Biography
Heike Gierhardt-Erdelmann hails from Frankfurt am Main, where she studied singing at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst (1984-1987). After graduating, she became a member of Nationaltheater Mannheim’s opera ensemble (1987-1990). Guest performances between 1990 and 1992 also led her to the stage of Deutsche Oper Berlin. In 1992 she was engaged by Aalto-Theater-Essen, where she sang Mozart roles, among them Pamina, Constance and Donna Anna, Antonia (Tales of Hoffmann), as well as Wagnerian characters: Freia, Gutrune and the third Norn in Der Ring des Nibelungen.
Since the 1999/2000 season she has been without a permanent engagement, choosing instead to give guest performances, for example, in Essen as the Empress (Die Frau ohne Schatten), the Countess (Le nozze di Figaro), the Prioress (Dialogues des Carmélites). In 2000 she debuted as the Empress (Die Frau ohne Schatten) at Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona directed by Andreas Homoki and under the baton of Peter Schneider. Further engagements have led her to Deutsche Oper Berlin, Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden, Staatsoper Hamburg and Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Santiago del Compostela, Barcelona, Teatro Real Madrid, Nationaltheater Mannheim and other stages.