Angelika Kirchschlager Biography

Angelika Kirchschlager has quickly emerged as one of todayÕs most sought-after young mezzo-sopranos. Dividing her time between recitals and opera in Europe, North America and the Far East, Ms. Kirchschlager is equally at home on both the concert stage and in opera.

Her operatic repertoire includes the Mozart roles of Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte, Zerlina in Don Giovanni as well as Idamante in Idomeneo. Furthermore Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier, Niclausse in Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Orlovsky in Die Fledermaus, Valencine in The Merry Widow , Sesto in Giulio Cesare, Sophie in SophieÕs Choice and as of this season Melisande in Pelleas et Melisande. As a celebrated recitalist and concert performer Ms. Kirchschlager's repertoire reaches from Bach, Berlioz, Brahms, Debussy, Dvorak, Korngold, Mahler, Mendelssohn and Ravel to Rossini, Schubert, Schumann, Weill and Wolf.

After a successful summer season with a highly acclaimed debut as Sesto in HŠndel's Giulio Cesare at the prestigious 2005 Glyndebourne Festival and recitals at the Schubertiade in Schwarzenberg, in Lucerne and at the Haydn Festival in Eisenstadt, Ms. Kirchschlager opened her 2005-2006 season with performances of Sophie's Choice at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. She is the only singer so far who has performed this challenging and highly dramatic role. Nicholas Maw's opera was world premiered under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle at the Royal Opera Covent Garden in 2002. She will then bring the role of Sophie to Vienna performing at the Volksoper. In November, a short concert tour to the US is scheduled with recitals at the Schubert Club in St. Paul and at New York's Alice Tully Hall with a Brahms, Debussy, Ravel and Schumann program. Her last performances in 2005 will be as Cherubino in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro at the Vienna State Opera. The new year will see her in Idomeneo in Vienna as well as in recital in Munich. At the 2006 Salzburg Easter Festival, Ms. Kirchschlager will give her role debut as Melisande in Debussy's Pelleas et Melisande with Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic. The opera will also be performed in a concert version at the home of the Berlin Philharmonic in Berlin. Ms. Kirchschlager will then embark on a concert tour with Thomas Quasthoff with performances in Hamburg, Brussels and Paris. Following recitals in Neumarkt and at the Schubertiade in Hohenems, Ms. Kirchschlager will travel to Warsaw for a recital accompanied by Jean-Yves Thibaudet.

Back in Vienna she will be seen on opera and concert stage. In a duo recital aside Simon Keenlyside at the Theater an der Wien and in further performances of Idomeneo at the State Opera. Sophie's Choice opened and will also conclude Ms. Kirchschlager's exciting 2005-2006 season. By the end of the summer she will travel to Washington, DC, for the US premiere of Sophie's Choice presented by the Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

"She looks like Nicole Kidman, she moves like Sarah Vaughan, she has the most open, generous vowels, the most perfect vibrato and diction, and sings for love and pleasure not for power. Who could ask for anything more?" The Independent, May 2003

As for the previous (2004-2005) season, Angelika Kirchschlager started it with a trip to Tokyo as part of the Vienna State Opera's tour to Japan performing Mozart's Don Giovanni and Le nozze di Figaro. Back in Europe she sang recitals in London and Basel followed by a concert tour to the German cities of Hamburg, Bremen, LŸbeck and Leverkusen. In November she sang a concert at London's Wigmore Hall followed by a recital with Jean-Yves Thibaudet at the Tuschinki Theatre in Amsterdam. Ms. Kirchschlager went on concert tour with soprano Barbara Bonney after the release of their album First Encounter featuring duets by Sony Classical. The tour included cities such as Berlin, Essen, Lisbon, Birmingham, Madrid, Paris, Munich and Cologne. Ms. Kirchschlager returned to Vienna in January for opera performances with the Vienna State Opera. Further performances with Barbara Bonney were scheduled at the end of January at London's Barbican Hall and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. Further highlights of the season included a concert in Gstaad as well as a tour with the Camerata Salzburg and a Haydn, Vivaldi and Mozart program. Tour performances were scheduled in Vienna, NŸrnberg, Berlin, Essen, Stuttgart and Munich. Furthermore, Le nozze di Figaro at the Vienna State Opera in April 2005 followed by three concerts of Mendelssohn's Elias with Thomas Quasthoff and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. In April, Ms. Kirchschlager traveled to North America for concerts with soprano Felicity Lott in Philadelphia, New York, Quebec and Ann Arbor. Back in Europe she returned for one concert to London's Wigmore Hall and later to Vienna for several Rosenkavalier performances at the State Opera. The highlight of the summer season 2005 were Ms. Kirchschlager's performances of HŠndel's Giulio Cesare (role debut as Sesto) at the famous Glyndebourne Festival. The opera was also performed at the BBC Proms in London.

In Fall 2004, Ms. Kirchschlager's album First Encounter featuring duets with soprano Barbara Bonney was released by Sony Classical including music by Felix Mendelssohn, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms and Antonin Dvorak. Two years earlier her album of Bach Arias including St. MatthewÕs Passion and the Christmas Oratorio was released. The Autumn of 1999 saw the release of her second recording, When Night Falls, a collection of classical and popular lullabies dedicated to her son. This album won her the prestigious ECHO 2000 Music Award in the category Best Song Recording of the Year. Angelika Kirchschlager is an exclusive recording artist for Sony Classical. Her debut album of Lieder by Alma Mahler, Gustav Mahler and Erich Korngold was highly acclaimed; additional recordings include MendelssohnÕs A Midsummer NightÕs Dream with Claudio Abbado and the Berlin Philharmonic as well as Le nozze di Figaro with RenŽ Jacobs.

Born in Salzburg, Ms. Kirchschlager studied piano at the Mozarteum. Upon graduation from the ÔMusisches Gymnasium' in Salzburg, she enrolled at the Vienna Music Academy in 1984 where she studied with the late Walter Berry. Ms. Kirchschlager resides in Vienna.