Vita

The coloratura soprano was raised in Tirana and embarked on her musical career at the age of 15. She pursued her studies at the Academy of Arts in Tirana, the Conservatorio di Verona, and finally at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen. In 2013, she earned her Master’s degree in Voice Performance with distinction under Prof. Rachel Robins. Additionally, she attended masterclasses with notable artists such as Olaf Bär, Andreas Homoki, Thomas Hampson, and Edita Gruberova.Her first operatic roles were performed with the Tirana Philharmonic, where she sang Funny in Il cambiale del matrimonio (G. Rossini) and Amor in Orfeo e Euridice (C. W. Gluck). Even before completing her studies, she was engaged as a stand-in for Mozart concert arias at the St. Pölten Festival.Following this, she joined the Opera Studio at the Musiktheater im Revier in Gelsenkirchen. Migena Gjata made her highly acclaimed debut as Flamina in Il mondo della luna (J. Haydn) with the Bochum Symphony Orchestra under Günther Albers. Further engagements included the role of Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos (R. Strauss) at the Konzerthaus Dortmund under the direction of Lothar Zagrosek, as well as the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute (W. A. Mozart) at the Theater Hagen under the baton of Bernard Steiner.Between 2013 and 2016, she performed at prestigious venues such as the Ruhr Triennale and the Heidenheim Opera Festival, and collaborated frequently with the Northwest German Philharmonic. In December 2014, she appeared in a televised Christmas concert broadcast by WDR. This was followed by guest appearances in Swiss cities, including Baden, Bad Aarau, and Chur. In 2015, she achieved notable success with recordings of virtuoso arias by Rossini, Puccini, and Donizetti for WDR, accompanied by the Funkhaus Orchestra, Cologne.From 2016 to 2018, her engagements expanded to include collaborations with the Bergische Symphoniker and a series of Christmas and New Year’s concerts, where she performed various opera and concert arias. These performances took place at renowned venues such as the Philharmonie Essen, and the concert halls in Solingen and Remscheid, under the direction of Peter Kuhn. She also returned to the Winter Opera Festival in Heidenheim for Die Fledermaus under Marcus Bosch and appeared in The Bartered Bride at the Theater Aachen. Additionally, she performed at the Opera Festival Sibiu in Romania with L’elisir d’amore.In 2019, Migena Gjata was engaged by the Volkstheater Rostock for the roles of Ciboletta in A Night in Venice (J. Strauss) and Solveig in Peer Gynt (E. Grieg).In addition to her operatic repertoire, the artist is also deeply invested in the art song genre and has collaborated closely with pianist and conductor Prof. Günther Albers over several years. Their lieder recitals have been featured at the International Music Festival in Tirana, as well as in a concert at the Palmengarten in Frankfurt, where they performed works by Alexander von Zemlinsky and Claude Debussy. Additionally, Migena performed at the German Bundestag to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, presenting songs by Claude Debussy and Franz Lehar. These performances were subsequently released on a CD by the German Bundestag. In 2019, she was invited by the Heinrich Heine Institute in Düsseldorf as a soloist for a lieder evening focused on settings of Heine’s works.

In 2022, she appeared at the Theatre Erfurt, the Cologne Philharmonie, and the Musiktheater im Revier. In the 2022/23 season, she featured as a soloist in New Year’s concerts with the Southwest German Philharmonic and the Neue Philharmonie Westfalen.