Australian mezzo-soprano Indyana Schneider was recently described as ‘outstanding’ in the Guardian and ‘a fabulous young mezzo, the voice full of crimson depth and character’ in Opera Magazine. She studied a BA in Music at Magdalen College, Oxford University and a Masters in Opera at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien in Hanover, Germany. She is a current member of the International Opera Studio of the Opernhaus Zürich.
Recent highlights include her performance as Zita in Gianni Schicchi with the Liverpool Philharmonic and Sir Bryn Terfel in the title role. Last season, Indyana covered the Komponist in Garsington Opera´s production of Ariadne auf Naxos, for which she won their Helen Clarke Award. She sang Femme Grecque in Iphigénie en Tauride and Hermia in A Midsummer Night´s Dream at the Opernhaus Zürich, and returned to the Sydney Opera House to sing Zweite Dame in Die Zauberflöte and to cover Christophe Dumaux as Orpheo in Gluck´s Orpheo ed Euridice.
A dazzling whirwind of creative ideas
Premieres and new roles at Zurich Opera
This season at the Opernhaus Zürich, she sings in two world premieres – as Martina in Wir pfeifen auf den Gurkenkönig (Penderbayne) and as Aouda in Jonathan Dove´s new opera In 80 Tagen um die Welt. She also sings as the Königin in a dramatised Elias directed by Andreas Homoki, as Marchesa Melibea in Il Viaggio a Reims, and in Jakob Lenz. At the Opernhaus Zürich this season, she is covering: Komponist (Ariadne auf Naxos); Stefano (Roméo et Juliette), Page (Salome), and Nicklausse (Les Contes d´Hoffmann).
Music and Literature
Indyana has sung in masterclasses with: Sir Antonio Pappano, Brigitte Fassbaender, Dame Emma Kirkby, Stephen Langridge, Katie Mitchell, Andreas Scholl, James Conlon, and Dame Ann Murray.
When not singing, Indyana writes novels with Scribner / Simon & Schuster and enjoys martial arts and dancing.
