Angelika Kirchschlager

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Angelika Kirchschlager (b. 1966 in Salzburg) is an Austrian mezzo-soprano opera and lieder singer.

In a relatively short time, Angelika Kirchschlager has become one of the most sought after mezzo-sopranos in the opera, recognized for her dramatic skills as well as for her singing. She has been heard on all of the major opera stages of the world and has performed interpritations of Lieder and Oratorios.

1 Life
2 Roles
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Life

Kirchschlager's musical training began at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, where she studied percussion and piano. In 1984, she went to the Vienna Music Academy, where she took voice lessions with Walter Berry. Her first engagements were at the Wiener Kammeroper and the Graz Opera House.

Kirchschlager won third prize in the prestigious International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition in 1991 and became a member of the Vienna State Opera in 1993. She made her debut there with the roll of Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro.

In 2002, she sang the title role in the world première of British composer Nicholas Maw's opera Sophie's Choice at the Royal Opera House in London. She debuted a new production of Tales of Hoffmann in 2003.

Kirchschlager has worked with many distinguished conductors, such as Claudio Abbado, Bertrand de Billy, Sir Colin Davis, John Eliot Gardiner, Christopher Hogwood, James Levine, Kurt Masur, Kent Nagano, Seiji Ozawa, Kurt Sanderling, and Sir Simon Rattle, and sung in many of the great houses of the world. She gives recitals throughout the world and is regular guest of the annual Liederfestival Schubertiade Schwarzenberg in Vorarlberg/Austria together with Helmut Deutsch. She lives with her family in Vienna.