Angelika Kirchschlager

Austrian mezzo-soprano Angelika Kirchschlager enjoys an international career as one of the most important vocal artists before the public today dividing her time between recitals and opera in Europe, North America and the Far East. She is internationally recognized as one of the foremost interpreters of Richard Strauss and Mozart. In title roles of operas such as Pelleas et Melisande, Sophie’s Choice and The rape of Lucretia she shows the vast variety of her voice. As a celebrated recitalist and concert performer her repertoire reaches from Bach, Berlioz, Brahms, Debussy, Dvorak, Korngold, Mahler, Mendelssohn and Ravel to Rossini, Schubert, Schumann, Weill and Wolf.

In 2007 the Austrian government awarded Ms. Kirchschlager the title of Kammersängerin for her outstanding contributions to the Vienna State Opera. In 2009 she became an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music in London. In 2013 she won the BBC Music Magazine Award for her recording of Liszt and received the prestigious European Cultural Award for her contributions to classical music on stage and as a teacher keeping the fascination of classical music alive for the younger generation.

She begins her 2015-2016 season as part of the jury of the prestigious Wigmore Hall Song Competition followed by a concert of the Bruckner Mass at the diocese St. Florian. Later she sings concerts with composer and pianist Bela Koreny in Wachau and Perchtoldsdorf, Austria, participates in the anniversary concert of the Schubertiade in Schwarzenberg and is part of the project “Ganymed Dreaming” at the Vienna Historical Art Museum where different artists perform in front of selected paintings at the museum to offer a new perspective of the old master pieces. Angelika Kirchschlager will do a total of seven performances until the end of the year.

In November she teams up once again with singer and song writer Konstantin Wecker for a continuation of their popular program “Liedestoll” with concerts in various cities in Austria. She then sings at a benefit concert with the Orchester der Kulturen in Berlin supporting the “House of One” where three religions will meet under one roof followed by performances at the Ronald McDonald Child Aid Gala in Vienna and a benefit concert in Eisenstadt.

After participating in the popular Christmas in Vienna concert, Angelika Kirchschlager returns to the Theater an der Wien in January as Ms. Peachum in a new Keith Warner production of Weill’s The Threepenny Opera.

Thereafter, she continues with recitals accompanied by Malcolm Martineau and Julius Drake in Leer and Genoa. After a master class at the Mozart House in Vienna she will embark on a concert tour with the Camerata Bern to different cities in South America incl. Bahia and Sao Paolo in Brazil.

Upon her return, she sings an orchestral concert at the Brucknerhaus in Linz followed by a series of recitals in Klagenfurt, Stockholm, at the Schubertiade in Hohenems, at London’s Wigmore Hall as well as in Chipping Campden. In between these recitals she will sing a Korngold, Weill and Schönberg program with the Orchestra Divertimento Viennese at the Vienna concert house, a Schubert concert with the Moscow Soloists at the Yaroslavl Festival, Russia, and hold a master class at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

In May, Ms. Kirchschlager will join the Fledermaus cast of the Vienna Volksoper for their tour to Japan. In June, she will sing another recital at Wigmore Hall accompanied by Julius Drake as well as a duo recital with Dame Felicity Lott accompanied by James Sherlock in Champs Hill.

Ms. Kirchschlager’s final concert of the season will be Mahler’s Symphony no.2 in Leipzig aside soprano Miah Persson and with the MDR Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kristjan Järvi.

Among her latest recordings are the above mentioned album of Liszt accompanied by Julius Drake on Hyperion, a Lieder CD (Preiser Records) as well as her recording “Seligkeit” featuring Schubert, Mahler and Brahms with the Philharmonia Schrammeln on Deutsche Grammophon. In 2010 she released the ECHO Award winning recording of Schumann Lieder (Sony), Mahler Lieder (Quinton Records) for the composer’s 150th birthday, a Brahms album (Hyperion Records) and a CD of Lieder by Joseph Marx (cpo). In addition she is part of a two volume CD of Volkslieder (Sony) where she is featured together with many other famous classical singers.

Her discography further includes Lieder by Hugo Wolf (Sony), an Operetta album (Sony) recorded with Simon Keenlyside, an album of Christmas carols, Händel Arias and the duet lieder album “First Encounter” with Barbara Bonney, “Women’s Lives and Loves” (lieder by Schumann and Loewe with Dame Felicity Lott) on Hyperion, Le Nozze di Figaro (René Jacobs, conductor) on Harmonia Mundi as well as the Sony releases of Bach Arias,  'When night falls' a collection of classical and popular lullabies and her highly acclaimed debut album of Lieder by Alma Mahler, Gustav Mahler and Erich Korngold.

On DVD Ms. Kirchschlager can be seen as Sesto in the highly-acclaimed Glyndebourne production of Handel’s Giulio Cesare on Opus Arte; as Cherubino on Le Nozze di Figaro (René Jacobs, conductor) on Bel Air, as Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier from the Salzburg Festival (Semyon Bychkov, conductor) on TDK and as Sophie in the Royal Opera House release of Nicholas Maw’s opera Sophie’s Choice. Ms. Kirchschlager won three ECHO KLASSIK as well as a GRAMMY Award.

Born in Salzburg, Angelika Kirchschlager enrolled at the Vienna Music Academy in 1984 where she studied voice with Professor Gerhard Kahry and the late Viennese baritone Walter Berry. Today Ms. Kirchschlager teaches herself at international master classes. She makes her home in Vienna.