Trivia

She received the Bavarian Order of Merit in 1999.

She also sang at the Royal Opera House in London with Otto Klemperer and first sang one of her signature roles for the reopening of the Theater an der Wien, the Queen of the Night in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, conducted by Herbert von Karajan.

Besides her very successful stage career, she also achieved great popularity during the 1960s and 1970s when she appeared in many operetta films such as Die Zirkusprinzessin or Wiener Blut, and musical television shows.

Her signature roles were the Queen of the Night in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte and Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss.

She created the role of Scolatella in the revised version of Henze's König Hirsch in Kassel in 1963, and Autonoe in his Die Bassariden at the 1966 Salzburg Festival.

Hallstein appeared as a guest to important opera houses in the world, including Deutsche Oper Berlin, Hamburg State Opera, La Fenice in Venice, and the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.

Her voice was well focused and she was capable of commanding dramatic phrasing and emotional expression. In opera, she sang some of the most demanding roles in the coloratura Fach.

After initial doubts, teaching became her new passion and she decided to retire from stage in the 80's and concentrate on the young talents.

She received the title of a Bavarian Kammersängerin in 1968 and the Federal Cross of Merit in 1979 and that order's First Class in 1996.

As with her contemporaries Erika Koeth and Anneliese Rothenberger, she assailed music ranging from Mozart's most demanding coloratura arias to an array of lieder, and beer barrels full of operetta. She didn't record the many new works she premiered by Henze, Egk, and Milhaud -- but she spent lots of time in the studio warbling away in the three basics: opera, operetta, and lieder.

She also devoted herself to the lied, giving recitals in Germany and abroad.

After engagements at the Theater Basel and the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich she made her Salzburg Festival debut in 1960 as Rosina in Mozart's La finta semplice.

She created roles including Scolatella in Henze's König Hirsch.

Her repertoire of around 60 roles included Mozart's Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro and the title role in his Zaide, Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto and the title role of his La traviata, and Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss.

Ingeborg Hallstein is a German coloratura soprano, known for the purity and range of her voice.

In 1979, Hallstein was appointed professor at the Musikhochschule Würzburg where she taught until 2006.

She has given master classes in Germany and abroad and is a sought-after juror for international singing competitions.

Hallstein studied with her mother, Elisabeth Hallstein, and debuted at the opera house in Passau, Germany, in 1957 as Musetta in Puccini's La bohème.

An exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon resulted in numerous recordings of operas, operettas and songs. These recordings display an artist who had an uncanny sense of sophistication in terms of ornamentation and a fearless bravura approach to the most daring virtuoso pieces.

She had an international career as a guest singer on the opera houses of Europe and was a member of the Bavarian State Opera from 1961 to 1973.