Born in Vienna, where she studied with
Helene Wildbrunn and
Anna Bahr-Mildenburg. In 1950, she won a singing competition in Vienna. She was a member of the
Theater Würzburg from 1951, moved to the
Opernhaus Wuppertal the following season, and in 1954 to the
Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, where she remained for the rest of her career. She made had a contract also with the
Staatsoper Berlin from 1958 to 1971, and with the
Cologne Opera from 1962 to 1975. In Cologne, she appeared in the title role of Beethoven's
Fidelio. On 15 February 1965, she created there the role of the Countess de la Roche in the world premiere of Bernd Alois Zimmermann's opera
Die Soldaten. The performance, with
Edith Gabry as Marie, and conducted by
Michael Gielen, was recorded, and the recording won the award
Grand Prix du Disque. Synek appeared often with the
Frankfurt Opera, including a guest performance of the company in 1963 at
Sadler's Wells Opera in London, again playing Fidelio. She was also a frequent guest at the
Vienna State Opera. Her roles there included Ursula in Hindemith's
Mathis der Maler and Amelia in Verdi's
Un ballo in maschera in 1958, Chrysothemis in
Elektra by Richard Strauss in 1960, Venus in Wagner's
Tannhäuser in 1972, Kundry in his
Parsifal, Brünnhilde in his
Die Walküre in 1974, and the title role in von Einem's
Der Besuch der alten Dame (opera) in 1980. She appeared at the
Bayreuth Festival first in 1951, singing in the choir. From 1965 to 1970, she appeared there as Helmwige in
Die Walküre, from 1968 also as the First Norn in
Götterdämmerung. She appeared as a guest internationally, appearing at the
Paris Opera in 1959 as Elisabeth in
Tannhäuser. She was a guest at the
Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon and at the
Theatro Municipal of Rio de Janeiro in 1961. The following year, she sang in Fidelio at the
Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, and was Brünnhilde in Wagner's
Der Ring des Nibelungen at
La Monnaie in Brussels. She performed in Rome,
Turin and
Parma in the 1962/63 season. In 1963, she performed as Sieglinde in
Die Walküre at
La Scala in Milan, and appeared at the
Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux. She sang Schoenberg's monodrama
Erwartung at the
Maggio Musicale Fiorentino festival in 1964. She appeared at the
Teatro Comunale Bologna and
La Fenice in Venice in 1965, at the
Staatsoper Dresden and the
Bavarian State Opera in Munich in 1967, at the
Grand Théâtre de Genève in 1968, at the
Budapest Opera and the
Sofia Opera in 1970, and at the
Grand Theatre in Warsaw 1974. Her repertoire also included the title role of Verdi's
Aida, Lady Macbeth in his
Macbeth, Abigail in his
Nabucco, the Marschallin in
Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss, the title role of Puccini's
Turandot, and Isolde in Wagner's
Tristan und Isolde. She died in
Hollabrunn. A street in Wiesbaden is named after her. ==References==