When the audience takes a singer to their hearts, it is often not only because of their vocal skills, but also because this person on stage embodies a type in their appearance and voice that reflects the spirit of their time. On 1 February 1963, when Edith Mathis made her debut at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, many of the audience members may have been thinking of Audrey Hepburn, who had recently established a new, girlish female ideal with films such as Breakfast at Tiffany's and Roman Holiday. Because Mathis, who joined the Deutsche Oper ensemble after an initial career stop in Cologne with her appearance as Zerlina in DON GIOVANNI, not only embodied this ideal of girlish, at once high-spirited and vulnerable innocence visually, with large dark eyes, short dark hair and delicate appearance – the Swiss soprano also had exactly the right voice for young opera women like Susanna in LE NOZZE DI FIGARO, Sophie in DER ROSENKAVALIER and Ännchen in DER FREISCHÜTZ. Edith Mathis mastered all these roles with unaffected elegance, her expressive range extending from mercurial vivacity to the touching sadness of Mozart's Pamina, another of her signature roles. It is easy to understand why Edith Mathis became a favourite with audiences not only in Berlin in the 1960s, but also quickly made a name for herself internationally, with conductors such as Karajan and Böhm repeatedly promoting her. The Deutsche Oper Berlin was able to keep the young world star until 1971 – Mathis only returned to her former home at the end of the 1980s to sing Pamina. But it is not only these 170 evenings that connect Edith Mathis with the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Her work at this house is also documented by some recordings that are still considered standard today, in particular Mozart's LE NOZZE DI FIGARO under Karl Böhm and Henze's DER JUNGE LORD

Edith Mathis died in her adopted home of Salzburg shortly before her 87th birthday. Deutsche Oper Berlin will honour her memory.