Adriana Bastidas-Gamboa

The mezzo-soprano was born in Cali, Colombia, and completed her vocal studies at the conservatory in her home city, supplemented by postgraduate studies at the Cologne University of Music. She was a member of the Cologne Opera's International Opera Studio in the 2007/08 season and joined the Cologne Opera ensemble in 2008, where she has been a permanent member ever since. She has appeared in a variety of roles at the Cologne Opera, 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 ‘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’. She has also made several guest appearances in this role at the Berlin State Opera.

Her most recent roles include Angelina in Rossini's ‘La Cenerentola’, the title role in Purcell's ‘Miranda’, Federica in Verdi's ‘Luisa Miller’, Cornelia in ‘Giulio Cesare in Egitto’, Virtù & Ottavia in ‘L'Incoronazione di Poppea’, Mother in ‘Hänsel und Gretel’, Zia Francesca in Frank Pesci's ‘The Strangers’ and Mrs Sedly in ‘Peter Grimes’. In May 2012, she was awarded the Offenbach Prize in recognition of her outstanding achievements at the Cologne Opera. In November 2013, she released her first solo CD entitled ‘Un viaggio in Italia’, which took her on a musical journey through the various stages 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 especially for her. This was followed by Felix Leuschner's ‘Requiem für einen Lebenden’ 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 ‘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.

In the current season, the title roles in ‘Carmen’ and ‘Maria de Buenos Aires’, Medoro in ‘Orlando’, Fenena in ‘Nabucco’, the First Maid in ‘Elektra’ and Cornelia in ‘Giulio Cesare in Egitto’ are on the programme at the Cologne Opera.