State Opera debut with the Queen of the Night in 2000. In 2001, she made her Salzburg Festival debut, portraying the Naiad alongside Natalie Dessay's Zerbinetta; she became a regular in Salzburg and returned in the subsequent six editions. Since 2002, she embarked a freelance career, and had frequent engagements with the Bavarian State Opera in roles such as Adele in Die Fledermaus, Marzelline in Fidelio, and the Queen of the Night. She took part in the world premiere of Cehra's Der Riese vom Steinfeld in the role of Small Woman in Vienna. Her engagements in Salzburg consist exclusively of roles in Mozart operas: The Magic Flute (Queen of the Night, 2002), Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Blonde, 2003; Konstanze, 2004), The Marriage of Figaro (Susanna, 2007). In the 2006 edition, which celebrated Mozart's 200th anniversary, she played the Queen of the Night in the premiere of Pierre Audi's production of The Magic Flute, and Fauno in Ascanio in Alba. Damrau made her Royal Opera, London debut in January 2003, in David McVicar's new production of The Magic Flute, and then appeared in Arabella (Fiakermilli), Ariadne auf Naxos (Zerbinetta), and the world premiere of Maazel's 1984 in two consecutive seasons. At the Opera Frankfurt, she sang her first Konstanze in Die Entführung, a role she then repeated in Munich and Salzburg. In March 2004, she sang the role of Zdenka in Arabella for the first time in Munich. In December 2004, she was invited to sing the title role in Salieri's Europa riconosciuta, conducted by Riccardo Muti, for the reopening of La Scala in Milan. In 2005, she portrayed Gilda in the premiere of Doris Dörrie's controversial production of Rigoletto in Munich, and later in the year, made her Metropolitan Opera debut in New York City in the role of Zerbinetta. Transition, more lyric soprano and bel canto roles Damrau sang her first Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro in February 2006 at La Scala, and subsequently in Vienna. Apart from Konstanze in a new production co-produced with the Burgtheater, she had been featured at the Vienna State Opera in three consecutive seasons with several other roles. Since her debut in the 2005/06 season, she appeared in consecutive seasons at the Met, where she starred in new productions of The Barber of Seville (Rosina, 2006), Die ägyptische Helena (Aithra, 2007), and Rossini's comic opera Le comte Ory (Countess Adèle, 2011),