Ortrun Wenkel

Ortrun Wenkel ( born October 25, 1942 in Buttstädt, Thuringia ) is a German contralto. It applies since her portrayal of Erda in Bayreuth "Century Ring" from 1976 as one of the most important opera and concert singers of the 20th century in this voice.

Life

Ortrun Wenkel studied at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar. After moving from the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in the Federal Republic of Germany, she continued her studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Frankfurt am Main in the master class Paul Lohmann. During her studies, she was invited as a concert singer for the English Bach Festival and the Flanders Festival, as well as for concerts at the Salle Pleyel (Paris), the Royal Festival Hall ( London), the Tonhalle Zurich and at the Vienna Musikverein. In 1971 she made ​​her debut as an opera singer at the Stadttheater Heidelberg with the title role in Gluck's Orpheus. Her studies continued at Elsa Cavelti of opera. In 1975, she was hired as an ensemble member at the Munich State Opera, where Wolfgang Wagner was aware of them and use them as Erda for the new production of Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Bayreuth Festival in 1976 ( "Century Ring" directed by Patrice Chereau and the musical direction committed by Pierre Boulez ). For the representation of Erda in Das Rheingold and Siegfried as well as the First Norn in Götterdämmerung, it was as " Principal Soloist " award in 1982 with the Grammy Award. In addition to the classical and romantic opera, oratorio and lieder repertoire Ortrun Wenkel was a major interpreter of the works of contemporary music and has worked with composers such as Hans Werner Henze, Krzysztof Penderecki, Gislher adhesive, Aribert Reimann and Gerd Kühr. For them, wrote Hans Werner Henze 's new version of Richard Wagner's Wesendonck -Lieder for alto voice and chamber orchestra, at the premiere in Cologne WDR 1977 she sang the solo part, under the direction of the composer.

Ortrun Wenkel occurred in the most important opera houses in the world ( inter alia, in the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Opéra Garnier, Paris, La Scala in Milan, the Royal Opera House London, as well as, inter alia, in the opera houses in Munich, Zurich, Geneva, Lisbon, Rome, Venice, Prague and Buenos Aires ) and the Berlin Philharmonic, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, in the Kennedy Center in Washington and at Carnegie Hall (New York). In addition, she appeared in the 1980s and 1990s repeatedly on television in the show hosted by Marcel Prawy shipments Good mood with music and your tune with. Ortrun Wenkel is continuously vocally active since her concert debut in 1964 and worked among others with conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Chailly, Michael Gielen, Riccardo Muti, Christoph von Dohnányi, Vaclav Neumann, Colin Davis, Seiji Ozawa, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Christoph Eschenbach, Ulf Schirmer, Gerd Albrecht, Klaus Tennstedt, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, James Conlon, Rafael Kubelik, Marek Janowski and Gabriel Chmura together. In recent years, she sang as much acclaimed role debuts at the Opera House Graz Fricka, Walt diamond and First Norn in the new production of Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung (2000/2001), Clytemnestra ( Richard Strauss, Elektra ) at the Budapest Spring Festival, the 1999 Styrian Autumn, the role of Magda Schneider in the world premiere of Gerd Kühr's " death and the Devil " ( libretto by Peter Turrini ), conducted by Ulf Schirmer, 2002/2003, the title role in House of Bernarda Alba by Aribert Reimann in the Swiss premiere at the Opera House Bern, in the 2009 / 10 the role of the Countess in the Queen of Spades ( Tchaikovsky ) at the Theater Kiel, and in 2012 at the Saarland State Theatre Saarbrücken Filipjewna in the role of Eugene Onegin ( Tchaikovsky ). Ortrun Wenkel is also an important song interpreter and given recitals worldwide with pianists such as Geoffrey Parsons, Rudolf Jansen, Phillip Moll, Erik Werba, William of Grunelius, corduroy sheaves and Felix Jany Renz. Your evening of songs at a packed Big House the Semperoper in Dresden in 1986 was celebrated as a special musical event in the GDR. Ortrun Wenkel is married to the geologist Prof. Dr. Peter Rothe since 1966.

Reviews (selection)

"The audience was witness to a miracle: One of the finest mezzo- sopranos in the world enchanted with its natural, rich - flowing voice the room But not only the voice is indescribably beautiful - woman Wenkels art consists rather in its rich expressiveness, in their very nuanced color palette. and in their infinite possibilities. " ( from the criticism of the Hungarian musicologist Peter Várnai to list the Wesendonck Lieder by Richard Wagner in the instrumentation of Hans Werner Henze with the Symphony Orchestra of the Southwest Radio Baden -Baden in Budapest, published in the (then state ) Hungarian daily Magyar Hirlap in January 1984 )

" Mahler's melancholy, Mahler's Transfiguration met Ortrun Wenkel with an expression, a skill that queues them in the front row of Mahler interpreters of today. With such nobility of the timbre and the line with such balance of the registers in the Technical and such intelligence in lecture, wise between piano Rapture and aufblühendem tone finding the balance, you will not just hear the old sets this symphonic cycle often. " ( from the criticism of Peter Dannenberg for the performance of Gustav Mahler's " Song of the Earth " with Ortrun Wenkel and the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Hans Zanotelli, Stuttgarter Zeitung, December 3, 1975)

"It's Ortrun Wenkel, who sang those five big and beautiful songs. A voice of remarkable evenness with a circumference of two octaves of warm and dark timbre, which preserves the same benefits in every situation, to a very natural sense of phrasing, which the melodic line is, without ever compromising a brilliantly clear pronunciation. " ( from the criticism of Pierre Petit to the performance of Gustav Mahler's " Kindertotenlieder " in Paris with Ortrun Wenkel and the Orchestre de Paris under the direction of Erich Leinsdorf, published in " Le Figaro ", Paris, on 14 March 1986 )

Discography (selection)

• Vivaldi: Psaume 126 " Nisi Dominus " Carissimi: Canzone " No, non si speri " Caldara: Cantate de Air " Mirti, faggi, tronchi " Monteverdi: Lamento d' Arianna; Ortrun Wenkel, Orchestre PRO ARTE Munich, Conductor: Kurt Redel (LP, 1975, Arion, Paris 1976/1979 )
• JS Bach: St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244; Evangelical Jugendkantorei the Palatinate, Heidelberg Chamber Orchestra, Conductor: Heinz Markus Göttsche (1976 LP Da Camera Magna 1997 CD Bayer Records )
• Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 3 in D minor; London Philharmonic Orchestra, Conductor: Klaus Tennstedt ( EMI Records 1980)
• Krzysztof Penderecki: Te Deum; Choir of the NDR, RIAS Chamber Choir, Radio - Symphonie- Orchester Berlin, conductor Krzysztof Penderecki (1981, Sender Freies Berlin, LP and live TV recording )
• Antonin Dvorak: Stabat Mater; Czech Philharmonic Choir, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Conductor: Wolfgang Sawallisch (1982, Supraphon 1994 CD Ariola Euro Disc)
• Dmitri Shostakovich: Six Poems of Marina Tsvetaeva, Op 143 a, Ortrun Wenkel, Concertgebouw Orchestra, conducted by Bernard Haitink; with Dmitri Shostakovich, Symphony No. 14 / Julia Varady, Dietrich Fischer- Dieskau / (1986, Decca )
• Franz Schreker: Five Songs for Low Voice; Radio - Symphonie- Orchester Berlin, conducted by Karl Anton Rickenbacher (1986, Koch Records )
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Requiem; Concentus Musicus Wien, conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt (1982 Hörcassette 1991 CD Teldec, German Record Prize, DVD 2006, TDK [ Johann Sebastian Bach, Cantata BWV 161 " Come, sweet hour of death " ] )
• Alexander Zemlinsky: Symphonic Songs for medium voice and orchestra op 20 (1929 ); Ortrun Wenkel, Symphony Orchestra of the SWF, conductor: Vaclav Neumann (SWF Baden -Baden 1984, CD WERGO 1993)
• Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 8; Frankfurt Museum Orchestra, Conductor: Michael Gielen (LP 1981 / CD 1992 Sony, Live TV recording for the reopening of the Alte Oper Frankfurt by the Hessischer Rundfunk 1981)
• Johann Sebastian Bach: Cantatas BWV 137 & 21; Thomas Boys Choir and New Bachisches College Leipzig, conductor: Hans -Joachim Rotzsch (1994, Berlin Classics )
• Richard Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen; Staatskapelle Dresden, Conductor: Marek Janowski (1982 LP, Eterna / 1983 LP Ariola Euro Disc / 1995 CD, RCA / 2012 CD, RCA)
• Richard Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen ( Boulez / Chereau Ring ); (1980 LP Philips / 2005 German Grammophon DVD )
• Richard Strauss: Daphne; Lucia Popp, Reiner Goldberg, Peter Schreier, Ortrun Wenkel, Kurt Moll; Choir and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Conductor: Bernard Haitink (2011 CD EMI Classics )