Anke Vondung • singing

Biography

The rising career of Speyer-born mezzo-soprano Anke Vondung began during her studies with Prof. Rudolf Piernay at the Mannheim University of Music. She won numerous international competitions and prizes (Schubert Competition in Graz, ARD Competition in Munich, Belvedere Competition in Vienna, Mendelssohn Competition in Berlin, etc.) and was consequently able to develop a wide range of activities. Her first step led her
to a permanent engagement at the Landestheater Innsbruck under the direction of Brigitte Fassbaender, which enabled her to develop and successfully present numerous major roles in her field. This was followed by the Semperoper Dresden, with which she remained closely associated as a permanent guest until 2022.

Her wide-ranging repertoire includes roles spanning from Baroque to contemporary composers (e.g., from Handel's Giulio Cesare to Henze's We Come to the River), many Mozart roles such as Dorabella (Cosi fan tutte), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Cherubino (Nozze di Figaro), Idamante (Idomeneo), Sesto (Clemenza di Tito), Cecilio
(Lucio Silla) and the Strauss operas: Rosenkavalier (Oktavian), Ariadne auf Naxos (Composer), Capriccio (Clairon). She has a great love for the French language and its opera composers: Hector Berlioz (Damnation de Faust: Marguérite), Jules Massenet (Don Quichotte: Dulcinea), Georges Bizet (Carmen: Carmen), Charles Gounod (Margarete: Siebel) and the great Rossini roles such as Cenerentola and Rosina, and many more. More recently, she has been working on several Wagner roles, such as Fricka in Rheingold and Walküre. She appeared in a new production of Rheingold in Klagenfurt during the 24/25 season. Above all, however, the versatile, expressive singer is at home in the concert hall, regularly thrilling her audiences with her emotional depth and technical skill. Numerous CD and DVD recordings document the artistic breadth of her work. Her latest recording of André Caplet's Miroir de Jesus has received many awards (Diapason d'or, International Classic Music Award, etc.).

For many years, she has had a deep emotional connection to the great sacred works of Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, and Mendelssohn, as well as to the works of Gustav Mahler. Song is another central focus of her work. The singer has been inspired by a passion for poetry and its creative expressive possibilities for many years. Penetrating the great themes of life in the miniatures of the songs, exploring them in all their facets and portraying them is a deeply satisfying task.

Her international career has taken her to many major stages and opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera and Carnegie Hall in New York, San Diego Opera, Théâtre Chatelet and Opéra Bastille in Paris, Nederlandse Opera and Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Theater an der Wien and Grand Théâtre de Genève, Wigmore Hall in London, Bavarian State Opera in Munich, and the Bregenz, Salzburg, Munich, Glyndebourne,
Herrenchiemsee, Rheingau, and many more... She has also performed with numerous renowned orchestras in Europe, Asia, and America, such as the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Montreal Symphony, NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, the radio orchestras of MDR, NDR, WDR, and BR, the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Akademie für alte Musik Berlin, Bremer Kammerphilharmonie, ensemble modern, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig....

She has performed under the baton of many renowned conductors, such as Sir Roger Norrington, Dennis Russell Davies, Richard Bonynge, James Conlon, Edo de Waart, Kent Nagano, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, James Levine, Fabio Luisi, Marek Janowski, Vladimir Jurowski, Ivan Fischer, Manfred Honeck, Gerd Albrecht, Marc Albrecht, Armin Jordan, Philippe Jordan, Helmuth Rilling, Peter Schreier, Jeffrey Tate, Philippe Herreweghe, Hans Christoph Rademann, Peter Dijkstra...

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, a new and exciting field of work and interest has developed, which has been continuously deepened and intensified through additional training as a breathing therapist and a teaching position at the Mannheim University of Music, various master classes, and coaching sessions... The life cycle of learning AND teaching... Joyful teaching of precise technique paired with the optimal use of breathing spaces and conscious body awareness, because:

SINGING IS A WHOLE-BODY SENSATION