Dr. Romy Donath, born on February 7, 1980, in Bautzen (stage name as a soprano: Romy Petrick), is a German coloratura soprano, musicologist, and museum director. She studied singing at the Carl Maria von Weber Academy of Music in Dresden with Christiane Hossfeld (soloist examination in 2007) and supplemented her training at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with Andreas Scholl as well as in the lied class of Olaf Bär. She attended masterclasses with, among others, Sylvia Geszty and Margreet Honig. In parallel, she completed studies in musicology and philosophy at the TU Dresden, where she earned her doctorate in 2010 with a thesis on bourgeois musical and theatrical life in Dresden in the 18th century.

Her singing career began in 2005 with an engagement at the Landesbühnen Sachsen in Radebeul, where she performed roles such as Ännchen (Der Freischütz), Norina (Don Pasquale), and Olympia (The Tales of Hoffmann). In 2008, she made her debut at the Semperoper Dresden in Manfred Trojahn’s La grande magia. From 2009 to 2015, she was a member of the Semperoper ensemble, taking on roles such as Blondchen (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Adele (Die Fledermaus), Musetta (La Bohème), and Zerbinetta (Ariadne auf Naxos). Guest performances led her to venues including the Staatstheater Karlsruhe, Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar, Oper Leipzig, Nederlandse Opera Amsterdam, and Staatsoper Hannover. In 2013, she performed Wagner’s Wesendonck-Lieder with the Korean Symphony Orchestra in Seoul.

As a musicologist, Donath has published numerous works on Dresden’s musical history, including her doctoral dissertation (2010), Das musikalische Dresden (2012), Johann Gottlieb Naumann. Der Dresdner Amadeus (2017), and Dresdner Malerinnen der Romantik (2024, editor). Her debut novel Die Entführung der Primadonna (2017) focuses on the Dresden court singer Margherita Salicola. Her discography includes recordings such as Lieder & Kammermusik von Johann Gottlieb Naumann (2018) and Dresdner Lieder (2011).

Since 2020, she has been the director of the Carl-Maria-von-Weber-Museum in Dresden-Hosterwitz, and since 2021 also of the Kügelgenhaus – Museum of Dresden Romanticism. She serves on the boards of associations such as the Sächsischer Musikverein e.V. and Dresdner Romantik e.V. Donath is committed to promoting Dresden’s cultural scene and connecting art, history, and education.