Austrian mezzo soprano Daniela Lehner studied in Vienna, Salzburg and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. She received scholarships to study on the Ravinia Festival Young Artists Programme, Britten-Pears Young Artists Programme and the Music Academy of the West. Prizes include a Georg Solti Scholarship, Rotary Prize, Prize of the Académie Musicale de Villecroze, and First Prize in the Marilyn Horne Foundation Competition. She received a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award in 2008 and is currently a member of the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists scheme. A committed recitalist, Daniela has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Philharmonie Berlin, Wigmore Hall, Laeiszhalle Hamburg, De Singel Antwerp, the Klavier Festival Ruhr, Kölner Philharmonie, as well as the Aldeburgh Festival, Cheltenham Festival, Chichester Festival and Oxford Lieder Festival. She has worked with leading pianists such as Mitsuko Uchida, Graham Johnson and Roger Vignoles. Since 2005 Daniela works closely with pianist José Luis Gayo. Apart from conventional repertoire, the duo also enjoys exploring lesser known German, Spanish and Latin-American works. Also passionate in community projects, the Lehner/Gayo duo participates in "Live Music Now" (founded by Yehudi Menuhin and Ian Stoutzker with the support of Musicians Benevolent Fund) and has given workshops and performances to UK’s welfare, educational, justice and health sectors who have limited access to classical music-making. In 2008, Daniela made her Royal Opera House Covent Garden debut, singing the role of Hermia in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream. In recording, she has recently participated in Graham Johnson's complete Schumann song recordings for Hyperion Records.
Photograph taken by Elisabeth Blanchet