BIOGRAPHY
Greek-Cypriot soprano Elena Patsalidou made her debut at the Semperoper Dresden in 2022/23 as Jente in the new production Peer Gynt, a role she reprised at the same opera house in 2024/25. Highlights of the 2025/26 season include her return to the Dresden Frauenkirche with Mozart’s celebrated solo motet Exsultate, jubilate, while also taking on the soprano part in Haydn’s Nelson Mass with the Chursächsische Philharmonie under the direction of Matthias Grünert. Elena Patsalidou will also make her role debut as Zerlina in Don Giovanni with VOCA International Opera and will once again appear as Pamina in The Magic Flute with Opera Classica. A special highlight of the season is her debut with the Thomanerchor Leipzig and the Gewandhausorchester under the direction of Andreas Reize at the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig.​​
​
Her operatic engagements include, among others, the roles of Musetta (La Bohème), Valencienne (The Merry Widow), Clorinda (La Cenerentola), Serpina (The Maid turned Mistress), Frasquita (Carmen), Princess Mi (The Land of Smiles), Barbarina (The Marriage of Figaro), Echo (Ariadne on Naxos), Sand- and Taumännchen (Hansel and Gretel), Diana (Orpheus in the Underworld), as well as the title role in Dido and Aeneas. In the 2023/24 season, she made her role debut as Giannetta (The elixir of love) at Braunfels Castle alongside John Osborn as Nemorino, as well as her debut as Papagena (The Magic Flute) at Friedenstein Castle with the Thüringen Philharmonie as part of the Friedenstein Open-Air Festival.​
In addition to her operatic activities, Elena Patsalidou also maintains an extensive concert and Lied repertoire. Her solo appearances in sacred music concerts at the Dresden Frauenkirche are a significant aspect of her artistic profile. She has sung, among others, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine, Mozart’s Coronation Mass, Haydn’s Paukenmesse, Saint-Saëns’ Oratorio de Noël, Fauré’s Requiem and Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater. As part of the Ars Augusta CD and video project Song of Hellas, she recorded a selection of Greek-themed songs by F. Schubert, J. Coulthard and G. Kasassoglou in 2021. She also regularly performs an extensive Schubert song program with the ensemble Cerca Dio.
​
As a soloist, she has collaborated with various theatres and organizations, including Opera Classica, Landesbühnen Sachsen, Schönebeck Operetta Summer, Mittelsächsisches Theater, König Albert Theater, Kyrenia Opera, Nicosia Municipal Theatre and Opernwerkstatt am Rhein. She has also performed in numerous concerts and productions with renowned orchestras such as Staatskapelle Dresden, Jena Philharmonic, Ensemble Frauenkirche Dresden, Leipzig Symphony Orchestra, Dresden State Operetta Orchestra, Cyprus Symphony Orchestra, Mitteldeutsche Kammerphilharmonie, Dresden Symphony Orchestra, Lausitz Baroque Ensemble, Musica Sancta Ensemble, Löcknitz Mandolin Orchestra and Rhein-Main Philharmonic.​
​
Elena Patsalidou has performed at well-known festivals, such as the Silesian Music Festival, the International Kypria Festival, the Festival of Sacred Music of Patmos, Gegen den Strom in Bad Ems, Kommen und Gehen in Zittau and the Rheinfelden Castle Festival.
​
On tour she has performed in Italy (Basilica di San Marco, Venice), Austria (Altes Rathaus Vienna, Congress Center Villach), Armenia (Jerevan Opera Theater), Serbia (Yugoslav Drama Theater Belgrade) and Poland (Zdrojowy Teatr Animacji). At the Salzburg Easter Festival 2015 she sang in Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci with the Staatsopernchor Dresden under the direction of Christian Thielemann. In collaboration with the Bavarian ensemble I Virtuosi Ambulanti, she performed in 2020 as a soloist in the exclusive project Belcanto in Bayern in Munich.
​
She has worked with various conductors such as Thomas Herzog, Jan Michael Horstmann, Markus Huber, Raoul Grüneis, Alkis Baltas and Stanley Ritchie. She received important artistic impulses from Professor KS Matthias Henneberg and through master classes with Emma Kirkby, Simone Kermes, Christophe Rousset, Walter Moore, Barbara Bonney and Janet Williams.
​
Elena Patsalidou discovered her passion for singing early on and followed her dream of performing internationally as an opera singer. She received a Bachelor's degree in Vocal Performance at the Ionian University of Corfu (class of Rosa Poulimenou) and a Master's degree in Opera at Dresden's Academy of Music Carl Maria von Weber in Germany (class of Christiane Junghanns).
​
She is a 2022 scholarship recipient from the Richard Wagner Association in Dresden. She was the 1st Prize winner at the 2019 Kyrenia Opera Vocal Competition and won 3rd prize at the 2013 International Giulio Perotti Vocal Competition. She was also a semi-finalist at the prestigious International Singing Competition Competizione dell' Opera 2019 in Sochi.