Katja Ladentin was born in Cologne. After graduating from high school and studying at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin, she studied there with Kammersängerin Magdalena Hájossyóva and Prof. Julia Varady until 2007. During her studies she worked with the directors Barbara Beyer, Peter Konwitschny, Willy Decker and Michael von zur Mühlen as well as with the conductors Alexander Hannemann, Dmitri Jurowski and Jörg-Peter Weigle. During her studies, she sang as a substitute in various choirs in Berlin, including works by Bach and Penderecki, as well as background vocals in various bands.

Since the 2007/08 season, Katja Ladentin has been engaged at the Staatstheater Mainz, where she has sung roles such as Page of Herodias in “Salomé”, 1st Maid in “Elektra”, Flower Girl in Sandra Leupold’s “Parsifal” and Rosette in “Manon”. She was particularly successful as Bianca in the opera “Rape of Lucretia” under the direction of Frejo Majer and as Marta and Pantalis in “Mephistofele” in the production by Lorenzo Fioroni. She sang the Mother and the Chinese Cup in the concert performance of L’Enfant et les Sortilèges and the alto part in Cornelius’ Stabat Mater in Mainz Cathedral under the direction of GMD Hermann Bäumer. In the 13/14 season, she sang works by Alban Berg, Shostakovich, Mussorgsky, Mahler, Strauss and Kurt Weill as part of two staged song recitals.

She had already made a name for herself as an interpreter of new music in Berlin when she stepped in just three days before the world premiere of the opera “Putzfrauen” by P. Nowak, whereupon she was immediately engaged for the role of Donna in the world premiere of the opera “Friendly Fire” by Klaus Arp, directed by Robert Lehmeier.

In Mainz, she sang and played the part of Contralto in Salvatore Sciarrino’s “Macbeth”. In the 2014/15 season, she appeared as Povera Vecchia in the German premiere of the opera “Perelá” by Pascal Dusapin.

In 2016, Katja Ladentin appeared in Regensburg as Zita in “Gianni Schicchi” by Giacomo Puccini and as Pepa in the one-act play “Goyescas” by Enrique Granados, and in Freiburg she was heard twice in the same play: in the role of Marta and the role of Pantalis in “Mefistofele” by Arrigo Boïto.

In Loriot’s “Ring an einem Abend” – read by Max Hopp – she sang Flossilde, a daughter of the Rhine, from 2018.

In the 2019/2020 season, she played Xenia’s nurse in Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov under the direction of Wolfgang Nägele. She also sang and played the role of La voix de la tombe, mère d’Antonia in Offenbach’s “Les Contes d’Hoffmann” under the direction of Elisabeth Stöppler and the musical direction of Robert Houssart.

There was a break in the 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 seasons due to coronavirus. Katja Ladentin used this time to prepare for her move from lyrical to dramatic roles. She will be working as a freelance artist from the 2022/2023 season.