Biography

Erika Wagner lived with her husband in the USA till 1958. After the end of his engagement at the Metropolitan Opera they went to Zurich. Erika Wagner remained active there in the cultural society.

She became interested into the theater scene and took acting lessons. She gained a foothold on stage in 1907 and she began her artistic career in Meiningen. In the next years followed engagements at different theaters, among them the Burgtheater in Vienna, the Theater in der Josefstadt and the Neue Schauspielhaus in Berlin where sie worked together with Max Reinhardt.

With the rise of the National Socialist her husband, the bandmaster Fritz Stiedry, was no longer able to work in Germany. Therefore he accepted an engagement in Russia and Erika Wagner followed him. In 1937 they both went to Austria but after the annexation they went to the USA. At the beginning she rarely had the opportunity to continue her artistic career there.

She extended her artistic repertoire from 1920 with singing performances and she appeared in musical productions, among them Arnold Schönberg's "Pierrot" (21). With this play she toured through Europe in the next years. Many other engagements followed, e.g. she took part in a BBC concert and appeared in charity concerts.

The actress and singer Erika Wagner (also called Erika Stiedry-Wagner) was born in Zabeln.