The Hungarian soprano Erika Miklósa began her career at the age of 19, the youngest contracted singer ever in the history of the Hungarian State Opera, where she would stay eight years. She gave her international debut in an opera concert at the Theâtre de la Monnaie, Brussels. Her first international contract was for the role of the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute at the Mannheim Opera; she would sing that part more than 400 times. She recorded the role for Deutsche Grammophon, conducted by Claudio Abbado. She also performed role in the first live HDTV broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera, conducted by James Levine; the recording was later released on DVD. She has performed in the prominent venues and festivals of the world, including Covent Garden, La Scala, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Semperoper Dresden, VVienna Volksoper, Opera Bastille in Paris, Teatro Real in Madrid, the Edinburgh Festival and in Florence, Zürich, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Leipzig, Wiesbaden, Baden-Baden, Genova, Cagliari, Reggio Emilia, Ferrara, Modena, Bologna, Salzburg and San Francisco.