At the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, she sang, among other roles, Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel), Nanetta (Falstaff), Woglinde (Das Rheingold), Musetta (La Bohème), Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi), Liù (Turandot), Marzelline (Fidelio), and Tschang Haitang in Zemlinsky’s 'Der Kreidekreis'.
Contemporary opera is a key component of her artistic work. She received special praise from audiences and the press for her portrayal of Grace in Gordon Kampe’s 'Dogville' at the Aalto Theater in Essen. She also appeared in the world premiere of 'Ich bin Vincent! und ich habe keine Angst' at the Theater an der Wien, as well as in the role of Annabella in Anno Schreier’s 'Schade, dass sie eine Hure war'. Other notable projects included Kaija Saariaho’s 'La Passion de Simone' at the Acht-Brücken Festival in Cologne and the world premiere of Hector Parra’s 'Ich ersehne die Alpen' with the WDR Radio Orchestra.
Guest engagements have taken her to the Bavarian State Opera, the Komische Oper Berlin, the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm, the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen, Oper Köln and the Theater St. Gallen. Since her debut at the Bayreuth Festival in 2024 as a Flower Maiden and First Squire in Wagner’s 'Parsifal', she has returned to Bayreuth regularly in subsequent seasons.
Lavinia Dames is currently steadily expanding her repertoire toward the grand lyric soprano repertoire. Following roles such as Liù (Turandot) and Tschang Haitang (Der Kreidekreis), she is set to make further important role debuts as Woglinde in Wagner’s Götterdämmerung, the Contessa Almaviva in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, and the title role of Aile in Outi Tarkiainen’s world premiere, Day of Night. In doing so, she is increasingly focusing her artistic efforts on the German-language and late-Romantic repertoire, ranging from Strauss and Zemlinsky to Wagner and, in the future, Korngold.
Lavinia Dames is also in high demand internationally as a concert singer. She has made guest appearances at venues including the Vienna Konzerthaus and the Vienna Musikverein, as well as with the Dortmund Philharmonic, the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, the Göttingen Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Radio Orchestra, the Saarland Radio Orchestra, and the WDR Funkhaus Orchestra. Her concert repertoire includes works by Haydn, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Mahler, Strauss, Britten, and Schumann.
at the Cologne Opera/Staatenhaus. In the summer of 2026, she will return again for the third time to the Bayreuth Festival as a flower girl and 1st squire (Parsifal), after making her successful debut there in 2024.
In the 2025/26 season, she will return to the Cologne Opera/Staatenhaus as Pamina and make her debut at the MusikTheater an der Wien in Gordon Kampe's new opera Ich bin Vincent! und ich habe keine Angst (I am Vincent! and I am not afraid). At the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, she will sing Marzelline (Fidelio), Zeitl (Anatevka), Liù (Turandot), Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi), Pamina and Gretel during the season.
Lavinia Dames has appeared at the Vienna Konzerthaus (Schumann's Das Paradies und die Peri) and the Vienna Musikverein. She has performed with the Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra (Mahler's Symphony No. 2, Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem), the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra (Mahler's Symphony No. 2) and the Göttingen Symphony Orchestra (Haydn's Die Schöpfung). In 2019, she appeared as Betty in Lortzing's Zum Großadmiral at the Prinzregententheater in Munich with the Munich Radio Orchestra, and in the 2020/21 season she performed Benjamin Britten's Les Illuminations with the Saarland State Orchestra.
