Artistic Director Viktor Schoner of Stuttgart State Opera has clarified the tragic circumstances of the death of a beloved soprano:
Beate Ritter was a member of the Stuttgart State Opera ensemble from 2018 to 2024…. In the 2022/2023 season, she embodied two almost otherworldly characters: Those who experienced her as the forest bird in Wagner’s Siegfried were torn from their Wagnerian frenzy by her tremendous textual intelligibility, and she was touching—for me personally, almost unexpectedly—in the role of the angel in Olivier Messiaen’s masterpiece about Saint Francis : seemingly endless lines with a rarely heard, crystal-clear soprano. Messiaen would have been delighted!
Even after her time as a permanent ensemble member, she happily returned to Stuttgart as a guest. On April 18, nine weeks ago, she performed again as the Queen at the Littmann Building. During the intermission, she complained of stomach pain. We had a colleague in the house who could have taken over the second act for her. Beate, her usual disciplined self, was determined to finish the evening herself – to rise to the challenge of the revenge aria. She shone, and the audience thanked her with a standing ovation. She drove home that night to be with her husband – they had married in the summer of 2024. The doctor diagnosed a serious illness the following day, and surgery followed just a few days later, but treatment was discontinued two weeks ago on medical advice. Beate could not defy this relentless illness. Yesterday, she passed away far too early in the close circle of her family.
It feels somehow good that she ended her time on the operatic stage with applause for a successful performance as the Queen of the Night. And now—she travels as an angel. The stage direction for the fourth scene of Saint François d’Assise , entitled “The Traveling Angel ,” states: “The angel makes a small gesture with his hand, and the gate opens by itself, and he walks to the right along the forest path, as he came, as if dancing without touching the ground.”
Farewell, Beate! We will miss you!
The post Stuttgart Opera: How we lost our beloved Beate appeared first on Slippedisc.
