| Biography | Edith Mathis (born 11 February 1938, Lucerne, Switzerland) is a renowned Swiss soprano and a leading exponent of the works of Mozart. She studied in Lucerne and debuted there in 1956 in The Magic Flute. Mozart would remain one of her specialties, with her roles including Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Despina in Cosi fan tutte and Pamina in The Magic Flute. Indeed, she recorded the latter role in 1980, opposite Karin Ott and Janet Perry, under Herbert von Karajan. Other roles she sang include Sophie and the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier and Agathe and Aennchen in Der Freischütz.
Mathis also sang in the premières of von Einem's Der Zerissene, Henze's Der junge Lord, Heinrich Sutermeister's Le roi Berénger, and Menotti's Help, Help, the Globolinks!. She was also a singer of oratorios and Lieder. Her Lieder recordings include Volume 21 of the complete songs of Franz Schubert for Hyperion Records.
Several of her most notable recorded roles in Mozartian opera include Susanna in Le Nozze Di Figaro for the Berlin Staatsoper with Karl Bohm conducting, as well as Ilia in Idomeneo with the Staatskapelle Dresden. A re-released recording of Don Giovanni with the Vienna Philharmonic and Karl Bohm from the 1977 Salzburg Festival features her in one of her best-known roles, Zerlina. A fine performance by Mathis as Cherubino is available on an excellent DVD from the Salzburg Festival of 1966, with the Vienna Philharmonic under Bohm, Ingvar Wixell, Claire Watson, Reri Grist, and Walter Berry.
Mathis' part of Susanna in Sull'aria...che soave zeffiretto, a duet from The Marriage of Figaro, with the German soprano Gundula Janowitz, features prominently in the film The Shawshank Redemption. |