Romanian soprano Anita Hartig studied at the Gheorghe Dima Music Academy in Cluj Napoca, during which time she won several national and international vocal competitions. Whilst studying she also made her operatic début as Mimì in La bohème at the Romanian National Opera in Cluj Napoca in 2006.
Anita was a member of Wiener Staatsoper ensemble from 2009-2014, during which time she performed Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Despina (Così fan tutte), Zerlina(Don Giovanni), Mimì and Musetta (La bohème), Marzelline (Fidelio), Micaëla (Carmen) and Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro).
Career highlights include her house debuts as Mimì at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera, Opéra de Paris; Antonia (Les Contes d’Hoffmann) and Violetta (La traviata) for the Metropolitan Opera; Mimì at the Wiener Staatsoper and Teatro Real Madrid; Micaëla (Carmen) for the Wiener Staatsoper and San Francisco Opera; Amelia Grimaldi (Simon Boccanegra) for her return to the Opéra de Paris; Liù (Turandot) for the Metropolitan Opera and Wiener Staatsoper Opera and Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro) at the Royal Opera House and Metropolitan Opera.
Her recent performances include her return to the Metropolitan Opera and the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona to play the role of Mimi in La bohème, also to the Opernhaus Zürich for Don Giovanni and Le nozze di Figaro and to the Semperoper Dresden for Don Giovanni, La traviata at the New National Theater in Tokyo, two concerts at the Grafenegg Festival in Austria, Rusalka at the Opèra National du Capitole in Toulouse, her return to the Opernhaus Zürich to sing Faust and Eugene Onegin and to the Semperoper Dresden for Le nozze di Figaro, L'amico Fritz at the Concertgebouw, Don Giovanni at the Canadian Opera Company and Die Fledermaus in concert with ORTVE.
Next season she will participate in a very special concert dedicated to Puccini's repertoire, under the direction of Ivan Repusic and with the Münchner Rundfunkorchester.
Date last modified: July 2024 Not to be altered without permission. Please delete any previous biographic material.
2022-2023 Performances
RUSALKA 6 October 2022 20:00 Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse 9 October 2022 15:00 Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse 11 October 2022 20:00 Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse 14 October 2022 20:00 Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse
FAUST DE GOUNOD 29 October 2022 19:30 Opernhaus Zürich 01 November 2022 19:00 Opernhaus Zürich 06 November2022 13:00 Opernhaus Zürich 13 November 2022 20:00 Opernhaus Zürich 16 November 2022 19:00 Opernhaus Zürich
L'AMICO FRITZ 17 December 2022 14:15 Het Concertgebouw
EUGENE ONEGIN 10 February 2023 19:00 Opernhaus Zürich 16 February 2023 19:00 Opernhaus Zürich 19 February 2023 20:00 Opernhaus Zürich 24 February 2023 19:00 Opernhaus Zürich 01 March 2023 19:00 Opernhaus Zürich
LE NOZZE DI FIGARO 06 April 2023 19:00 Semperoper Dresden 13 April 2023 19:00 Semperoper Dresden
2021-2022 Performances
LA BOHÈME 9 November 2021 19:00 Metropolitan Opera, Nueva York 13 November 2021 20:00 Metropolitan Opera, Nueva York 17 November 2021 19:30 Metropolitan Opera, Nueva York 20 November 2021 13:00 Metropolitan Opera, Nueva York 26 November 2021 19:00 Metropolitan Opera, Nueva York 29 November 2021 20:00 Metropolitan Opera, Nueva York 3 December 2021 19:00 Metropolitan Opera, Nueva York
DON GIOVANNI 25 January 2022 19:30 Opernhaus Zürich 28 January 2022 19:00 Opernhaus Zürich 30 January 2022 20:00 Opernhaus Zürich 5 February 2022 19:00 Opernhaus Zürich 11 February 2022 19:00 Opernhaus Zürich 18 February 2022 19:30 Opernhaus Zürich
DON GIOVANNI 27 February 2022 19:00 Semperoper Dresden 6 March 2022 19:00 Semperoper Dresden 11 March 2022 19:00 Semperoper Dresden 15 April 2022 18:00 Semperoper Dresden
LE NOZZE DI FIGARO 19 June 2022 19:00 Opernhaus Zürich 22 June 2022 19:00 Opernhaus Zürich 25 June 2022 19:00 Opernhaus Zürich 28 June 2022 19:00 Opernhaus Zürich 1 July 2022 19:00 Opernhaus Zürich 3 July 2022 13:00 Opernhaus Zürich 7 July 2022 19:00 Opernhaus Zürich 10 July 2022 20:00 Opernhaus Zürich
Gallery
Multimedia
La Bohème (Gran Teatre del Liceu, 2021)
Portrait (Wiener Staatsoper)
Reviews
Don giovanni. Opernhaus Zürich . 2022
"The Donna Elvira of Romanian soprano Anita Hartig, despite her wide and sonorous voice, manages to move audiences: feverish, unstable and touching in her desperate need to win back her husband..." Emmanuel Andrieu (Opera Online)
LA BOHÈME. METROPOLITAN OPERA. 2021
Anita Hartig has a beautiful voice, well placed. It has various colors, including darkish ones... Ms. Hartig is musical. You could hear this, for example, in the shape of her arias. Of true importance is that she sang with poignancy—without trying to. What I mean is, she did not really act (and certainly did not overact). She simply let the music, the words, and the story speak for themselves. They are enough. I have heard many, many Mimìs more famous than Anita Hartig. I don’t remember, frankly, hearing a better one." Jay Norglinger (Ther New Criterion) "Soprano Anita Hartig handled the seamstress's transitions seamlessly, modulating vocally between a slim stream of sound anf gleaming crescendos, and expiring touchingly in the last act". David Wright (New York Classical Review)
"Anita Hartig, as Mimì, is a soprano whose brigt voice, even when hight-lying phrases haf metallic glint, came across with tremulous, affecting vulnerability. Hartig brought a conversational flow to the aria "Mi chiamano Mimì", stretching one phrase to express a bashful, intimate feeling and slightly rushing another to convey nervousness. Kim kept the orchestra with her every moment, and the entire scene around that aria - the awkard, nervous exchanges between Rodolfo and Mimì as they first meet - has shape and drive." Anthony Tommasini (The News York Times)
"Next to Rucinski, Hartig was the vocal standout on the evening as “Mimì.” There was a graininess and edge to her sound that grounded the character. She was gentle throughout the opening “Mi chiamano Mimi,” navigating the aforementioned lack of musical coordination quite well and never seeming flustered or lost throughout the opening stanzas of the aria. But she really found some musical inspiration in the vocal line preceding “Ma quando vien lo sgleo.” The “in cielo” rallentando was delivered as a gentle diminuendo that slowly faded into nothing. It was a sublime transition and set up for one of the lushest lyrical moments of the opera. And after that tender descrescendo, Hartig made the most of “Ma quando vien lo sgelo,” her singing one growing wave after another, sustaining the high A’s as if a person clinging for dear life, allowing the listener to hear Mimì’s passionate nature for the first time. She was similarly intense throughout the duet, climaxing the Act on a generously held high C. Act three was another standout moment for Hartig, her voice soaring over the orchestra at the climaxes of “Rodolfo m’ama e mi fugge.” But I might have to nominate “Donde lieta usci” as the standout vocal moment of the evening. Hartig’s singing here was multi-dimensional, straddling tenderness, pain, heartbreaking, and, at its climax, passionate. But unlike the more granular sound and intensity we heard at the climaxes of “Ma quando vien lo sgelo,” the vocal color was brighter and smoother; it was almost transcendent, Mimì almost finding some enlightenment in this gentle goodbye. In Act four, a lot of modern singers imbue their singing in this act with a breathiness that furthers the feeling of Mimì’s impending death. Sometimes it works, sometimes it’s a distraction. Hartig found a solid middle ground, her singing taking on an even lighter texture, her sound almost always piano, emphasizing Mimì’s fading health. But it retained its fullness, just as Mimì retains her sense of self to the very end. David Salazar (Operawire)
TURANDOT. GRAN TEATRE DEL LICEU. 2019
One of the reasons that Turandot is a problematic opera is that the two main roles are so unsympathetic, so it’s left to Liù to conquer the audience’s heart. Anita Hartig accomplished that in no uncertain terms: throwing her soul into the tragedy of the character and giving us a voice which perfectly combined strength and sweetness. Both the scene where she explains that Calaf once smiled on her and her subsequent death scene were the vocal highlights of the evening. David Karlin (Bachtrack)
CARMEN. SAN FRANCISCO OPERA. 2019
"Romanian soprano Anita Hartig, making her SFO debut, headed up supporting cast wiht lustrous sound and unfailing charm as Micaëla, the country girl teying to win Don José back to his vilage. Her Act III aria ('Je dis que rien ne m'epouvante') was especially affecting..." Harvey Steinman (Seen and Heard)
"Making her SFO debut, the Romanian soprano Anita Hartig was a sympathetic, sweet-voiced Micaëla, .... Hartig tenderly conveyed her abiding affection for Don Jose in her lovely Act 3 aria “Je dis que rien ne m’épouvante.”" James Abroff-Tahan (San Francisco Examiner)
"The evening was the San Francisco Opera debut of Romanian soprano Anita Hartig. Her expressive, sensitive portrayal of the woman who best understands Jose, proved an auspicious introduction to the San Francisco Opera audience, who gave her third act aria Je dis, que rien ne m’épouvante a sustained ovation." William Burnett (Opera Warhorses)
"As Micaëla, the country girl who rivals Carmen for the love of José, Romanian soprano Anita Hartig sang the finest and most compelling role of the evening. Acting and singing, she was consistently clear and thoughtful. Hartig’s duet with José in Act I and her poignant solo in the third act (“Je dis, que rien ne m’épouvante”) provided much-needed moments of vocal lyricism and dramatic nuance." Nicholas Jones (San Francisco Classical Voice)
"Among the singers, the star of the night was undoubtedly Romanian soprano Anita Hartig who made house debut as Micaëla. Hartig fully embodied the only “pure” character in the opera body and soul with her crystal-clear voice. She shone particularly bright during her Act three aria “Je dis, que rien ne m’épouvante”. In this “prayer for strength”, marked by beautiful pianissimi, she showed how determined she was to overcome her fears to be with the one she loved. The audience fully embraced it and rewarded her with long applause!" Michael Anthonio (Parterre Box)
LA TRAVIATA. TOULOUSE OPERA. 2018
"Anita Hartig as Violetta Valéry was eagerly awaited, and rightly so. The singer achives powerful heights and vibrato on key emotional moments" Arnaud Saura-Ziegelmeyer (Bachtrack)
"In the role of Violetta, Anita Hartig amazed with fragility of pleasingly bare emotion and the solidity of a song defended with a powerful and colourful voice" Charlotte Saulneron (ResMusica)
"Anita Hartig, a lovely Violetta, manages to give nuance to tempi and provide structure to an exciting musical discourse. Her crystalline hights, emirred with restraint and smoothly vibrated, pierce the heart...Eyes closed, cradled by a languid tempo, she vocalises the first aria eloquently" Damien Dutilleul (Olyrix)
"Anita Hartig draws an endearing portrait of Violetta, letting the fragility and emotion behind the gilded mask of worldly festivities shine through. From one act to the other her voice gains warmth, up until "Adio del passato", where it becomes tragically stripped back. Evidently, a beautliful artist!" Pierre Cadars (Concert Classic)