Christel Loetzsch

Christel Lötzsch (born 20 June,^[citation needed] 1986, in Annaberg-Buchholz, known as Christel Loetzsch, is a German mezzo-soprano opera singer.

Life and career

Loetzsch was born Christel Lötzsch in Annaberg-Buchholz in 1986, at the time still in the German Democratic Republic.[1][2] She began her music education at the age of 7,[3] attended the Musikgymnasium Helmholtz in Karlsruhe,[4] and studied singing at the University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar starting in 2005.[3] Loetzsch attended master classes and lessons with Brigitte Fassbaender, Gwyneth Jones, Manfred Jung and Catherine Foster.[5] In 2018 she earned her Konzertexamen with Carola Guber at the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig.[4]

Career

Loetzsch premiered Amalia in Ludger Vollmer's Schillers Räuber_Rap'n Breakdance Opera commissioned by the city of Jena in 2009.[6][7] In the same year she received a stipend from the Richard-Wagner-Verband Weimar to attend the Bayreuth Festival.[8][9][10] In Bayreuth she took part in the Cantilena Competition held by the Junge Musikerstiftung,[2][5] and received another stipend that enabled her to study at the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan in 2010 to improve her Italian.[3] In Italy Loetzsch participated in the singing competition "Giovani voci" Città di Magenta 2011,[11] which led to a temporary engagement in the choir of the Teatro alla Scala, where she met conductor Nicola Luisotti who helped her to sign with a talent agency.[2][3] This let to her debut in the soprano role Zerlina in Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Verona Arena[12] in July 2012 under Daniel Oren,[13] and to her engagement with the young artists ensemble of the Semperoper in Dresden in August.[2][1]

In the Dresden young ensemble Loetzsch sang Tebaldo in Verdi's Don Carlos, the Mother in Stephen Oliver's one act opera Mario und der Zauberer, Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel,[2] Rosina in The Barber of Seville, Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro,[14] Oberto in Alcina.[15] She made her US debut as Dorabella in Mozart's Così fan tutte at the San Francisco Opera under Luisotti in the summer of 2013.[16][17] In her second year in the Semperoper young ensemble in the 2013/14 season[18] she began to replace the umlaut ö in her last name (Lötzsch) with the digraph oe (Loetzsch),[19]^[clarification needed] and sang Amelia's maid in Simon Boccanegra,[20] and Ljusja in Moscow, Cheryomushki.[21]

In 2015 Loetzsch joined the ensemble of Theater Altenburg Gera with debuts as Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier, Maddalena in Rigoletto, Nancy in Martha, oder Der Markt zu Richmond , Lyubov in Mazeppa (opera), Leokadja Begbick in Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, Countess Viktoria in Viktoria und ihr Husar, as well as Brigitte in Hans Sommer's Rübezahl und der Sackpfeifer von Neiße.[14] In 2019 she sang Fricka in Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Landestheater Niederbayern.[4] In the same year she sang one of the Three Weird Sisters in the world premiere of Pascal Dusapin's Macbeth Underworld at La Monnaie Opera House in Brussels, staged by Thomas Jolly, and conducted by Alain Altinoglu[22]

In 2020 Loetzsch sang the title role in Dusapin's Penthesilea in a concert performances at the Philharmonie de Paris with the Orchestre de Paris.[23] With the same orchestra she sang the soprano cantata Le Soleil des eaux by Pierre Boulez under the baton of Klaus Mäkelä in 2021.[24] Also in 2021, she sang Arnold Schoenberg's Pierrot lunaire, Op. 21 with the Dresden Philharmonic under Marek Janowski.[25] Loetzsch sang the Drummer in Viktor Ullmann's Der Kaiser von Atlantis with the Munich Radio Orchestra under the baton of Patrick Hahn,[26] and jumped in as Fricka in Bern.[27] She sang the Nurse in Richard Strauss' Die Frau ohne Schatten at Oper Frankfurt under Sebastian Weigle,[28] and the young Dante in the world premiere of Dusapin's Il Viaggio, Dante under the baton of Kent Nagano at the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence.[29] In late 2022 she sang Floßhilde in Wagner's Das Rheingold and Götterdämmerung, and Schwertleite in his Die Walküre in concert with the Dresden Philharmonic under Marek Janowski.[30]

Teaching

Loetzsch is a lecturer for singing at the University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar,[31] and was granted a three year stipend aimed at preparing female artists for an artistic professorship in 2021.[32]

Discography

• 2022: Der Kaiser von Atlantis. Munich Radio Orchestra with Patrick Hahn; BR Klassik (900339)[26]

References

1. "Christel Lötzsch". semperoper.de (in German). Archived from the original on August 4, 2012. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
2. Kreysig, Jan (April 2013). "Als Zerlina nach Verona" (PDF; 5 MB). Liszt – Das Magazin der Hochschule (in German). No. 4. Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar. p. 62. Retrieved February 14, 2023.
3. Macheda, Gianluca. "Christel Lötzsch | IMG Artists". imgartists.com. Archived from the original on January 22, 2012. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
4. Jakóbczak, Bartosz (September 2022). "Christel Loetzsch - Hilbert Artists Management". hilbert.de. Archived from the original on October 1, 2022. Retrieved February 14, 2023.
5. Loetzsch, Christel. "about me | Christel Loetzsch". christelloetzsch.com. Retrieved February 15, 2023.
6. Günther, Georg (2018). Friedrich Schillers musikalische Wirkungsgeschichte: Ein Kompendium. Springer. p. 598. ISBN 9783476046208. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
7. Hollenstein, Oliver (June 10, 2009). "Schillers Räuber rappen - Schloss oder Plattenbau". Frankfurter Rundschau (in German). Retrieved February 19, 2023.
8. "Benefizkonzert der Jungen Musiker Stiftung in Kevelaer". junge-musiker-stiftung.de. September 2010. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
9. "Database of former scholarship holders - Richard Wagner Scholarship Foundation Bayreuth". richard-wagner-stipendienstiftung.de. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
10. "Richard Wagner Scholarship Foundation Bayreuth". richard-wagner-stipendienstiftung.de. Retrieved February 19, 2023. [The foundation] enables talented aspiring musicians, singers or other stage-professionals, who may be considered as young talents for the Bayreuth Festival orchestra or stage, to attend several performances of the Bayreuth Festival
11. "Per Elisa – Teatro Lirico di Magenta". concertodautunno.it. March 20, 2011. Retrieved February 14, 2023.
12. Cornacchione, Davide (July 6, 2012). "Zeffirelli porta Don Giovanni all'Arena". operateatro.it (in Italian). Retrieved February 19, 2023. Acidula e poco musicale la Zerlina di Christel Lötzsch.
13. "Arena di Verona 90 Festival 2012" (PDF). arena.it (in Italian). p. 5. Archived from the original (PDF; 6,1 MB) on May 23, 2012. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
14. "Theater Altenburg Gera: Mitarbeiter" (in German). Retrieved February 14, 2023.
15. Irurzun, José M. (June 6, 2014). "Alcina en Dresde: Barroco poco usual". beckmesser.com. Retrieved February 19, 2023. La joven Christel Loetzsch mostró su inmadurez en la parte de Oberto.
16. Standley, Micah. "Così fan tutte" (PDF; 12 KB). sfopera.com. San Francisco Opera Archives. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
17. Serinus, Jason Victor (June 10, 2013). "And a Good Così Was Had by Tutte". sfcv.org. Retrieved February 19, 2023. Making her U.S. operatic debut, mezzo-soprano Christel Lötzsch looked fabulous in both full dress and undergarments, but occasionally betrayed some shrillness higher in her range.
18. "Christel Loetzsch | IMG Artists". imgartists.com. 2014. Archived from the original on July 2, 2014. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
19. "Christel Loetzsch". christelloetzsch.com. Archived from the original on August 7, 2014. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
20. Schmitt, Josef (June 2, 2014). "Dresden: Verdi – spannend und berührend". diepresse.com (in German). Retrieved February 14, 2023.
21. Ernst, Michael (February 23, 2014). "Vom Ich zum Wir und wieder gründlich zurück – Moskau, Tscherjomuschki in Dresden". nmz.de (in German). Retrieved February 14, 2023.
22. Kamer, Waldemar (September 28, 2019). ""Macbeth Underworld" Uraufführung von Pascal Dusapin an der La Monnaie/De Munt". onlinemerker.com (in Austrian German). Retrieved February 16, 2023.
23. "Pascal Dusapin – Penthesilea – Orchestre de Paris" (PDF; 5,1 MB). philharmoniedeparis.fr (in French). November 2020. Retrieved February 16, 2023.
24. "Biennale Pierre Boulez" (PDF; 4,7 MB). philharmoniedeparis.fr/ (in French). January 2021. Retrieved February 16, 2023.
25. "Zweimal Wiener Schule". deutschlandfunkkultur.de (in German). April 22, 2021. Retrieved February 16, 2023.
26. "Der Kaiser von Atlantis". br-shop.de. Retrieved February 16, 2023.
27. Wäch, Peter (December 16, 2021). "Wenig Glanz, reiner Klang". jungfrauzeitung.ch (in Swiss High German). Retrieved February 16, 2023.
28. Richter, Phillip (March 27, 2022). "Das Vermächtnis Sebastian Weigles: "Die Frau ohne Schatten" an der Oper Frankfurt". Das Opernmagazin. Retrieved February 16, 2023.
29. Lange, Joachim (July 9, 2022). "Begegnung mit der Frau in Rot". die-deutsche-buehne.de (in German). Retrieved February 16, 2023.
30. Volksdorf, Bettina (January 5, 2023). "Richard Wagners "Der Ring des Nibelungen" mit der Dresdner Philharmonie unter Marek Janowski". mdr.de. Retrieved February 16, 2023.
31. "Hochschule für Musik FRANZ LISZT Weimar - Mitarbeiten - Lehrende". hfm-weimar.de. Archived from the original on December 3, 2022. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
32. "Förderprogramme". hfm-weimar.de (in German). Retrieved February 16, 2023.

External links

• Official website
• Christel Loetzsch on Operabase