Polly Ott

New Zealand Soprano, Polly Ott, holds a Bachelor of Music with First Class Honours from the University of Canterbury, where she studied with Dame Malvina Major in her hometown of Christchurch. Polly Ott was an Emerging Artist with New Zealand Opera before moving to Berlin, where she completed a Master of Arts in Opera with Distinction with Prof. Julie Kaufmann, Frank Hilbrich and Axel Bauni at the Universität der Künste Berlin. Masterclasses with Gerd Uecker, Grace Bumbry and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa complete her formal training.

Her engagements have already led the young soprano to perform at the New Zealand Opera, Theater Magdeburg, Komische Oper Berlin, Berliner Philharmonie, the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg, Cuvilliés Theater in Munich and the Neuköllner Oper Berlin. Polly Ott has performed with the Südwestfalen Philharmonic Orchestra, Kammeroper München, Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, Eroica Berlin and has sung at festivals including the Beethoven Festival Bonn and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where she received a five-star review from the Scotland Herald for her performance as Anne Frank in the mono-opera The Diary of Anne Frank.

Polly Ott’s repertoire ranges from Baroque to Modern. Her most notable roles include the Mozart characters PAMINA in Die Zauberflöte, BLONDE from Die Entführung aus dem Serail, DESPINA from Così fan tutte, MADAME HERZ from Der Schauspieldirektor and BARBARINA from Le nozze di Figaro, the Rossini characters of ELVIRA in L’italiana in Algeri and BERTA in Il barbiere di Siviglia, CLARICE in Il mondo della luna by Haydn, THE BOY FROM NEW YORK in the world premiere of The True Story of King Kong by Jeffery Ching, ANNE FRANK in The Diary of Anne Frank by Grigori Frid and FIRST FAIRY/ NIGHT from The Fairy Queen by Purcell.

Her concert repertoire encompasses works such as Haydn’s Die Schöpfung, Mahler’s 2nd Symphony, Weihnachtsoratorium by Bach, Mozart’s Requiem, Exultate Jubilate and Mass in C Minor, In furore iustissime irae by Vivaldi to Herzgewächse from Schönberg and the world premiere of Thorsten Putscher’s Symphonie Sacrée.

Upcoming performances for 2023 include the world premiere of the opera Zusammen Fallen by Andys Skordis at the Neuköllner Oper Berlin and a performance of Bach’s Weihnachtsoratorium at the Berliner Philharmonie with the Sinfonisches Kammerorchester Berlin. Polly Ott was a recipient of the Kiwi Music Scholarship from Universities NZ, Dame Malvina Arts Excellence Award and Neustartkultur Scholarship Programme.