A native of Berlin, Anja Silja started her vocal studies already at the age of six. At the age of 10, she gave her first concert at the Titania-Palast in Berlin, and many other concerts followed at home and abroad. She made her stage début in Brunswick at the age of sixteen as Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia and in 1960 sang Senta at Bayreuth, followed by a series of Wagnerian rôles there and in other major houses. From the beginning of her career, Anja Silja sang a large repertoire from the coloratura soprano to highly dramatic rôles, including the Queen of the Night, Elektra, Salome, Turandot, Ariadne, Isolde, Brünnhilde, Zerbinetta, Konstanze, Fiordiligi, Leonore, Santuzza, Lady Macbeth, Desdemona, Renata in The Fiery Angel, Cassandra, Medea, Lulu, Marie in Wozzeck, and many others. Her international career continues with a series of major rôles in leading opera houses. Anja Silja has worked with famous conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Karl Böhm, Pierre Boulez, Sylvain Cambreling, André Cluytens, Andrew Davies, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Otto Klemperer, Hans Knappertsbusch, Jan Latham-König, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Ferdinand Leitner, Antonio Pappano, Sir Simon Rattle, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Michael Schönwandt, Sir Georg Solti and Franz Welser-Möst. Anja Silja has a large repertoire of recordings, and made her début as an opera producer in Brussels with Lohengrin.
