  g(11696700)a(1393595))
Agency:
Opéra et Concert
37, rue de la Chaussée d'Antin
75009 Paris
France
Fon: +33 1 42 96 18 18
Fax: +33 1 42 96 18 00
agence@opera-concert.com
www.opera-concert.com
| | Dernesch Helga | | soprano |   
| Her 'debut' as Rosalinde in a school performance of Die Fledermaus was followed by studies at the Vienna Academy of Music and concert performances in oratorios and cantatas. In 1961 she was engaged by the Municipal Theatre in Berne (Switzeland) where she made her debut as Marina in Boris Godunov and went on to roles such as Fiordiligi in Cosi fan tutte, Antonia in The Tales of Hoffmann, and her first Wagner roles. In 1963, she joined the Municipal Theatre in Wiesbaden, where she remained until 1966. By then, she had specialised in the interpretation of the great Wagner heroines. Wieland Wagner engaged her in 1967 for a tour of Japan by the Bayreuth Festival Ensemble. At Bayreuth, she sang Wellgunde (1965-67), Freia and Gutrune (1968-69), Elisabeth (1967), Ortlinde and a Flower Maiden (1966-69) and Eva (1969). She joined the Opera House in Cologne in 1966, and performed there regularly beginning in 1970. Meanwhile she also scored great successes at the Vienna State Opera and at the Deutsche Opernhaus in Berlin. In 1969 she sang for the first time under Herbert v.Karajan at the Salzburg Festival, and concentrated on heavy dramatic roles. Soon she became one of the best known interpreters of roles such as Brünnhilde and Isolde. In 1971 she appeared in Salzburg as Leonore in Fidelio, in 1982 in a concert version of Penthesilea by Othmar Schoeck. Beginning in 1970, she was heard at Covent Garden as Sieglinde, Chrysothemis, Fidelio, Marschallin, and the Dyer's wife. In 1970 she sang at the Edinburgh Festival, in Hamburg and Munich. 1n 1972 she was applauded at the Paris Opera as Sieglinde. In 1970 she sang at the Teatro San Carlos in Lisbon, in 1969 and 1970 at the Teatro Liceo, Barcelona, in 1968 at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, in 1968 at the Rome Opera House, in 1970 in Amsterdam and Budapest, in 1986 in Madrid. On October 23,1972, she created the title role in "Elisabeth Tudor" by Wolfgang Fortner at the Deutsche Oper, Berlin. Her U.S. debut was in Dallas in 1981 as Leonore in Fidelio; thereafter, she was heard in San Francisco first as Herodias (1982), then as Erda, Fricka and Waltraute (1984-85). In 1973 she had appeared as a guest with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in New York. On 9 July 1978, she created Goneril in Reimann's Lear at the Munich State Opera. Beginning in 1979, she has concentrated on mezzo roles. She visited Japan in 1984 with the Hamburg State Opera. Her debut at the Metropolitan was as Marfa in Khovantchina, followed by Fricka and Waltraute in the Ring Cycles in 1989 and such varied roles as Orlofsky, Herodias in Salome and the nurse in Die Frau ohne Schatten. In 1994, she undertook the old prioress in Les dialogues des Carmélites and in 1995, Adelaide in Arabella. In 1987 she was a guest at La Scala, Milan in the role of Herodias. She took part in yet another world premiere in the role of Hekabe in Reimann's Troades. In 1987 and 1989 she made guest appearances at Covent Garden as the nurse in Die Frau ohne Schatten, then in 1990 in Los Angeles as Fricka and as Quickly in Verdi's Falstaff. In 1992 she sang Klytemnestra in Elektra at the Opera Bastille in Paris; in Munich the Electress in Henze's The Prince of Homburg, in 1994 Pytia in Melusina by A.Reimann at the Dresden State Opera, in 1995 the Principessa in Suor Angelica and Zita in Gianni Schicchi at the Hamburg State Opera, in 1996 the Countess in Pikovaya Dama at the Berne Opera House (Switzeland). She is married to the tenor Werner Krenn. Recordings: HMV-Electrola (Fidelio, Tristan und Isolde, Walküre, Troades); Philips (Ring Cycle); DGG (Ring Cycle, Arabella), Decca (Tannhäuser, Die Walküre, Arabella) Schwann-Verlag (Penthesilea by O.Schoeck.) |
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