Elisabeth von Magnus
Elisabeth von Magnus (* in Vienna) is an Austrian opera, oratorio, recital and concert singer in the vocal range mezzo- soprano and alto.
Life and artistic work
Elisabeth von Magnus studied after high school recorder at the Vienna Academy of Music. Then she founded the ensemble Récréation and played as a soloist in the Concentus Musicus Wien. Next, she began an acting training at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and then studied singing at the Munich Academy of Music (now the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich ). Your vocal coach was the internationally renowned contralto Hertha Topper. Additionally, we often visited the class for song interpretation with Paul Schilhawsky in Salzburg and worked as a freelancer for the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation as an announcer and host of her own series.
Her operatic debut Elisabeth von Magnus as Polly in Benjamin Britten's version of The Beggar 's Opera in Munich Marstalltheater. This was the beginning of a career that quickly reached an international level and the artist led to major opera houses, concert halls and festivals in the world: Alte Oper Frankfurt, Berlin and Cologne Philharmonie, Vienna Musikverein, Vienna Concert House, Barbican Centre London, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Carinthian Summer, Théâtre des Champs-Elysees Paris, Haydn Festival in Eisenstadt, Music Festival Potsdam, Lucerne Festival, International Handel Festival Göttingen, Bach week in Ansbach, further to Leipzig, Dresden, Budapest, Florence, Paris, Linz, Passau, and in 1993 the Salzburg Festival, where the singer among others in Mozart's Mass in C Minor, Monteverdi's Vespers and his opera The Coronation of Poppea was heard. She has performed with Sangeskolleginnen and colleagues like Christine Schäfer, Dorothea Rosch, Michael Schade and Markus Schäfer.
Under the direction of Peter Schreier, she made her U.S. debut in Bach's St. Matthew Passion with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. With the great Bach oratorio singer toured together with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir, the major music centers of Europe, Japan and the United States. Their opera performances were recorded positive in The Marriage of Figaro, directed by Jürgen Flimm in Amsterdam and Zurich, in the Baroque opera Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell, and in Xerxes by George Frideric Handel.
Elisabeth von Magnus worked intensively with the pianist Anthony Spiri and Markus Vorzellner together as an accompanist. For many years she forms a duo with pianist Jacob Bogaart. The two artists have many different subjects built up a large and wide- ranging repertoire of programs ( from the baroque, classical and romantic to Alban Berg, George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter and Kurt Weill ).
Many internationally renowned conductors accompanied their artistic path, including Claudio Abbado, Frieder Bernius, Frans Brüggen, Dennis Russell Davies, John Fiore, Ádám Fischer, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Simon Schouten, Markus Stenz, Hans Vonk, Bruno Weil, Lothar Zagrosek and Jaap van Zweden.
Since Elizabeth is trained by Magnus actress, she takes over cross-border roles again and again and also occurs with readings. Several CDs, videos, radio and television appearances ( both at home and abroad) round out the artistic activity of the singer.
The mezzo-soprano and her three siblings are the children of the conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt and his wife Alice. She is in second marriage with the Dutch conductor and former countertenor Simon Schouten, who in 1999 founded the ensemble Lyriqe married.
Discography (selection)
- CM von Weber: Der Freischütz (lot of bridesmaid ) (East West Records, 1996)
- JS Bach: Christmas Oratorio ( Erato, 1996)
- JS Bach: St. Matthew Passion ( Teldec, 2000)
- JS Bach: Cantatas diverse ( Challenge Records )
- Canzonettas & Arianne a Naxos Haydn ( Challenge, 2002)
- Testoride Argonauta ( NuovaEra, 2002)
- Tonight Kurt Weill ( Preiser, 2006)