Biography

Smilla Maier was born on March 6, 2005 in Munich and grew up bilingually as the daughter of a German-Italian family. As a small child she developed a strong interest in singing, stage and dance, which she knew how to cultivate from an early age. She received her first piano lessons at the age of six from Prof. Walter Krafft. She developed her passion for singing more strongly in elementary school age under the direction of the soprano Maria Anelli in her children's choir at the Italian institute of culture in Munich. In 2014 she was accepted into the children's and youth choir of the Bavarian State Opera under the direction of Stellario Fagone. She received classical singing lessons from singing teacher Beate Gartner and Daniel Süsstrunk and received jazz lessons from Lisa Wahlandt at the Unterhaching music school. She is currently being trained by lecturer Antonia Starke at the Munich Music Seminar. In 2016 Smilla made her debut in the opera TONGUECAT at the Festival of the Bavarian State Opera in the role of Tonguecat as a child (Das Kind Ulrike). Smilla has performed as a soprano at church concerts and ceremonies since 2019. Smilla won 1st prizes at the "Jugend musiziert" competition in the category singing duo (2016), solo soprano (2017) and in the art song singing voice / piano (2018). In 2020 Smilla won 1st prize in the category singing solo soprano with a score of 25/25 and a 2nd prize in 2023 at the federal level. Furthermore she has been a member of the ensemble in the project "Mozart and the Magic Flute" since 2020 under the direction of Heinrich Klug in the roles of Pamina, Tamino, Queen of the Night and three boys. In 2022 she won the Mondiovesinion competition and was subsequently invited to a final concert in France at Le Vésinet near Paris. In addition, at the beginning of 2023 she was nominated by the “Süddeutsche Zeitung“ for the Tassilo Culture Prize. Since graduating from the Lise-Meitner-Gymnasium in Unterhaching, she has continued her vocal training and has taken part in various master classes, for example in London with the singer Chen Reiss, or in Zell an der Pram with Professor Christoph Strehl. Smilla will begin her vocal studies in 2024.