Described as a "lirico-spinto soprano of extraordinary skill" for her debut as Puccini's Madama Butterfly, Chinese-American soprano Heather Engebretson Čiča is known throughout Europe as a "phenomenal singing actor" with "innate sense of phrasing and touching intensity" and voice of "penetrating power." In the 2024-2025 season, Heather made role debuts as Gutrune in Götterdämmerung and Ortlinde in Walküre in Theatre Basel's new Ring Cycle, directed by Benedikt von Peter. She also sang Micaëla in Carmen for Theater Basel, where she was a member of the solo ensemble for the season, and performed the title role of Madama Butterfly at Theater Koblenz's open air festival, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni for Theater Bielefield, and Mimi in La bohème for Theater Münster. She also joined Duke University School of Music and the University of Alabama School of Music for a masterclass and Liederabend. In the upcoming season, Heather will reprise her acclaimed Madama Butterfly in her house debut for Grand Théâtre du Genève, will sing in her first new production with the Royal Ballet and Opera Covent Garden as Kristina in Věc Makropulos, and debut Lady Macbeth in Macbeth in a new production for Theater Basel. 

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Ms. Engebretson’s repertoire encompasses over forty-five operatic roles. Recent highlights include debuts in the title roles of Manon Lescaut for Theater Klagenfurt and Káťa Kabanová with Theater Bielefeld, the title role in Salome with Theater Basel, Theater Winterthur, and Theater Luzern, and her house debut with Oper Graz as Violetta in Peter Konwitschny’s production of La traviata. Ms. Engebretson has longstanding relationships with Staatsoper Wiesbaden (Elsa in Lohengrin, Liù in Turandot, Micaëla in Carmen, Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, title role in Alcina, Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Violetta in La traviata, Lucy in Der Dreigroschenoper, Fiordiligi in Cosi fan tutte, Musetta in La bohème, Oscar in Un ballo in maschera, Woglinde in Götterdämmerung, Falke/Hüter in Die Frau ohne Schatten, the title role in Orfeo ed Euridice), Oper Frankfurt (Cio-Cio San in Madama Butterfly, Gänsemagd in Königskinder, Sophie in Werther, La Contessa in Le nozze di Figaro), Deutsche Oper Berlin (the Heroines in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Woglinde in Das Rheingold, Königen der Nacht in Der Zauberflöte), and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden (Sophie in Werther, Waldvogel in Siegfried, Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro).

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Other credits include Mimì in La bohème, Donna Anna and Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Liù in Turandot, Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, the title roles of Alcina and Tytania, and Ascagne in Les Troyens, with companies including Komische Oper Berlin, Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, l'Opéra Royal de Wallonie Liège, Opera Kassel, West Green House Festival Opera, Opera Stuttgart, and Staatsoper Hamburg. Before beginning her freelance career, Heather was a member of the solo ensembles of Hamburg, Wiesbaden, and Hannover.

 

In concert, Heather recently gave a Liederabend, Wagner’s Forebears and Heirs, at the Richard Wagner Museum Bayreuth with Lukas Rommelspacher in the concert hall of Richard Wagner's home, Haus Wahnfried, on the piano gifted to Wagner by Franz Liszt. She has been seen in concert and recital with Städtische Musikverein Gütersloh, Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, Staatsoper Wiesbaden, the West Green House Festival Opera, and AIDS Stiftung in Berlin, and has sung as the soprano soloist in Beethoven’s 

Symphony no. 9.

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(Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, Hamburger Symphoniker, Xi’an Symphony Orchestra in China),War Requiem (Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, Nationaltheater Mannheim), Mahler's Eighth Symphony (Dresdener Philharmonie, Hamburg Elbphilharmonie), Mahler's Second Symphony (Moscow Symphony Orchestra), Carmina Burana (Dortmund Philharmoniker, Münchner Symphoniker), and Handel's Messiah (Dresdener Philharmonie).

 

Ms. Engebretson was nominated for a Golden Mask Award for her interpretation of the title role in Alcina with the Bolshoi Theatre, and won first place in the Savonlinna Opera Festival International Singing Competition. Ms. Engebretson holds a Master of Music from the Juilliard School. While at Juilliard she made her Carnegie Hall Stern Auditorium debut, her Saint Louis Symphony debut (Königin der Nacht), and her first performances of the soprano solo in Verdi's Requiem in Nürnberg. Engebretson's undergraduate studies were completed at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

 

Ms. Engebretson hails from Tuscaloosa, Alabama (Roll Tide!) She is a citizen of the United States but has spent the past eleven years living in central Germany, where she maintains a home with her husband and her German Shepherd dog Thyra. She enjoys a thriving secondary career as ball-thrower and anthropomorphist.