Important milestones in the recent past of Swiss mezzo-soprano were ‘Sieglinde‘ (“Die Walküre“) conducted by Simone Young in Hamburg, ‘Didon’ (“Les Troyens”) in Paris, of Mahler 8th symphony conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas with San Francisco Symphony. Lately she sang “Ring” cycles at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and ‘Brangäne’ (“Tristan und Isolde”) conducted by Sir Simon Rattle at Vienna State Opera.
She is a regular guest of the most important opera houses and concert halls and sings a large repertoire at Zurich Opera, the State Operas of Hamburg and Vienna, at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, at the festivals of Bayreuth an Salzburg, an London Covent Garden, at the Opéra National de Paris and at the Metropolitan Opera in New York as well as at the Vienna Musikverein and Konzerthaus, at the Berlin Philharmonie, the Gasteig in Munich, the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg, at the Salle Pleyel in Paris, the Royal Albert Hall in London and at the Carnegie Hall.
Important projects are scheduled for spring 2010, among them ‘Fricka‘ (“Die Walküre“) at the Opéra National de Paris, ‘Didon‘ (“Les Troyens“) at the Nederlandse Opera. Besides this she will be heard in concerts and recitals throughout Europe and in New York.
As a specialist for Gustav Mahler’s song cycles and symphonies Yvonne Naef performed his symphonies no 2, 3 and 8, “Kindertotenlieder“, “Rückert Lieder, “Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen”, songs from the “Knaben Wunderhorn” and other songs conducted by Pierre Boulez, James Levine, Christoph Eschenbach, Semyon Bychkov, Franz Welser-Möst, Sylvain Cambreling, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Kent Nagano, Michael Tilson Thomas und Jonathan Nott. Many of the songs she sang in song recitals.
There are several tv, cd and dvd recordings of Yvonne Naef, among them “Il Trovatore“ from Covent Garden, “Parsifal“ from Zurich Opernhaus, Wagner’s “Das Rheingold“, Schönberg’s “Moses und Aron“ and “Gurre-Lieder“, Mahler’s 2nd symphony with Westdeutscher Rundfunk, Bach’s “Weihnachtsoratorium”, Rossinis “Petite Messe Solenelle“, Schoeck’s “Penthesilea“, Beethovens 9. Symphonie, Brahms “Alt-Rhapsodie“ as well as songs by Berlioz and Wagner.
