Gabriel Lechner – Mourning Opera Star from Baden

The world of music mourns Gabriel Lechner. The opera and concert singer, born in 1961, who lived in Baden am Pfarplatz, died unexpectedly on the night of November 28th after a long and serious illness.

Lechner studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna and passed diploma exams in vocal training subjects, song and oratory as well as musical and dramatic performance with distinction. She has been awarded with “Mario del Monaco” in Italy, “Opera en belcanto” in Belgium and “Dr. Luis Segal” in Chile.

The international breakthrough came in 1986 with a stand-in as Amelia in “Ballo in Maschera” at the Vienna State Opera with Luciano Pavarotti as partner and Claudio Abbado as conductor. The show was broadcast live across Europe. After international engagements and as a member of the Vienna State Opera, Graz Opera and Zurich State Opera as a young and dramatic soprano in opera roles by Verdi, Puccini, Wagner and Richard Strauss, she has recently worked as a freelancer. . She has appeared in all international opera houses and concert halls and has appeared at important festivals such as the Salzburg Festival, Vienna Festival, Carinthian Summer, Prague Spring and Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

Lechner works with more than 120 conductors, including Abbado, Barenboim, Bernstein, von Dohnanyi, Karajan, Luisi, Maazel, Mehta, Sinopoli, Thielemann, and Welser-Möst. She has also performed under directors Harry Kupfer, Ruth Berghaus, Nicholas Lenhoff and Frank Corsaro.

Gabe, we cannot and will never forget your rich experience, your critical thinking, your sexy sense of humor and your kindness.”
Daniella Valli

Since 2004, she has held University Professor of Solo Vocals at the Institute for Singing and Musical Theatre, University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. Lechner was also a juror in international singing competitions and worked as class principal, including annually in Baden. Her teaching method was the Italian bel canto singing style combined with the Viennese vocal tradition. Its motto was: “Through experience, personal experience and a sense of humor, give students love and the artistic and musical foundations for a successful start in a brilliant career.”

Fellow singers like Daniela Valli are “completely speechless” about their deaths. The Voice Academy Baden, where Lechner was a lecturer, wrote: “Gabi, your rich experience, your critical thinking, your good humor and your kindness we can and never want to forget. May the patience with which you endured your serious illness be an example to all of us.