* En anglais uniquement
This noted mezzo soprano first began as a student of the flute in Detmold and then took up the study of voice in Hamburg with Judith Beckmann and attended master classes with
Christa Ludwig and
Hermann Prey.
In 1986,
Iris Vermillion won the first prize at the Bundeswettbewerb Gesang (German Song Competition) held in Berlin. She was then engaged at the
Staatstheater Braunschweig for two years, where she sang the roles of Sesto in
Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito, Dorabella in
Mozart's Così fan tutte, Octavian in
Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier, and Charlotte in
Massenet's Werther. In 1988, she appeared at the Deutsche Oper Berlin where she created the roles of Cherubino in
Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, Muse and Niklaus in Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffman, and the title role in Graun's Montezuma, and had particular successes singing in
Handel's Semele and in a concert presentation of the
Berlioz opera Romeo et Juliette in Paris. She has been a frequently requested guest at the great opera houses of the world and has worked with such notable conductors as
Georg Solti,
Daniel Barenboim,
Claudio Abbado,
Giuseppe Sinopoli,
Riccardo Chailly, and
René Jacobs.