• featured young artist Wiener Konzerthaus 2025/2026 •

The Austrian soprano Verena Tranker has been praised by the press for her sparkling coloratura, virtuosic top notes, playful expressivity, and impressive stage presence, with which she deeply moves and enchants her audiences. Although still at the beginning of her career, she has already appeared at leading opera and concert venues such as MusikTheater an der Wien, the Tiroler Festspiele Erl, and the Musikverein Vienna, as well as at international festivals including Carinthian Summer, Varna Summer Festival, the Festival of Symphonic Music El Jem, and the Lehár Festival Bad Ischl.

In the 2025/26 season, Verena will make her debut at the Vienna Konzerthaus as an outstanding young artist and prizewinner of the Musica Juventutis concert series. She will also return to MusikTheater an der Wien (Bravissimo!) and to the Tiroler Festspiele Erl (Applause for the Brothers Strauss!), where she will appear alongside Jonas Kaufmann as Adele and perform the concert aria Frühlingsstimmenwalzer under the baton of General Music Director Asher Fisch (broadcast by ORF). Furthermore, she will be featured at the Filharmonia Podkarpacka in Rzeszów (Poland) in both the New Year’s Eve and New Year’s concerts with a program of opera and operetta highlights. In the summer of 2026, the young soprano will make her debut at the Sommerarena of Bühne Baden as Christel in Der Vogelhändler.

Highlights of the 2024/25 season include the staged performance Bravissimo! at MusikTheater an der Wien (excerpts from opera/operetta/musical, featuring roles such as Blondchen, Queen of the Night, Adele; directed by Sebastian Kranner); her appearance as Adele as well as the concert aria Frühlingsstimmenwalzer alongside Jonas Kaufmann at the Tiroler Festspiele Erl under the musical direction of GMD Asher Fisch (directed by Giulia Giammona); the leading role of Fantasca in Indigo and the Forty Thieves (J. Strauss) at the Johann Strauss Anniversary Festival 2025 in Vienna (artistic director: Roland Geyer, stage director: Anna Bernreitner); Adele in Die Fledermaus (J. Strauss) with Neue Operette Wien, including at the Ruhrfestspielhaus Recklinghausen; and Comtesse Anastasia in Die Csárdásfürstin (Kálmán), with performances at venues such as the Scharoun Theater Wolfsburg and the Festspielhaus Worms. A particular highlight was the concert tour to the International Festival of Symphonic Music El Jem 2025 (Tunisia), where she performed arias of Adele as well as the concert aria Frühlingsstimmenwalzer together with the Vienna State Opera Ball Orchestra in the historic Amphitheatre of El Jem. With the Frühlingsstimmenwalzer, she also opened the festive ceremony of the Carinthian Summer Festival 2025 (artistic director: Nadja Kayali), in addition to presenting a recital of English Baroque music, accompanied by Wolfgang Kogert on organ.

Past highlights include Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro (Mozart) with Westminster Opera London in France, Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel (Humperdinck) in Wiener Neudorf, as well as numerous roles in the role study program at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, such as Frasquita (Carmen, Bizet), Olympia (Les contes d’Hoffmann, Offenbach), Despina (Così fan tutte, Mozart), Pamina / First Lady / Papagena (Die Zauberflöte, Mozart), Zerlina (Don Giovanni, Mozart), Najade / Echo (Ariadne auf Naxos, R. Strauss), Belinda / First Witch (Dido and Aeneas, Purcell), and Ännchen (Der Freischütz, Weber).

Alongside her operatic work, Verena is a passionate concert, Lied, and Viennese song performer. In concert, she has appeared in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio as well as Schubert’s Mass in C major together with members of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra in Vienna. In June 2025, she celebrated her debut at the Radiokulturhaus Vienna in the concert Mythos Johann Strauss with the Savaria Symphony Orchestra and at the International Music Festival Varna Summer. Further concert highlights include Rossini’s Stabat Mater and the Zauberflötenmesse (Anonymous) with members of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra; Zelenka’s Miserere with Cappella Albertina Wien at the Jesuit Church Vienna under the direction of Sophia Khutsishvili; Bach’s Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen at the Lutheran City Church Vienna; Mendelssohn’s hymn Hör mein Bitten, Herr and Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu nostri under the direction of Johannes Hiemetsberger and Jordi Casals at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. She has also performed various masses by Haydn, Mozart, and Schubert at the Augustinerkirche Vienna, as well as excerpts from Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor at Göttweig Abbey. A particularly special occasion was her performance of the aria Et incarnatus est from Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor at the solemn Requiem for Pope Francis in Eisenstadt Cathedral.

A W A R D S

Verena Tranker is a multiple prizewinner of the international competition "200 JAHRE STRAUSS MUT-SPECIAL EDITION" in cooperation with the Gärtnerplatztheater Munich and the Johann Strauss Festival 2025 (Second Prize + two special engagement prizes from MusikTheater an der Wien & Johann Strauss Festival 2025).
In 2024, she also won the Musica Juventutis audition at the Vienna Konzerthaus, the support program of the Vienna Konzerthaus dedicated to advancing young, highly talented Austrian musicians and was recently honored with the title Ambassador of Music 2025.

She received her musical training at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (MDW) with Julia Bauer-Huppmann, at the Royal College of Music London with Janis Kelly, and at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna (MUK) with Wolfgang Dosch. She further refined her artistry in masterclasses at MusikTheater an der Wien with Chiara Cattani and Vasily Barkhatov, as well as with Richard Stokes, Susan Manoff, Adrian Eröd, KS Giacomo Aragall, Roger Vignoles, Anne le Bozec, and Valérie Guillorit. In 2024, she was also selected to participate in the prestigious Exzellenz-Labor Oper under the artistic direction of Hedwig Fassbender.