Mezzo-soprano Judith Thielsen was part of the Cologne Opera ensemble from Season 17/18 to season 22/23. In these years she was heard in various specialist roles. These include Death in Stravinsky’s “The Nightingale”, Mercédès in “Carmen”, Saint Margaret in “Jeanne d’Arc – Scenes from the Life of Saint Joan”, the title role in Benjamin Britten’s “The Rape of Lucretia”, Tisbe in Rossini’s “La Cenerentola”, Ravel’s “L’enfant et les sortilèges”, Schönberg’s “Pierrot lunaire”, forester’s wife /owl in Janačeks “The Cunning Little Vixen”, the drummer in “The Emperor of Atlantis”, Charlotte in “The Soldiers”, Page of Herodias in “Salome”, Fricka in “Die Walküre für Kinder”, 3rd elf in “Rusalka”, Schöne Helena / Die Dame in the Offenbach pasticcio “Je suis Jacques” and Balkis in “Barkouf ou un chien au pouvoir «.

In the 2017- 2018 season Judith Thielsen made guest appearances at the Komische Oper Berlin in Ravel’s L’enfant et les Sortilèges and at the Theater Basel as Annina in Verdi’s La Traviata. In the annual critics’ of the magazine »Opernwelt« in 2018, she was named ›Most remarkable young artist‹.

In the summer of 2019 she made her debut as Larina in “Eugen Onegin” at the Bregenz Festival. Furthermore, she made her debut with the Orchester Les Siècles in the 2019/2020 season with Beethoven’s 9th Symphony under the direction of François-Xavier Roth.

In the 2020 – 2021 season she appeared at the Cologne Opera as 3rd Lady in Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte”, as Angel 2 / Marie in George Benjamin’s “Written on Skin” and as Marthe in Gounod’s Faust.

Her role debuts as Gertrud in “Hänsel und Gretel” followed in the 2021.22 season. In season 23/24 she will debut with Enescu Festival, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra under George Benjamin in Helsinki and Orchestre National de France under François-Xavier Roth in Paris.

She will also return to the role of Charlotte in B.A. Zimmermann’s “The Soldiers” on a tour with Gürzenich Orchester Köln under the direction of François-Xavier Roth and Calixto Bieito.

Before joining the Cologne Opera Ensemble, she was a member of the International Opera Studio of the Cologne Opera for two seasons and made guest appearances in the 2013.14 season at the Kiel Theater, among others.

Judith Thielsen completed her studies at the HfMT Hamburg with Prof. Geert Smits. As part of her studies, she received several awards and was funded by Studienstiftung des deutschen Volles, among others.