Synek, Liane

Singer (soprano)

born: 17.09.1922 in Vienna

died: 06.09.1982 in Hollabrunn near Vienna

Synek was one of the talented singers who developed their career in Wiesbaden and from there went on to give guest performances all over the world. Synek studied singing in Vienna with Anna Bahr-Mildenburg (1872-1947) and Helene Wildbrunn (1882-1972). After her breakthrough at a singing competition, she was first engaged in Würzburg in 1951 and then in Wuppertal. She sang in the Bayreuth Festival Choir right at the beginning of her career.

In 1954, Friedrich Schramm brought her to Wiesbaden. Here she soon became a celebrated singing star. From 1959 onwards, however, the Wiesbadeners had to share this with the Berlin State Opera (1959-71), the Cologne Opera (1962-75) and Bayreuth (1965-71). Her successes took Synek to opera houses all over the world as a guest, for example to Hamburg and Copenhagen in 1956, Cairo in 1957, Paris in 1959 and repeatedly to her home city of Vienna. She gave guest performances in Milan, Rome, Turin and Parma, Bordeaux and Geneva, London and Frankfurt in 1963, Florence in 1964, Bologna and Venice in 1965, Munich and Dresden in 1967, Nuremberg in 1969, Budapest and Sofia in 1970 and Warsaw in 1974.

Her repertoire included various demanding roles. First and foremost were Wagner's music dramas. In addition to her Bayreuth roles, she excelled as Elisabeth in "Tannhäuser", Isolde, Brünnhilde, Sieglinde, Senta and Kundry. She was also frequently seen as Turandot and Tosca, as Donna Anna in "Don Giovanni" and as Leonore in "Fidelio". Synek was also seen in unusual or rare roles, such as Anna in Hans Vogt's world premiere of the opera after Hermann Kasack (1896-1966) "Die Stadt am Strom" or in 1957 as Ursula in Hindemith's "Mathis der Maler". In Wiesbaden, she often sang together with Hermin Esser, especially Wagner.

At the beginning of the 1970s, her very full timbre and her less agile stage presence, which many regarded as typically Wagnerian, were less in demand. Synek ended her career at the age of 53 and moved to Hollabrunn. A street in the artists' quarter is named after her.