Anja Silja began her career in Braunschweig with roles including Rossini’s Rosina, Strauss’ Zerbinetta and Bizet’s Micaëla. In 1958 she appeared at the Staatstheater in Stuttgart and Oper Frankfurt, where she came to Wieland Wagner’s attention. In 1960 she made her debut, as Senta, at Bayreuth, where she continued to appear there until he died. She also sang lead soprano roles in almost all his productions elsewhere in Europe. The extraordinary number of roles in her repertoire are astonishingly varied. Many operatic recordings, under the baton of most of the 20th century’s leading conductors, document her artistic achievements. Anja Silja was awarded the Bundesverdienstkreuz for her services to music and culture and the 2011 European Culture Prize. In recent years she has appeared in Vienna, Zurich, Barcelona, Berlin, Hamburg, New York, London, Paris, Aix-en-Provence and at the Glyndebourne Festival, singing roles including Janáček’s Kostelnicka in Jenufa and Emilia Marty in The Makropoulos Case, for which she was awarded the annual critics’ prize in England and a Grammy recording prize. Future plans include a new production at Oper Frankfurt in the 2013/14 season.