Soloist

Angelika Kirchschlager

The Austrian mezzo soprano Angelika Kirchschlager is amongst the most outstanding singers of her profession. For years, this native of Salzburg has sung at the world's major opera and concert houses. In cross-dressing roles like Cherubino (»Le nozze di Figaro«) or Octavian (»Der Rosenkavalier«) she set standards internationally as she also did in the title roles like »Pelléas et Mélisande«, »The Rape of Lucretia« or »Sophie's Choice«.

In 2007 Angelika Kirchschlager became the youngest »Kammersängerin« to be appointed by the Vienna Staatsoper and in 2009 as honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music in London. She worked as a professor at the Mozarteum in Salzburg as well as at Graz University of the Arts and regularly gives international master courses. In May 2013 she was decorated with the European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage by the European Cultural Foundation »Pro Europa« for her contribution to the preservation of the classical musical heritage, both on stage as well as in promotion of the younger generation. At the »Austria 2014« Gala she was named »Austrian Woman of the Year« by the newspaper »Die Presse« in the category of »cultural heritage«, and in 2015 she was elected as »Woman of the Year« at the »Look! Women of the Year Awards«.

Angelika Kirchschlager devotes her special attention to concert and Lieder singing. Performances take her to the greatest concert halls in Europe, Japan and the US. Her extensive repertory extends from Bach, Brahms, Debussy and Korngold via Mahler, Mendelssohn and Rossini to Schubert, Schumann, Strauss, Weill and Wolf.

In 2010 she won her fourth »ECHO-Klassik« with her CD »Robert Schumann: Lieder«, as »Lieder recording of the year«. Her current recordings include, among others, Lieder albums with works by Mahler, Brahms and Liszt. For the Liszt recording she was decorated in London with the »BBC Music Magazine Award for 2013«. In addition she is a Grammy prize winner.

Many important conductors have accompanied Angelika Kirchschlager in her career until now, including Simon Rattle as well as Ricardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa, Claudio Abbado, Colin Davis, James Levine, Kurt Masur, Kent Nagano and Donald Runnicles. Accordingly, she has been heard, among other places, in opera houses like La Scala in Milan, the Royal Opera House in London, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Opéra Bastille in Paris, the Staatsoper in Vienna and the Staatsoper in Munich, at the Salzburger Festspiele, in the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, San Francisco Opera, the Berliner Philharmonie, in the Salle Pleyel and Cité de la Musique in Paris, Avery Fisher Hall and Carnegie Hall in New York, Boston Symphony Hall as well as the Barbican and Wigmore Hall in London.

She studied singing at the Vienna Academy of Music under Walter Berry and Gerhard Kahry.