André Morsch, Robin Johannsen, Sophie Karthäuser, Lydia Teuscher, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin & Bernard Labadie
Biography André Morsch, Robin Johannsen, Sophie Karthäuser, Lydia Teuscher, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin & Bernard Labadie
André Morsch
German baritone André Morsch studied with Margreet Honig at the Amsterdam Conservatory. He is a former member of William Christie’s Le Jardin des Voix and recipient of the 1st Prize and Hermann-Reutter-Prize at the prestigious 'Internationaler Wettbewerb für Liedkunst' in Stuttgart and the Prix Bernac from the Académie Ravel in Saint-Jean-de-Luz.
A former ensemble member of Oper Stuttgart, his roles for this house included Leporello/Don Giovanni, Papageno/Die Zauberflöte, Figaro/Le Nozze di Figaro, Figaro/Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Harlekin/Ariadne auf Naxos, Achille/Giulio Cesare, Schaunard/La Bohème, Dandini/La Cenerentola, Cithéron/Platée, Dr Falke/Die Fledermaus, Der Graf in Boesmans' Der Reigen, Guglielmo/Cosi fan tutte, Pluto/Orphee aux enfers, Malatesta/Don Pasquale and as Fernando Ormez in the world premiere of Toshio Hosokawa’s Erdbeben.Träume, directed by Jossi Wieler.
At De Nationale Opera Amsterdam, he has sung Pompeo/Benvenuto Cellini, Der Graf in Schreker’s Der Schatzgräber, Jake Wallace/La Fanciulla del West, The Novice's Friend/Billy Budd, Michelotto Cibo in Schreker’s Die Gezeichneten and, most recently, Thésée in Enescu’s Oedipe, conducted by Marc Albrecht.
Other recent opera appearances include Plutone in Legrenzi’s La Divisione del Mondo, conducted by Christophe Rousset, at the Opéra National du Rhin, in Nancy and Versailles, Papageno at Grand Théâtre de Genève, Figaro/Le Nozze di Figaro, Bach's St John Passionand Guglielmo with the Orchestra of the 18th Century, Adario/Les Indes Galantes at Opernhaus Zürich, the title role in Lully’s Cadmus et Hermione at Opéra Comique in Paris (Diapason d'Or, DVD of the year 2009/Deutsche Schallplattenkritik), Fritz/Die tote Stadt at the Opéra national de Lorraine in Nancy, Boris in Shostakovich’s Moskva - Cheremushki at the Opéra de Lyon and Stephano in Martin's Der Sturm at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam.
In concert, he has worked with, amongst others, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, the Beethoven Orchester Bonn, Les Talens Lyriques, Le Poème Harmonique, Les Arts Florissants, Het Residentie Orkest, the Dutch Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra and conductors such as Frans Brüggen, Jaap van Zweden, Ingo Metzmacher, James Gaffigan, Hervé Niquet, Christophe Rousset, William Christie, Vincent Dumestre, Carlo Rizzi, Ivor Bolton, Kenneth Montgomery, Marcus Creed, Reinbert de Leeuw, Jan Willem de Vriend, Sylvain Cambreling and Edo de Waart.
Most recent engagements include the world premiere of Jan Mueller Wieland’s Maria with the Balthasar Neumann Ensembles and Thomas Hengelbrock at the Ruhrtriennale Festival, Haydn’s Jahreszeiten with the Orchestra of the 18 Century, Schubert’s Stabat Mater with the Dutch Radio Philharmonic at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam Haydn's Schöpfungsmessewith the Brussels Philharmonic, the title role in Telemann’s Miriways with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin under Bernard Labadie at Laeizhalle Hamburg, Brahms’ Deutsches Requiem with the Orchestra of the 18th Century, the Sinfonieorchester Basel and the Cuban European Youth Orchestra under Thomas Hengelbrock in Havana.
In recital, he regularly performs with Julius Drake, with appearances at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, Zurich, Stuttgart and elsewhere.
Highlights in 2019/20 include the title role in Don Giovanni with the Orchestra of the 18thCentury, Britten’s War Requiem with Het Gelders Orkest, Mozart’s Krönungsmesse with the Cuban European Youth Orchestra and Thomas Hengelbrock, Handel’s Messiah with the NDR Chor at Elbphilarmonie Hamburg, Haydn’s Die Schöpfung with the KIOI Chamber Orchestra Tokyo under Hartmut Haenchen, works by Saint-Saëns and Beethoven on European tour with the Balthasar-Neumann Ensembles under Thomas Hengelbrock, Bach’s Matthäus-Passion with the Orchestra of the 18th Century, the Weihnachtsoratorium with Chorwerk Ruhr in Madrid and at the Essen Philharmonie, La Divisione del Mondo at the Kölner Philharmonie, Mozart’s Messe in c-moll with the RIAS Kammerchor, his role debut as Golaud in Pelléas et Melisande for Opera national de Montpellier and Guglielmo in Atom Egoyan’s production of Cosi fan tutte at the Québec Opera Festival, conducted by Bernard Labadie.
Robin Johannsen
American soprano Robin Johannsen came to Europe as a young artist with the Deutsche Oper Berlin and joined the company soon after as a soloist. Her roles there included Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Norina (Don Pasquale), Oscar (Un ballo in maschera), and Soeur Constance (Les dialogues des Carmélites). After two more years with Oper Leipzig (Gretel, Marzelline, Blonde, Susanna, and Pamina), she began her freelance career in 2008 with a special affinity for the Baroque and Classical repertoires.
In recent seasons, Robin has appeared at Theater an der Wien, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Athens’ Megaron, Staatsoper Berlin, Hamburgische Staatsoper, Teatro Regio Torino, Staatsoper Stuttgart, Oper Frankfurt, Vlaamse Opera, Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, and the Komische Oper Berlin, where roles have included Venere/Giuturna in Steffani’s Amor vien dal destino, the title role in Almira, Isifile in Cavalli’s Giasone, Marzelline in Beethoven’s Leonore, Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, the title role in Telemann’s Emma und Eginhard, and Adina in L’elisir d’amore.
She has a close working relationship with René Jacobs and the Freiburger Barockorchester, and is a frequent guest with Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, La Cetra Basel, the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart, Concerto Köln, Academia Montis Regalis, and Belgium’s B’Rock. She has also collaborated with conductors such as Marin Alsop, Teodor Currentzis, Ottavio Dantone, Antonello Manacorda, Andrea Marcon, Alessandro De Marchi, Raphaël Pichon, Jérémie Rhorer, and Christian Thielemann.
Highlights of Robin’s 2019/2020 season include debuts with Orchestra dell'Accademia nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Haydn’s Schöpfung (Manfred Honeck), with the English Concert in Bach’s St John Passion (Harry Bicket), Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de Espana in Bach’s B Minor Mass (David Afkam), Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Schöpfung (Philippe Herreweghe), Wiener Symphoniker in Bach’s Magnificat in D (Philippe Jordan) and at the Semperoper Dresden under Ton Koopman. In North America, she debuts with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in Handel’s Judas Maccabeus (Nicolas McGegan) and with the Arion Orchestre Baroque with Andrea Marcon. Together with Martin Haselböck’s Musica Angelica, she will sing a solo program of works by Handel, Haydn, and Mozart on tour in California and Florida. Future tours include those with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, La Folia Barockorchester and with RIAS Kammerchor, including a recording for Harmonia Mundi as well as performances at the Halle, Ensecu and Dresden Music Festivals. On the opera platform she sings Marzelline in Beethoven’s Leonore and returns to Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin for Purcell’s King Arthur.
Robin Johannsen’s numerous concert engagements have also included performances with the Dresden Philharmonic, OSESP São Paolo, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Pygmalion, the Academy of Ancient Music, RIAS Kammerchor, Café Zimmermann, NDR Hannover, Helsinki Philharmonic, Capella Augustina, and Singapore Symphony, as well as at Berliner Philharmonie, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Essen Philharmonie, Gasteig Munich, Konzerthaus Berlin, Lucerne Festival, Paris Philharmonie, the Vatican, Salzburg’s Mozarteum, and Tonhalle Zürich.
In the States, Robin has appeared with the Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Dallas, and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestras. She has also performed at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center and the Philadelphia Kimmel Center, as well as Carnegie Hall and the Oregon Bach Festival. Her ever-growing discography includes recent additions of Telemann Cantatas with Concerto Melante (Deutsche Harmonia Mundi/Sony), the title role in Vinci’s Didone Abbandonata with the Lautten Compagney (for Sony Classical), and Handel’s Parnasso in festa with Andrea Marcon and La Cetra Basel (for Pentatone). She was awarded an Edison Classical Music Award for her performance as Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail under René Jacobs for Harmonia Mundi. In May 2014, Sony Classical (Deutsche Harmonia Mundi/Sony) released Robin’s first solo disc, ‘In dolce amore,’ a world premiere recording of Baroque arias and cantatas by Antonio Caldara, conducted by Alessandro De Marchi.
Sophie Karthäuser
Renowned worldwide as one of the finest interpreters of Mozart’s works, being called a born “Mozartian”, Sophie Karthäuser has earned such praise by singing her first ever Pamina under the baton of René Jacobs at La Monnaie and her debut Susanna led by William Christie with Opéra de Lyon. She has appeared in several other Mozart roles, such as Tamiri (Théâtre des Champs-Elysées), Sandrina (Theater an der Wien), Serpetta (Berlin Konzerthaus), Despina and Zerlina (Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie) and Ilia (Aix-en-Provence Festival, Salzburg Mozartwoche, Bremen, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and Theater an der Wien).
Notable scenic productions include the title-role in La Calisto at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées under Christophe Rousset as well as at La Monnaie under René Jacobs, a large scale Rameau project in Aix-en-Provence with William Christie, Charpentier’s Medée with Emmanuelle Haïm at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and Polissena in Händel’s Radamisto at Theater an der Wien. In January and February 2015 she returned to La Monnaie with Händel’s Tamerlano with a revival in Amsterdam. March 2016 brought her back to La Monnaie as Héro in Béatrice et Bénédicte (Berlioz), a role in which she appeared also at the 2016 edition of the Glyndebourne Festival (Laurent Pelly production). Further highlights have been a production of Mozart’s Zauberflöte at the Theater an der Wien and the title role in Pelléas et Mélisande at the Teatr Wielki in Warsaw.
Ever since she won the audience price at the Wigmore Hall Song Competition, Sophie Karthäuser counts among the most coveted recitalists with appearances in Antwerp, Lille, Nantes, Paris, Strasbourg, Bordeaux, Frankfurt, at the Palais des Beaux-Arts Brussels, at the Philharmonic Halls in Berlin and Cologne as well as at New York’s Carnegie Hall and London’s Wigmore Hall, Berliner Philharmonie, Kölner Philharmonie, Brussels Palais des Beaux Arts, Frankfurt and Paris, accompanied by pianists Graham Johnson, Eugene Asti, Cédric Tiberghien and David Lively. In the past two seasons she charmed her audiences in recitals in Brussels, London, Oxford, Strasbourg, Zürich, Stuttgart, Paris, Cologne and at the Pierre Boulez Hall in Berlin.
Sophie Karthäuser is an equally sought-after concert soloist and is frequently being invited by prestigious ensembles and orchestras such as Staatskapelle Dresden, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Freiburger Barockorchester and Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin among others. Her presence on the podium on countless occasions alongside conductors such as Riccardo Chailly, Myung-Whun Chung, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Thomas Hengelbrock, Pablo Heras-Casado, Philippe Herreweghe, René Jacobs, Louis Langrée, Ingo Metzmacher, Marc Minkowski, Kent Nagano, Kazushi Ono, Jérémie Rohrer and Christophe Rousset give testimony to her outstanding artistry.
Season 2018-2019 started for Sophie Karthäuser with Pamina in Mozart´s Zauberflöte at La Monnaie in Brussels under the baton of Antonello Manacorda and the direction of Romeo Castellucci. Further Highlights were the world premiere of Annelies van Parys´ A War Requiem with the Belgian National Orchestra, Händel´s Dixit Dominus and Salve Regina with the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra and Paul Agnew, French arias with Concert de la Loge in Caen, Metz and Paris, Leçons de Ténèbres with Ensemble Correspondances and Sébastien Daucé, Mendelssohn´s Elias with Concentus Musicus and Stefan Gottfried in Vienna as well as Mozart-Arias with the B’Rock Orchestra and concerts with Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro with René Jacobs in Granada, where she could be heard as Contessa.
In addition to numerous recitals, the 2019-2020 will bring Händel’s Delirio Amoroso on tour through Asia with AKAMUS, French Opera Arias with the Ensemble Concert de la Loge in Paris, Beethoven’s Ah! Perfido in Palermo, Bach’s Christmas-Oratorio in Göteborg, Beethoven’s IX. Symphony in Helsinki and Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater in Grafenegg. Further Highlights include a Vivaldi-programme on tour with Les Arts Florissants in France and Germany. With rarely performed works by Mendelssohn and Weber she can be heard together with the renowned choir accentus, the Insula Orchestra and Laurence Equilbey in Aix-en-Provence, Paris, Dortmund and on tour through Asia.
Sophie Karthäuser´s recordings include a solo album of Grétry arias (awarded with Diapason découverte), Haydn’s Il Ritorno di Tobia with Andreas Spering (Jahrespreis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik), Mozart’s complete songs (Cypres), Mozart arias with Kazushi Ono at La Monnaie (Cypres), Händel’s Faramondo (Grand Prix de l’Académie Charles Cros), Mozart’s La Finta Giardinera with René Jacobs (Harmonia Mundi), Haydn´s Creation with William Christie, Pergolesi’s Septem Verba with René Jacobs (Harmonia Mundi) as well as a solo album of french songs (“Green”) inspired by Verlaine with Cédric Tiberghien (Cypres). Her recording of Poulenc songs together with pianist Eugene Asti (Harmonia Mundi) as well as Händel’s Orlando (Archiv) were released in 2014. Her CD of Lalande´s Leçons de Ténèbres (Hamonia Mundi, 2015) with the Ensemble Correspondances and Sébastien Daucé, highly acclaimed by the press, appeared in March 2015 and was awarded the Diapason d´Or 2015. Her CD Kennst du das Land (Harmonia Mundi, 2016), also with pianist Eugene Asti and released in April 2016 by Harmonia Mundi, contains songs of Hugo Wolf and has been highly acclaimed by international critics. In May 2018 Bach’s Dialogue Cantatas with Michael Volle and AKAMUS has been released by Harmonia Mundi, followed by Harmonie du soir with Mélodies Françaises by Debussy. Her latest album Le Bal des Animuaux, also with Eugene Asti, has been released by Harmonia Mundi in November 2018.
Born in Belgium, Sophie Karthäuser completed her studies with Noelle Barker at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Lydia Teuscher
was born in Freiburg, Germany and studied at the Welsh College of Music and Drama and at the Hochschule für Musik in Mannheim.
Highlights in her 2019/20 season include Ännchen Der Freischütz for the Opernhaus Zurich, Eurydice in Gluck’s Orfeo with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment/Laurence Cummings, Caliste in Telemann’s Pastorelle en Musique in the Schlosstheater Neues Palais Potsdam and Markgräfliches Opernhaus Bayreuth with Ensemble 1700/Dorothee Oberlinger, Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem with the Robert-Schumann-Philharmonie/Guillermo García Calvo, Mozart’s Requiem in the Wiener Konzerthaus with the Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich/Heinz Ferlesch and Fauré’s Requiem with the Los Angeles Philharmonic/Bernard Labadie.
In opera, Lydia has sung Pamina Die Zauberflöte at the Salzburg Mozartwoche, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, the Bolshoi, Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich and Deutsche Staatsoper, Berlin; Susanna Le nozze di Figaro at the Glyndebourne Festival, Dresdner Semperoper, Staatstheater Karlsruhe and at the Hyogo Performing Arts Center in Japan; Hero Béatrice et Bénédict at the Saito Kinen Festival in Japan; Zerlina Don Giovanni for the Bolshoi and Gretel Hänsel und Gretel for the Glyndebourne Festival, Dresdner Semperoper and Saito Kinen Festival.
Michael Nagy
Stuttgart born baritone with Hungarian roots, began his musical career with the Stuttgart Hymnus Boys’ Choir. He studied singing, Lied interpretation and conducting with Rudolf Piernay, Irwin Gage and Klaus Arp in Mannheim and Saarbrücken and enhanced his education in master classes held by Charles Spencer, Cornelius Reid and Rudolf Piernay, whom he still consults.
Michael Nagy became an ensemble member of the Komische Oper Berlin before moving on to Frankfurt Opera, where he was able to develop his repertoire in roles such as Paragon (The Magic Flute), Count Almaviva (The Marriage of Figaro), Wolfram (Tannhäuser), Valentin (Faust), Prince Yeletsky (Pique Dame), Marcello (La Bohème), Albert (Werther), Frank/Fritz (Die tote Stadt), Dr. Falke (Die Fledermaus) and the title role in Owen Wingrave, as well as Jason in Reimann’s Medea. He still has close ties with these two opera houses: most recently in Frankfurt as Spielmann (Humperdinck: Die Königskinder) and he can soon be heard as the Forester in Janáček’s Cunning Little Vixen; in Berlin he last sang Count Tamare (Schreker: Die Gezeichneten) and Eugene Onegin on tour at Edinburgh Festival.
He continues to broaden his repertoire on the world’s major opera stages: Wolfram in Tannhäuser (Bayreuth Festival), Hans Heiling in H. Marschner’s opera of the same name at the Theater an der Wien and Stolzius in Zimmermann’s Die Soldaten (under Kirill Petrenko at the Bavarian State Opera), Kurwenal (Tristan und Isolde) in Baden-Baden and Berlin conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, as well as the title role in Luigi Dallapiccola’s Il Prigioniero in Hamburg and the world premiere of Andreas Lorenzo Scartazzini’s new work Edward II at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
Last season Michael Nagy made two important role debuts: Don Alfonso (Così fan tutte) at Zurich Opera House and Amfortas (Parsifal) at the Bavarian State Opera conducted by Kirill Petrenko – he returns to both houses in the 2019/20 season to sing in three revivals: Die Fledermaus, Alceste and Così fan tutte.
Michael Nagy is highly in demand as a concert and oratorio singer around the globe. He has appeared with the most renowned international orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Concertgebouworkest, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, Orchestre de Paris, the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, the Berlin Konzerthausorchester, New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and has performed at various festivals, for instance in Schleswig-Holstein and in the Rheingau, at the Salzburg Festival and the Tanglewood Festival (USA), as well as in Grafenegg and San Sebastian.
Michael Nagy is inquisitive in the best sense of the word – besides familiar repertoire the coming season offers new discoveries: he opens the season singing in Mahler’s Eighth Symphony conducted by Christoph Eschenbach at the Berlin Konzerthaus and in Dvořák’s Te Deum, which marks the commencement of Cristian Macelaru’s term as new principal conductor of the WDR Cologne. Michael Nagy gives guest performances with the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Copenhagen conducted by Gianandrea Noseda in a concert performance of «Il Prigioniero» by Luigi Dallapiccola, with Hess Radio in Frankfurt as soloist in «Ein deutsches Requiem» by Johannes Brahms conducted by David Zinman, with the NDR Elbphilharmonie-Orchester in Hamburg under Marek Janowski singing Frank Martin’s «Jedermann Monologues», with the Brussels Philharmonic conducted by Stéphane Denève singing Brahms/Glanert «Four Serious Songs», with the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra conducted by Stefan Solyom in orchestrated songs and arias by Gounod, Mahler, Bizet and Schubert, at the Musikfest Stuttgart under H. C. Rademann singing in Bruch’s «Lied von der Glocke», in the opening concert of the Schleswig Holstein Music Festival in 2020 with Nielsen’s Third Symphony conducted by Alan Gilbert; he performs «Lebendig begraben» by Othmar Schoeck with The Orchestra Now! in the USA (combined with a CD recording) conducted by Leon Botstein in the Carnegie Hall in New York and at Bard College.
In the 250th anniversary year of Beethoven’s birth, works by this composer feature prominently in Michael Nagy’s engagements, for instance he is a soloist in the Missa solemnis with the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo and on tour with Thomas Hengelbrock; he sings in Beethoven’s Mass in C conducted by Karina Canellakis in Utrecht and the Ninth Symphony conducted by Teodor Currentzis in St. Petersburg, Bonn, Vienna and Luzern.
