After receiving a bachelor's degree in Philosophy and Modern Languages from the University of Oxford, Uta Buchheister studied voice at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik „Hanns Eisler“ with Professor Brenda Mitchell. She attended the masterclasses of Christa Ludwig, Sena Jurinac and Ruth Berghaus and was a scholar of the „Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes“, the Ravinia Festival in Chicago and the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation. The first price at the Viennese competition „Das Schubertlied“ led to performances in some of the most prestigious lied venues in the world such as Wigmore Hall, London and Musikverein, Vienna.

For her „Béatrice" in Berlioz´ opera "Béatrice et Bénédict" with the European Union Opera, she was nominated „best newcomer" in the yearbook of Germany´s „Opernwelt" magazine. In recent years she has expanded her opera and musical theater repertoire with roles such as Rosina, Hänsel, Boulotte, Mrs Lovett, Suzuki and Cherubino and has appeared at numerous theatres throughout Germany.

Today her particular focus lies in contemporary chamber music and musical theatre. With pianist Martin Schneuing she forms a duo which focuses on programmes combining contemporary and earlier music.

Uta Buchheister has sung world premieres by Walter Zimmermann, Jakob Ullmann, Samuel Tramin, Leon Schidlowsky, Saed Haddad, Elena Mendoza and many others and has made recordings for several broadcasting companies as well as CDs. She has performed „14 Récitations pour voix seule“ by Georges Aperghis at the Staatsoper Berlin. It was the first fully staged production of this highly complex work and was received enthusiastically both by the public and the press. More recent appearances at Staatsoper Berlin include Savatore Sciarrino's "Macbeth" in a staging by Jürgen Flimm and Luigi Nono's "Guai ai gelidi mostri" with Ingo Metzmacher and the Ensemble Modern.

 

She is the founder of the "Karlsruher Salonoper", a company which focuses on the rediscovery of hidden musical theatre treasures of the 19th Century. For more on this project see here.