Soprano Chen Reiss has established a strongly-acclaimed and distinctive career, enchanting audiences with “one of the most perfect Strauss voices one could wish for” (Classical Source), “a voice of silver brightness and clarity” (Bachtrack) with “immaculately produced and enticing tone matched by superb musicianship” (Opera News, USA).

Born in Israel, she came to prominence as a member of the ensemble of the Bavarian State Opera under the music directorship of Zubin Mehta, and has for a number of years been a resident artist at the Vienna State Opera. She has also performed leading parts at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Teatro alla Scala, Semperoper Dresden, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Netherlands Opera, Wiener Festwochen, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Opera Company of Philadelphia and the Israeli Opera.

Recent highlights include Marzelline in a new production of Beethoven’s Leonore (the original version of Fidelio) and her role debuts as Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro) and Aennchen (Der Freischutz) at the Vienna State Opera where she also returned in signature roles including Ginevra (Ariodante) and Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), Zerlina and Ginevra at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, her role debut in the title role of Mozart’s Zaide in her debut at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, her debut at Teatro Real in Madrid and Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona as Ginevra (Ariodante) under William Christie, and her role debut as Liu (Turandot) with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

She appeared in concert with signature repertoire including performances of Mahler’s Second and Fourth symphonies with the Munich Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Zubin Mehta, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Daniele Gatti, and the Philharmonia Orchestra under Lahav Shani, as well as at an Israel Philharmonic gala performance to mark Zubin Mehta’s farewell after 50 years as the orchestra’s Music Director. She debuted with the Berlin Radio Symphony under Vladimir Jurowski (Haydn Die Jahreszeiten), the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Antonio Pappano (Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem), the Czech Philharmonic under Semyon Bychkov (Mahler Symphony No.4 and Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem) and the Filarmonica della Scala (Mozart arias with Zubin Mehta), and sang Strauss’s Four last Songs for the first time with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia under Carlo Rizzi. She also guested with the Orchestre National de France with Berg’s Sieben fruhe lieder and Lulu Suite, Mozart’s Coronation Mass with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, and Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France.

Highlights of this season and beyond include the title role in Cavalli’s La Calisto at Teatro alla Scala, Milan, her first performances of Dvorak’s Stabat Mater with the Orchestra National de France and Mahler’s Das Klagende Lied with the MDR-Sinfonieorchester Leipzig, and visits to the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony, Tonkuenstler-Orchester, Beethoven-Orchester Bonn and Orchestre Philharmonique de Liege, in repertoire including Strauss Lieder and Bruckner’s Te Deum and Mass in F minor. She follows recent CD releases of ‘Immortal Beloved’ a recording of Beethoven arias and scenas with the Academy of Ancient Music for Onyx Classics, and Mozart’s ‘Ch’io mi scordi di te’ and Beethoven’s Terzetto with Thomas Roesner and the Beethoven Philharmonie for Odradek, with a disc of orchestral lieder and scenas of Fanny Hensel and Felix Mendelssohn with the Jewish Chamber Orchestra of Munich. The latest addition her discography will be a CD of Mahler 4th Symphony with Semyon Bychkov and the Czech Philharmonic, to be released by Pentatone Music in Spring 2022.

She is a regular guest with distinguished ensembles and institutions including the BBC Proms, the Salzburg, Schleswig-Holstein, George Enescu, Rheingau and Lucerne Festivals, the Vienna Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Berlin, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Concerto Köln, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Orchestre de Paris, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Dallas Symphonies, as well as in Carnegie Hall, Vienna’s Musikverein, Wigmore Hall, Philharmonie Berlin, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Laeiszhalle Hamburg and Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. She counts among her collaborators such conductors as Daniel Barenboim, Christoph Eschenbach, Daniel Harding, Manfred Honeck, Marek Janowski, Paavo Järvi, Adam Fischer, Omer Meir Wellber, Donald Runnicles, Christian Thielemann and Franz Welser-Möst.

Chen Reiss’s operatic repertoire includes: Gilda (Rigoletto), Adina (L’elisir d’amore), Amina (La Sonnambula), Nannetta (Falstaff), Zdenka (Arabella), Marie (La fille du régiment), Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Ilia (Idomeneo), Konstanze (Die Entfuehrung aus dem Serail), Gretel (Hansel und Gretel), Euridice (Orfeo ed Euridice) and the title role in Janacek’s The Cunning Little Vixen. Her concert repertoire includes the sacred works, concert scenes and arias of Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert and Schumann, Rossini’s and Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Gorecki’s and Bernstein’s 3rd symphonies, and the songs of Mahler, Zemlinsky, Berg and Richard Strauss.

With the Vienna Philharmonic, she was the guest soloist at a gala concert for the 30th-anniversary celebrations of Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, and with the Orchestre National de France, she took part in the 2019 Bastille Day ‘Concert de Paris’, televised live from Paris’s iconic Eiffel Tower. In December 2014 Chen Reiss was invited to sing for Pope Francis during the Christmas Mass, which was broadcast worldwide. She has recorded a wide range of repertoire including a disc of Mozart, Salieri, Haydn and Cimarosa arias, and a recital “Le Rossignol et la Rose” presenting a romantic compilation of songs with distinguished pianist Charles Spencer (both for Onyx Classics), roles in complete recordings of Die Fledermaus (Capriccio), Don Giovanni and Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem (Helicon) and Lehar‘s Das Fürstenkind (CPO), and DVD releases of Fauré’s Requiem with Orchestre de Paris conducted by Paavo Järvi, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Accompanied by the Berlin Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle, she sang the soundtrack to Tom Tykwer’s film “Perfume: the Story of a Murderer”.