Magda started as a lyric Mezzo Soprano but has settled in the Dramatic Soprano fach and feels at home in it. (status 2026)
Born in Germany, Gartner first studied piano and pedagogy with a master's degree at the Mozarteum University of Salzburg, and later took up vocal studies in London and New York with Amanda Roocroft, Malena Malas, Arthur Levy and Sophie Koch.
From New York, she established her singing career on the opera stages of North America and has made guest appearances with the New York City Opera, the Boston Odyssey Opera and sang with companies such as Opera Carolina, Grand Rapids Opera, Kentucky Opera and Opera Seattle.
Gartner's appearance in Boston in the role of Aurelio in L'Assedio di Calais caused a sensation and was described by the Donizetti Society as "a mezzo-soprano of real importance with sustaining, warm depth and brilliantly shining height as the true heart of the production."
In 2017 Gartner made her debut with New York City Opera as the Third Elf in Respighi's "La Campana sommersa". In the same year followed the successful engagement for the role of L'Aurora in Literes' baroque opera Los Elementos.
In her 2018 debut as Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, Magda inspired audiences in Charlotte, North Carolina and in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In the same year she also appeared in Gluck's Orfeo in a new English transcription at Seattle Opera and studied the role including the new translation in less than ten days.
This was followed by a phase of recitals and concerts in North America and Europe. Gartner appeared in the Münster of Konstanz as a soloist in Mozart's Missa Longa, in New York's Paulskirche as a soloist of Bach's St. Matthew Passion, and with sacred arias by Handel. Performances with recitals at the German Forum and the German Consulate in New York followed.
With the Gramercy Opera Company New York, which she co-founded, Gartner made a guest appearance as Fairy Queen in an adapted version of Purcell's opera of the same title.
Before her successful debut with Kentucky Opera in Louisville in early 2020 — again as Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro — she took centerstage in 2019 in New York's Naniku Theater in the leading role of Beatrice of the contemporary rock opera "Institution."
Already in 2016 Gartner appeared on Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage in Washington D.C. as Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck. She has been Young Artist with City Opera Pomme Rouge, the Dell'Arte Opera Ensemble (debut as Musette in Leoncavallo's Bohème), and the Martina Arroyo Foundation (Dorabella in Così fan tutte, Mercedes in Carmen). Immediately after her vocal studies at the Mannes School of Music, NYC, she excelled in the role of Carmen with La Forza dell'Opera and as Komponist in Ariadne auf Naxos (Strauss) with the Berlin Opera Academy.
Roles & repertoire
Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier), Annio and Sesto (La Clemenza di Tito), Zerlina and Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), La Concepción (L'Heure Espagnole), the title role in Rossini's Cenerentola, Rosina (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Siebel (Faust), Stéphano (Roméo et Juliette), Romeo (I Capuleti ed i Montecchi), Adalgisa (Norma), Charlotte (Werther), Nicklausse (Les Contes d'Hoffmann), the Fox (The Cunning Little Vixen), Pauline (Queen of Spades), Olga (Eugene Onegin), and Eboli (Don Carlos).