Angelika Kirchschlager

Last updated

Angelika Kirchschlager
2010 Angelika Kirchschlager (18248601901).jpg
Angelika Kirchschlager in 2010
Born (1965-11-24) 24 November 1965 (age 58)
Salzburg, Austria
OccupationOperatic mezzo-soprano
Years active1993–present
Organisation Vienna State Opera

Angelika Kirchschlager (born 24 November 1965, Salzburg) is an Austrian mezzo-soprano opera and lieder singer.

Contents

Career

Kirchschlager began her musical training at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, where she studied percussion and piano. In 1984, she went to the Vienna Music Academy, where she studied with Gerhard Kahry and Walter Berry. [1] Her first engagements were at the Wiener Kammeroper and the Graz Opera. Kirchschlager won 1st Prize together with Morenike Fadayomi in Wien's international Operncafé HArtauer-COmpetition and third prize in the International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition both in 1991. Her stage debut was in Graz in 1993 as Octavian ( Der Rosenkavalier ). [1] In 1993, she became a member of the Vienna State Opera, and made her debut there as Cherubino ( The Marriage of Figaro ). Also in 1993, she was awarded the Mozartinterpretationspreis of the Mozart Society of Vienna. [2]

In 2002, Kirchschlager sang the role of Sophie in the world première of Nicholas Maw's opera Sophie's Choice at the Royal Opera House in London, [3] the American premiere of the revised version of the opera at the Washington Opera, and the Austrian premiere at Volksoper Wien. [4] She is a regular guest of the annual Lieder festival Schubertiade Schwarzenberg in Vorarlberg, Austria. Her regular collaborators include Helmut Deutsch and Simon Keenlyside. [5] [6]

Kirchschlager resides in Vienna. She has a son, the actor Felix Kammerer, from her marriage to the baritone Hans Peter Kammerer. [1] Kirchschlager and Kammerer are currently separated. [7]

In 2024, Kirchschlager announced that she is retiring from the stage to devote herself entirely to her professorship for song, oratorio and concert at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts.

Roles

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christa Ludwig</span> German mezzo-soprano (1928–2021)

Christa Ludwig was a German mezzo-soprano and sometime dramatic soprano, distinguished for her performances of opera, lieder, oratorio, and other major religious works like masses, passions, and solos in symphonic literature. Her performing career spanned almost half a century, from the late 1940s until the early 1990s.

<i>Der Rosenkavalier</i> Comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss

Der Rosenkavalier, Op. 59, is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from Louvet de Couvrai's novel Les amours du chevalier de Faublas and Molière's comedy Monsieur de Pourceaugnac. It was first performed at the Königliches Opernhaus in Dresden on 26 January 1911 under the direction of Max Reinhardt, with Ernst von Schuch conducting. Until the premiere, the working title was Ochs auf Lerchenau.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Breeches role</span> Theatre role in which an actress wears male clothing

A breeches role is one in which an actress appears in male clothing. Breeches, tight-fitting knee-length pants, were the standard male garment at the time these roles were introduced. The theatrical term travesti covers both this sort of cross-dressing and also that of male actors dressing as female characters. Both are part of the long history of cross-dressing in music and opera and later in film and television.

Dame Felicity Ann Emwhyla Lott, is an English soprano.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederica von Stade</span> American mezzo-soprano

Frederica von Stade is a semi-retired American classical singer. Best known for her work in opera, she was also a recitalist and concert artist, and she recorded more than a hundred albums and videos. She is especially associated with operas by Mozart and Rossini, and also with music by French and American composers, most notably Jake Heggie. A Chevalier of France's Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, twice the winner of a Grand Prix du Disque and nominated nine times for a Grammy award, she is widely regarded as the pre-eminent lyric mezzo-soprano of her generation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brigitte Fassbaender</span> German mezzo-soprano

Brigitte Fassbaender, is a German mezzo-soprano opera singer and a stage director. From 1999 to 2012 she was intendant of the Tyrolean State Theatre in Innsbruck, Austria. She holds the title Kammersängerin from the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and the Vienna Staatsoper.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diana Damrau</span> German soprano

Diana Damrau is a German soprano who achieved international fame for her performances, primarily in opera, but also in concert and lieder. She has been successful in coloratura soprano roles since her early career, and gradually proceeded into heavier roles of the 19th-century Italian bel canto repertoire. Her signature roles include the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute, Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos, Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor, and Violetta in La traviata.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarah Connolly</span> English mezzo-soprano

Dame Sarah Patricia Connolly is an English mezzo-soprano. Although best known for her baroque and classical roles, Connolly has a wide-ranging repertoire which has included works by Wagner as well as various 20th-century composers. She was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours and a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joyce DiDonato</span> American mezzo-soprano

Joyce DiDonato is an American opera singer and recitalist. A coloratura mezzo-soprano, she has performed operas and concert works spanning from the 19th-century Romantic era to those by Handel and Mozart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frances Bible</span> American opera singer

Frances Lillian Bible was an American operatic mezzo-soprano who had a thirty-year career at the New York City Opera between 1948 and 1978. She also made a number of opera appearances with other companies throughout the United States, but only made a limited number of appearances abroad. Martin Bernheimer wrote in Opera News that, "Frances Bible was cheated by destiny. She never quite achieved the international recognition she deserved. Bible had it all—a mellow, wide-ranging mezzo-soprano, an attractive stage presence, genuine theatrical flair, a probing mind and a technique that allowed her to sing bel-canto filigree one night, Verdian drama the next. She was one of the rare American singers who savor the English language. She understood the value of economy, never stooping to easy effects. Perhaps she was too versatile, too tasteful and — dare one say it? — too intelligent for her own good."

Susanne Mentzer is an American operatic mezzo-soprano. She is best known for singing trouser roles, such as Cherubino in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, Idamante in Mozart's Idomeneo, Octavian in Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier and the composer in Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos, as well as other music of Mozart, Strauss, Rossini, Berlioz and Mahler.

Caitlin Hulcup is an Australian mezzo-soprano, who has performed both in Australia and internationally, particularly in Europe.

Diana Montague is an English mezzo-soprano, known for her performances in opera and as a concert singer. She is Married to the English Tenor David Rendall

Hertha Töpper was an Austrian contralto in opera and concert, and an academic voice teacher. A member of the Bavarian State Opera, she appeared in leading roles at major international opera houses and festivals.

Hermine Haselböck is an Austrian mezzo-soprano in opera, concert and lied.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katarina Karnéus</span> Swedish opera singer

Katarina Esmé Marie Karnéus is a Swedish mezzo-soprano opera singer, winner of the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition, active on many of the opera world's major stages such as the Metropolitan Opera and the Paris Opera, and named Hovsångerska by the King of Sweden in 2018.

Tara Erraught is an Irish mezzo-soprano, a graduate of the Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM).

Sophie Koch is a French operatic mezzo-soprano who made an international career, performing Rosina in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Royal Opera House, the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss at the Semperoper in Dresden, and Charlotte in Massenet's Werther at the Paris Opera, among others. Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss became her signature role. She has also performed in concert and recital, and made recordings.

Frances Pappas is a Canadian-Greek operatic mezzo-soprano.

Ulrike Helzel is a German operatic mezzo-soprano.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Tim Ashley (18 January 2002). "The accidental diva". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 February 2007.
  2. "Prizes and Awards". Archived from the original on 13 August 2013. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
  3. Tim Ashley (9 December 2002). "Sophie's Choice (Royal Opera House, London)". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 April 2009.
  4. Anne Midgette (23 September 2006). "A Novel Transformed Into Opera, Its Heartbreaking Story Intact". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 April 2009.
  5. Tim Ashley (12 September 2002). "Kirchschlager/Keenlyside (Wigmore Hall, London)". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 April 2009.
  6. Tim Ashley (7 November 2008). "Keenlyside/Kirchschlager/Minkowski (Barbican, London)". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 April 2009.
  7. Hugh Canning (5 April 2009). "Down-to-earth diva Angelika Kirschlager [sic]". The Times. London. Archived from the original on 16 June 2011. Retrieved 8 April 2009.

Further reading