Gessendorf, Mechthild (1937– )

German soprano. She studied in Cologne and sang with the Vienna Chamber Opera from 1961. She performed in Munich from 1981, as Aïda, the Empress, and the Marschallin, and at Salzburg in 1981, as Amelia Boccanegra. Her New York Metropolitan Opera House debut was in 1986, as the Marschallin, and she returned as the Empress and Senta in 1990. She appeared at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, in 1987, as Wagner's Elisabeth, and sang Sieglinde at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1993.