Turkish-German mezzo-soprano Deniz Uzun is a graduate of Bloomington’s Jacobs School of Music/ Indiana University and was a recent winner of the Elizabeth Connel Prize 2022 and the Eva Marton Prize 2021. She was a Member of the Young Artist Program of the Bavarian State Opera.

Deniz is a former member of the ensemble of Opernhaus Zürich and Komische Oper Berlin, where her roles included Sonyetka in Lady Macbeth of Mzensk, Krista in Vec Makropulos, Bradamante in Alcina, Emilia in Otello, Olga in Eugene Onegin, Ino in Semele, Page in Salome, Lucilla in La scala di seta, Meg Page in Falstaff and Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte.

Throughout the course of her career Deniz has worked with conductors such as Fabio Luisi, Ádám Fischer, Franz Welser-Möst, Nello Santi, Simone Young, Oksana Lyniv, Kirill Petrenko, Vladimir Jurowski, Jakup Hrůša, Jérémie Rhorer, Vasily Petrenko, Markus Poschner, Gianandrea Noseda and William Christie, as well as with directors such as Barrie Kosky, Calixto Bieito, Robert Carsen, Andreas Homoki, Dmitri Tcherniakov, Krzysztof Warlikowski and Marie-Ève Signeyrole.

Deniz proudly made her debut with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchester in Verdi’s Requiem under the baton of Franz Welser-Möst and with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra in Mendelssohn’s Drei geistliche Gesänge under the baton of Sir Andrew Davis; with the MÁV Symphony Orchestra in Elgar’s Sea Pictures under the baton of Róbert Farkas; as well as in Die Fledermaus as Orlofsky at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genova under the baton of Fabio Luisi and as Una Donna in Nono's Intolleranza 1960 as the season opening at Komische Oper Berlin.

Highlights in previous seasons have included: her debut at Müpa Budapest as Waltraute in Götterdämmerung under the baton of Ádám Fischer; title roles such as Dido in Dido and Aeneas at Teatro Massimo Palermo, Carmen at the Landestheater Salzburg, Mascagni's Zanetto in a semi-staged concert series in Switzerland, Hänsel in Hänsel and Gretel, L’Enfant in L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, Ronja in Ronja die Räubertochter, Jacob in Evers' Gold! as well as Zelim in Vivaldi's La Verità in Cimento at the Opernhaus Zürich. In the past seasons she also partecipated in the season's opening of the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari as Rubria in a new production of Boito's Nerone as well as in the celebrated Barrie Kosky's production of Eugene Onegin at the Komische Oper Berlin.

Passionate in the Lied- and concert genre, Deniz performed also at the revived Festival Capuchos 2023 in Portugal alongside pianist David Santos with songs by Berlioz, Brahms, Korngold, Berg, Marx, A. Mahler, Montsalvage and Gershwin. In the season 20/21 she gave three recitals accompanied by pianist Yulia Levin titled „Opera goes Folk“ with songs by Ravel, Schostakovic, Rodrigo and Kodaly as part of the Zurich Opera House’s alternative program.

In the past Deniz has performed a wide range of repertoire for mezzo-soprano and contralto such as Florence Pike in Britten's Albert Herring at Bayerische Staatsoper, Lola in Cavalleria Rusticana at the Jurmala Music Festival in Latvia, Isabella in L’Italiana in Algeri, Ruggiero in Alcina and Gertrude in Hänsel and Gretel with Indiana University Opera and Ballet, Annina in La Traviata and Isabella in L'Italiana in Algeri for children at Baden Baden Festspielhaus, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with Danish Radio Symphony, Cyprus Symphony Orchestra and Irish National Symphony Orchestra, Page in Salome with Dallas Symphony, Third Maid in Elektra at Salzburger Festspiele and Isaura in Tancredi at the Festival de Beaune.

Highlights in Deniz’ 24/25 season include a return to the Dallas Symphony as Fricka and Waltraute in the Ring Cycle; Pikovaya Dama at the Teatro Regio in Turin; Les Dialogues des Carmélites at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice and La Traviata and Rigoletto at the Tiroler Festspiele Erl.

November 2024