Salzburg Easter Festival
Born in Vienna, Dernesch studied at the Vienna Hochschule für Musik before making her debut in 1961 singing Marina in "Boris Godunov" in Bern. She continued to sing in Bern from 1961 to 1963, in Wiesbaden 1963-1965 and at the Cologne Opera from 1965 to 1968. She made her first appearance in Bayreuth (as Wellgunde in "Der Ring des Nibelungen") in 1965. Two years later she was singing Elisabeth in "Tannhäuser" there, and Sieglinde with the Bayreuth Festival on tour in Osaka. She made her first appearance at the Salzburg Easter Festival in 1969. With Scottish Opera she performed Gutrune (1968), her first Leonore (1970), the Marschallin (1971), Brünnhilde, Isolde, Ariadne, and Cassandra.