Adriana Bastidas-Gamboa

The mezzo-soprano was born in Cali, Colombia, and completed her vocal studies at the conservatory of her hometown, supplemented by postgraduate studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln. In the 2007.08 season she was a member of the International Opera Studio and already in 2008 she moved to the ensemble at Oper Köln, where she has been a permanent member ever since. At Oper Köln she has performed in a variety of roles, including as Martina Laborde in "Love and other Demons" by Peter Eötvös, in the title roles of Bizet's "Carmen" and Handel's "Rinaldo", as Maddalena in "Rigoletto", Dorabella in "Così fan tutte", Olga in "Eugene Onegin", Suzuki in "Madama Butterfly", Judith in "Duke Bluebeard's Castle", Faust/a in "Das Lied der Frauen vom Fluss", as Preziosilla in "La forza del destino", Margarita in York Höller's "Meister und Margarita", Le Pélérin in "L'amour de loin" and as Rosina in the Ruth Berghaus production of "Il barbiere di Siviglia". In the 2022.23 season, as in 2016, she sings Angelina in Rossini's "La Cenerentola", the title role in Purcell's "Miranda" Federica in Verdi's "Luisa Miller" and Cornelia in "Giulio Cesare in Egitto" by George Frideric Handel.

In May 2012 she was awarded the Offenbach Prize in recognition of her special achievements at Oper Köln. In November 2013, her first solo CD was released under the title "Un viaggio in Italia", with which she undertook a musical foray through stations of her career. At the Munich Opera Festival of the Bavarian State Opera in 2016, she performed the role of Penthesilea in the world premiere of Hauke Berheide's opera "Mauerschau", which was composed for her. Felix Leuschner's "Requiem for a Living Man" followed at the 2019 Opera Festival. She also sang under the musical direction of Gabriel Feltz in the Verdi Requiem with the Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra, Judith in "Duke Bluebeard's Castle with the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra and the Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra as well as with the Flanders Symphony Orchestra and Jan Latham-Koenig in "El amor brujo" by Manuel de Falla.