Janice Baird is one of today's leading dramatic sopranos. It is above all with her powerful portrayals of the great Wagner and Strauss heroines that the attractive American has been brought to the eager attention of the international opera scene.

An extremely gifted and intelligent singing actress, Miss Baird's combination of vocal prowess and sensitive as well as expressive acting makes her one of the most powerful and intensely expressive performers on the operatic stage today.

Critically acclaimed as a charismatic singer and actor; Janice Baird enjoyed great successes  as Isolde in the season 2006/2007 in Rome, Hamburg and Toulouse. She also gave her highly praised rôle debut as the Dyer's Wife (Färberin) in Strauss'  Die Frau Ohne Schatten in Toulouse autumn 2006. She was the greatly acclaimed Elektra in Rome, Essen, Seville, Nantes, Semperoper Dresden, Toulouseand Zürich. In autumn of 2004 Miss Baird was the celebrated Ortrud in Lohengrin in Bilbao; Ariadne in Trieste and Senta in Santiago De Chile. She sang Ortrud in 2006 in Semperoper Dresden.

She was the Brünnhilde In Geneva, Catania And Toulouse, Venice, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart, Gothenburg, Copenhagen, Sevilla, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Birmingham and Marseille. She has received numerous nominations for singer of the year from the prestigious opera magazine Opernwelt for her interpretations of Brünnhilde.

Her most often sung role is Salome. She debuted as Salome at the Vienna State Opera, a role which she interpreted numerous times at the State Opera of Berlin. She also sang Salome at Leipzig Opera, Hannover for the expo 2000, Tokyo, Genua, Palermo and in 2007 in Paris at the Salle Pleyel.

She sang Turandot in Strasbourg and Avignon, was Minnie in La Fanciulla del West in Tel Aviv, Verdi's Lady Macbeth in Mexico City and the State Opera of Berlin and Abigaille in Nabucco in a live televised broadcast from Mexico City. Janice Baird's repertoire also includes the Leonore/Fidelio, which she has performed at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Avignon and in the Gewandhaus Leipzig in a televised performance for the MDR Rundfunk.

anice Baird was born in New York City in a musically influenced family. Her mother was a singer and her father a voice teacher. She studied music, flute, singing and also acting at HB Actors Studio in New York City. Miss Baird's first engagements were in Germany where she carefully developed her rich mezzo soprano moving then to soprano repertoire with great success. Through master classes with Birgit NILSSON and intensive private study with Astrid VARNAY with whom she studied all the major Wagner and Strauss roles, she then added the highly dramatic repertoire with which she was able to lay the foundation for her international career. As an American who was raised and studied both in Europe and America, she speaks German, English, Italian, and Spanish. Janice Baird currently lives in Berlin, Germany and in Andalucia, Spain.

Her concert appearances have been numerous and her repertoire includes: Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder, Strauss Vier letzte Lieder, Benjamin Britten's War Requiem, Mahler's 8th Symphonie, Ah! Perfido and the Ninth Symphonie of Beethoven, Mahler's Rückert Lieder, Les Nuits d'Été and La Mort de Cléopâtre of Berlioz, Ravel's Shéhérazade, Wozzeck Bruchstücke und die sieben frühe Lieder von Berg, Zemlinsky's Lyrische Sinfonie and the Verdi Requiem.

Janice Baird's next appearances include: Isolde in Hamburg under the direction of Simone Young; open air Wagner Concert in Berlin Gendarmenmarkt,  Elektra in Bilbao, Strasbourg and Seattle,  Elektra and Turandot in Deutsche Oper Berlin, Strauss Concert in Garmisch-Partenkirchen under the direction of Lothar Zagrosek,  Brünnhilde in Die Walküre in Zürich under the direction of Phillipe Jordan; Wozzeck/Marie  and Minnie/La Fanciulla del West in Rome, Turandot in Athens and Janice Baird is the new Brünnhilde in the Seattle Ring and in the new Ring in Opéra National de Paris.