Born in G‹nzburg an der Donau in Germany, Damrau studied at the Musikhochschule W‹rzburg with Carmen Hanganu and in Salzburg with Hanna Ludwig. Her first engagements were at the Stadtheater W‹rzburg and Oper Frankfurt.

She recently demonstrated her bel canto chops in Bartlett Sher's new staging of The Barber of Seville at the Metropolitan Opera, singing Rosina alongside tenor Juan Diego Flórez's Almaviva. Her extensive repertoire also includes Mozart (Queen of the Night, Konstanze in Die Entführung) and Strauss (Zerbinetta, Zdenka in Arabella) as well as Verdi's Gilda and Bizet's Leïla (The Pearl Fishers.

Damrau has sung under the direction of many prominent conductors, including Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel, Colin Davis, Christoph von Dohnányi, Riccardo Muti, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Pierre Boulez, on the opera stage as well in concert.

Alain Lanceron, president of Virgin Classics, commented, "In just a few years, Diana Damrau has risen in stature to become one of the small circle of singers who define the modern history of opera performance."