„…her luxurious soprano, bright, classy and effortless…”
Slovak soprano Slávka Zámečníková is one of the most promising singers of her generation, inspiring great expectations since her successes at the State Operas in Vienna and Berlin, at the Opéra National de Paris, at the San Francisco Opera and as a prize-winner at the Moniuszko Competition, Neue Stimmen Competition and Belvedere Competition in 2019, and justifies the greatest hopes.
Since the season 2020/2021, the center of her attention has been Vienna State Opera, where she delighted audience as Norina (Don Pasquale), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Micaela and Frasquita (Carmen), Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Nannetta (Falstaff), Musetta (La Bohème), Sophie (Werther), Marzelline ( Fidelio), Servilia (La clemenza di Tito) and aroused public notice as Poppea (L’incoronazione di Poppea) and Euridice (L’Orfeo), both in a new production of Monteverdi’s trilogy under Pablo Heras-Casado and Concentus Musicus Wien. She rounded this off by singing the soprano part in the ballet premieres of Mahler’s 4th Symphony and Haydn’s Jahreszeiten. She was nominated for the Austrian Music Theatre Prize 2022 for the role of Poppea in the Vienna State Opera.
This season in Vienna State Opera includes the premiere of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, where she makes her Pamina debut and she is again going to appear in Le nozze di Figaro as Susanna. The highlights of this season are her debut as Gilda (Rigoletto) at the Opéra National de Paris, her first appearance in Semperoper Dresden as Musetta (La Bohème) and her debut at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein as Prima Donna in the premiere of Donizetti’s Viva la mamma. She is also going to appear in concert with Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, with the Beethoven’s 9th symphony at the Musikverein Wien and with a song recital at the Slovak Philharmonic.
Highlights of recent seasons include her remarkable US debut as Adina (L’elisir d’amore) at the San Francisco Opera, debut as Donna Anna in the new production of Don Giovanni under Daniel Barenboim at the Staatsoper unter den Linden in Berlin, where she also sang her first Nannetta (Falstaff) under Zubin Mehta, title role of Poppea (L’incoronazione di Poppea) and Dircé (Medée), as well as her celebrated debut at the Opéra National de Paris as Musetta (La Bohème). She was part of the Maifestspiele at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden as Contessa (Le nozze di Figaro) and Ilia (Idomeneo), both in new productions in 2019 and 2021. She appeared in Staatsoper Stuttgart as Nannetta (Falstaff), in the Slovak National Theatre as Pamina (Die Zabuerflöte) and Musetta (La Bohème) and sang her first Sophie (Werther) in the Prague National Theatre. Holding a scholarship of Liz Mohn Kultur- und Musikstiftung during the seasons 2017/18 and 2018/19, she was a member of the International Opera Studio of Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, achieving successes as First Lady (Die Zauberflöte), Miss Jessel (Turn of the Screw), Falke (Die Frau ohne Schatten), and as Chasseresse (Hyppolite et Aricie) under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle.
Concerts have brought her to the Elbphiharmonie Hamburg, the Philharmonie de Paris, the Oviedo Filarmonia, the Vaduz Classic Festival, the Prague Spring Festival, the Czech Philharmonic, the Rheingau Musik Festival, the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Galina Wischnewskaja Opera Festival in Sotschi, as well as the Hvorostovsky Festival in Krasnoyarsk, etc..
The soprano has been awarded Third Prize at the prestigious international competition Neue Stimmen 2019 in Gütersloh as well as at the renowned International Hans Gabor Belvedere Competition in Villach. She has also been awarded Second Prize at the greatest Polish competition – International Stanislaw Moniuszko Competition in Teatr Wielki in Warsaw and at the German national competition – Bundeswettbewerb Gesang Berlin 2018. She received First Prizes in the International Competition Accademia Belcanto 2018 in Graz, in the International Antonín Dvořák Competition 2016 in Carlsbad, in the International Mikulas Schneider-Trnavsky Competition 2017 as well as in the International Iuventus Canti Competition 2015 in Slovakia. In the summer 2016, she received Third Prize, the Audience Award and the Daegu Opera House Award in the Otto Edelmann International Competition in Vienna as well as a Special Award in the Concorso lirico Internationale di Portofino in Italy.
Slávka Zámečníková graduated from the Bratislava Conservatory and finished her Master degree and Konzertexamen degree at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin under the tutelage of Anna Samuil. In addition, she has participated in various master-classes and workshops with renowned KS Anna Tomowa-Sintow, KS Brigitte Fassbaender, KS Francisco Araiza, Patricia McCaffrey, Neil Shicoff, Renée Morloc, Thomas Quasthoff, Gregory Lamar and Luciana D’Intino. She has also been mentored by Deborah Polaski, KS Julia Varády, Matthias Samuil and Wolfram Rieger.
In addition, she is a scholarship recipient of the Junge Musiker Stiftung and the Deutschlandstipendium.