and Lulu in Alban Berg’s operas, as well as Salome and the Sacristan in Janáček’s Jenůfa. She appeared at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, London’s Covent Garden, the Paris Opera, the Vienna State Opera and the Glyndebourne Festival.

Emilia Marty in Janáček’s The Makropulos Affair became her signature role, which she performed more than 100 times. Silja also worked as a director.

Former Salzburg Festival director Markus Hinterhäuser will receive the Grand Jury Prize, as previously announced. At the 14th edition of the awards, three institutions are tied as the leading nominees, with eight nominations each across 15 opera, operetta and musical categories: the Vienna State Opera, the Volksoper and the Salzburg Festival.