Hedwig Fassbender has sung in important houses in Vienna, Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Trieste, Lyon, Paris, Geneva and Milan. She has collaborated with many notable conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Chailly, Armin Jordan, Kyril Petrenko, Iván Fischer, Vladimir Jurowski, Adam Fischer. Stage directors with whom she has worked include Harry Kupfer, Herbert Wernicke, Robert Carsen, Willy Decker, Pierre Strosser, Georges Lavaudant, Laurent Pelly, Nicolas Brieger, and Peter Stein.

Upcoming appearances include Herodias in Salome in Bordeaux (March 2013), Mère Marie in Dialogues des Carmélites in Nantes (Sept/Oct 2013). In 2014, she will sing in the world premiere of Der Goldene Drachen by Peter Eötvös at the Frankfurt Opera.

Recently, Hedwig Fassbender has been heard as Herodias at La Monnaie in Brussels and at the Opera de Monte Carlo. She has also recently sung Kostelnicka in Jenufa in Innsbruck, in Rouen, at the Opera Monte Carlos and at the Bordeaux Opera. The role of the Foreign Princess in Rusalka brought her to Nancy and Montpellier.

Her diverse repertoire has included roles such as Cherubino, Hänsel, Idamante, Nicklausse, Dorabella, Marguerite, Carmen, Baba the Turk, Fricka, Mescalina.  Since 1997, her repertoire has extended to include dramatic repertoire such as Judit in Bartóks Bluebeard, Mutter in Hänsel und Gretel, Mère Marie in Dialogues des Carmélites (a role in which she has been heard at Opéra du Rhin, Savonlinna and in London).

In 2010, she sang in a production of Die Tote Stadt by Korngold at the Frankfurt Opera. In 2009, she sang Herodias at the Grand Theatre de Genève, Gräfin Geschwitz in Lulu at the Lyon Opera (Ono / Stein).

In 2007, she sang in Bartok’s Bluebeardat the opera houses in Grenoble and Lyon. In 2006, she sang Marie in Wozzeck in Mannheim, Ariane Dekas’ Ariane et Barbe-bleue at the Opera Nice and Isolde in Montpellier.

She sang her first Isolde in Saarbrücken in 2001, which was met with high critical acclaim. She then sang the Foreign Princess in Lyon in 2001 and Paris (Bastille) in 2002, followed by a successful debut as the Marschallin in Rosenkavalier in Lyon.  She received a nomination as "Singer of the year” for her interpretation of Sieglinde in the new Ring in Liège 2003 and 2005.

In 2005, she sang Isolde and Kundry (Parsifal) in Mannheim, Geschwitz in Strasbourg, Sieglinde in Liège, Kostelnicka in Berlin (KOB). In 2004 she debuted as Kostelnicka in the newly-opened opera-house in Erfurt. Isolde in Mannheim and Ariane (Paul Dukas) in Anvers. In 2003 she debuted as Kundry in Oslo.

Hedwig Fassbender began her musical studies with piano before going on to study voice with tenor Ernst Haeflinger in Munich. During her studies, she won several awards, notably the Hugo Wolf Song Competition in Vienna and the International Mozart Competition in Würzburg. In 1981, she was nominated to receive the recognition as Musician of the Year from the Abendzeitung in Munich. In 1982, she was engaged by Adam Fischer to become a member of the ensemble at the Freiburg Opera. She then moved on to join the company at Basle. After two years, she finally decided to work freelance.

An avid recitalist, she has sung Das Klagende Lied (Mahler) with Vlaimir Jurowski with the  London Philharmonic Orchestra in London. 

A noted recording artist, Hedwig Fassbender can be heard as Isolde in a 2005 Naxos recording of Tristan(cond. Leif Segerstam). She has also recorded a collection of songs by Richard Strauss entitled Songs of Love and Death.