Nadine Secunde

• Name — Nadine Secunde • Born — 21 December 1953 • Birthplace — Independence, Ohio, US • Education — * Oberlin Conservatory • Indiana University • Musikhochschule Stuttgart • Occupation — Operatic soprano • Organization — * Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden • Cologne Opera • Bayreuth Festival

Secunde was born in Independence near Cleveland, Ohio, on 21 December 1953. She studied piano and voice at the Oberlin Conservatory and Indiana University with Margaret Harshaw. She studied from 1979 on a Fulbright scholarship at the Musikhochschule Stuttgart. In 1980, she was engaged at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden. She performed in 1982 the role of Elvira in Auber's Die Stumme von Portici, conducted by Siegfried Köhler, Sinaide, the pharao's wife, in Rossini's Mosè, alongside Eike Wilm Schulte as the pharao, and Micaela in Bizet's Carmen, Later she performed also major roles in Wagner stage works. She became a member of the Cologne Opera in 1985 and received attention in her début in the title part of Janáceks Káťa Kabanová, staged by Harry Kupfer and conducted by Gerd Albrecht. She performed the title role of Arabella by Richard Strauss at the Bavarian State Opera. Secunde appeared at the Bayreuth Festival first in 1987, as Elsa in the Lohengrin production conducted by Daniel Barenboim. Wolfgang Wagner engaged her after having heard her performance in Wiesbaden. She sang the role also at the Royal Opera House in London in 1988, and at La Fenice in Venice in 1990. From 1988 to 1992, she was in Bayreuth Sieglinde in Die Walküre, a role which she also performed in Cologne and in 1991 at the Teatro Liceo in Barcelona. She sang at Covent Garden Chrysothemis in Elektra by Strauss in 1990. The same year, she performed the title role of Judith by Siegfried Matthus at the Seattle Opera in the work's U.S. premiere. In 1991, she performed Cassandre in Les Troyens by Hector Berlioz in Los Angeles. In 1996, Secunde sang the Brünnhilde role in Wagner's Die Walküre at Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires. Secunde performed the role of the primadonna in the premiere of Hans Werner Henze's one-act opera Venus und Adonis at the Bavarian State Opera on 11 January 1997, conducted by Markus Stenz. She performed Brünnhilde in Wagner's Ring Cycle at the Wrocław Opera, completed in 2006. In 2018, she returned to Wiesbaden as the Kabanicha in Janáček's Katja Kabanowa.

Secunde is married to Heiner Rekeszus, a musicologist and dealer with historic musical documents.