Biography
Stefanie Smits was born in Speyer am Rhein and grew up in the motor racing town of Hockenheim. She studied opera and concert singing at the University of Performing Arts and Music in Frankfurt am Main, as well as vocal pedagogy at the State University of Music in Karlsruhe. She began her professional stage career in 1996. In 1997, she was honoured at the Maria Callas Grand Prix in Athens. In the same year, under the direction of Katharina Thalbach, she sang the role of Donna Anna in Mozart’s »Don Giovanni« in Berlin. She was a member of the ensemble at the Landestheater Coburg and the Theater Münster. This was followed by guest engagements at, amongst others, the Norske Opera in Oslo, the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich, the Nationaltheater Mannheim and the Pfalztheater in Kaiserslautern. She sang numerous roles in the youthful-dramatic voice category, including Tosca, the title role in »Madama Butterfly«, Agathe in »Der Freischütz«, Elisabeth in »Tannhäuser«, Ariadne in »Ariadne auf Naxos« and the Marschallin in »Der Rosenkavalier«. She has also appeared in operetta and musical theatre productions, such as Rosalinde in »Die Fledermaus« and Hanna Glawari in »Die lustige Witwe«. Since 2007, Stefanie Smits has been working as a freelance opera and concert singer. She teaches singing at TU Dortmund and at the Schola Cantorum Leipzig. She also works as an actress in film and television (»Praxis mit Meerblick«).
At the Musikalische Komödie, she will appear as Mrs Pearce in the 2026/27 season.