Prof. Norma Sharp

Prof. Norma Sharp was born in America and studied singing and musicology at the University of Kansas. In Germany she continued her studies with Prof. Helmut Melchert in Hamburg and Prof. Peter Witsch in Cologne. Following contracts in major opera houses in Germany, she joined the ensemble of the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe. Since then she has worked as a freelance musician, appearing as a guest on many European stages. As a lyric and jugendlich-dramatisch soprano, Mozart and Strauss rôles are an important part of her repertoire. At La Scala Milan she made her debut as the Countess in "The Marriage of Figaro". Guest contracts took her to the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, the Semperoper in Dresden, Hannover, Stuttgart, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Ghent, Zurich, Basle, Berne, Geneva, Rome, Naples, Madrid, Glasgow, London, Paris, Prague and Budapest. She has performed at the Bayreuth Festival, the Glyndebourne Festival, the Ludwigsburger Schloßfestspiele and the Handel Festival in Karlsruhe. In recitals Norma Sharp likes to concentrate on the German Romantic repertoire as well as several contemporary composers. Her accompanists are Irwin Gage, Wilhelm von Grunelius and Wolfram Rieger. She has given concerts with the conductors Horst Stein, Marek Janowski, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Carlo Maria Giulini, Pierre Boulez and Neville Marriner. Recordings and TV performances document her performing career. Since October, 1992 Norma Sharp has been Professor of Singing at the Academy of Music Hanns Eisler Berlin.