Soprano Elbenita Kajtazi, a native of Mitrovica, Republic of Kosovo, has already performed in some of Europe’s most important opera houses. She studied at the University of Prishtina, Faculty of Arts in Kosovo. From there she moved to Germany where her life totally changed and took a great direction.
In March 2018, she won the Audience Prize and the 3rd prize at the first ever Glyndebourne Opera Cup. Previous awards include the first prize of the Riccardo Zandonai Competition and the first prize in the Spiros Argiris Sarzana Festival Competition in Italy, 2014.
Within just four years, Kajtazi has gone from being one of the youngest members of the Young Artist Program at Deutsche Oper Berlin, to becoming a member of Aalto-Musiktheater in Essen, and to joining the ensemble of Hamburg State Opera in the 2018/19 season, with several commitments for leading roles. In the same season, she appeared as Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier at Teatro Municipal de Santiago, sang Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel in Essen and Pamina from Die Zauberflöte at Semperoper Dresden.
In the 2019/20 season, Kajtazi made her debut as Nannetta from the opera Falstaff at Staatsoper Hamburg a production directed by Calixto Bieito streamed live at the ARTE Opera Season. During the season 2020/21 Kajtazi was supposed to sing the roles of Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro in Hamburg which she had already debuted with great success one season before at the same opera house under the baton of Riccardo Minasi, as well as Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel, Marzelline in Fidelio, Musetta in La Bohème, but because of the Corona situation these performances were all canceled. Despite these difficult circumstances in the summer of 2020 she made her debut at Opéra National de Bordeaux as Violetta in La Traviata directed by Pierre Rambert achieving great success. Unfortunately her debut as Adina in L’Elisir d’Amore at the Glyndebourne Festival in summer 2020 was canceled, too, but luckily Kajtazi will sing this role in the season of 2023.
From 2014 to 2016, Kajtazi held a Young Artist fellowship at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Within the context of this engagement, she sang Frasquita in Carmen, Gianetta in L’elisir d’amore, Papagena and Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Annina in La Traviata, Anna in Nabucco, Shepherd in Tannhäuser, Bianca in La Rondine, Sandmännchen and Taumännchen in Hänsel und Gretel, Voice from Above in Don Carlos, Frantík and Grasshopper in The Cunning Little Vixen, First Elf in Die ägyptische Helena, Fifth Maid in Elektra‚ and Contessa Ceprano in Rigoletto. In the same season Kajtazi started to work with the singing teacher Caroline Isabel Merz, a collaboration that lasts till today.
In October 2015, Kajtazi was heard as Bianca in La Rondine with the Münchner Rundfunkorchester, performing at Prinzregententheater Munich. In Autumn 2016, she sang concerts of Pulcinella as well as Musetta in Scènes de la vie de bohème, both at the Grand Théâtre de Genève.
In Summer 2016, Kajtazi made her Salzburg Festival debut as a member of the Young Singers Project, performing alongside Plácido Domingo and the Münchner Rundfunkorchester as Crobyle in Massenet’s Thaïs. As a young artist she was part of some very important masterclasses with great artists like Christa Ludwig, Thomas Hampson, Ermonela Jaho and Malcolm Martineau. She is looking forward to go back to Salzburg in summer 2021 to sing Mozart, Beethoven and Haydn alongside Riccardo Minasi with the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg.
As of the 2016/17 season, she joined the ensemble of the Aalto-Musiktheater in Essen. Here, she has had the opportunity to make important role debuts, including performances of Adina, Pamina, Violetta in La Traviata, Liu in Turandot, Gretel, Musetta in La Bohème, Adele in Die Fledermaus, and Annina in Eine Nacht in Venedig. Kajtazi’s favorite composer is Mozart and she is really looking forward to sing Contessa from Le Nozze di Figaro at Theater Erfurt in the season 2021/2022 as well as Manon in the opera by Massenet, Micaela in Carmen, Nannetta in Falstaff, Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel and Pamina in Die Zauberflöte at Staatsoper Hamburg.
