Gun-Brit Barkmin

Gun-Brit Barkmin (* 1971 in Rostock ) is a German opera singer and concert soloist ( soprano ).

Life

Barkmin grew up in Rostock. Both parents went to sea and developed a taste for Swedish first names. As a child Gun-Brit Barkmin received singing lessons from a cantor. Her desire to become a singer matured.

Gun-Brit Barkmin began studying singing in her hometown at the Rostock Conservatory with Kammersänger Siegfried Eisenbach and continued with Heidi Petzold at the Carl Maria von Weber Academy of Music in Dresden . In 1995 she passed the state examination with distinction and also attended master classes with Peter Konwitschny , Daniel Helfgot, Hartmut Haenchen , Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Carlo Bergonzi .

After engagements in Freiberg and Vienna , Barkmin became a member of the ensemble at the Komische Oper Berlin under Harry Kupfer in 2000 . There she was u. a. as Marie in Alban Berg's Wozzeck , Alice Ford in Verdi's Falstaff , Rosalinde in Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus , Mimi in Puccini's La Bohème , Amelia in Aribert Reimann's House of Bernarda Alba , in the title role of Jenufa , as Sylvia Varescu in Emmerich Kálmán Csárdásfürstin , Ghita in Zemlinsky Der Zwerg and as a governess in Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw experience.

The embodiment of demanding character roles such as Jenůfa in Berlin , Marie in Berlin and Cardiff , Salome at the Zurich Opera House , Elsa and Chrysothemis in Leipzig and Queen Elizabeth I in Britten's Gloriana and Emilia Marty ( The Makropulos Case ) in Prague has become her trademark. Barkmin worked with directors such as Harry Kupfer , Andreas Homoki and Willy Decker . In the 2012/13 season Gun-Brit Barkmin also appeared at the Salzburg Festival as Guinevere in a new production of Harrison Birtwistle's opera Gawain , directed by Ingo Metzmacher and directed by Alvis Hermanis . At the Salzburg Festival 2017 she sang the role of Regan in Aribert Reimann's Lear under Franz Welser-Möst .

In the 2017/18 season she sang her first Brünnhilde ( Götterdämmerung ) with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra under Jaap van Zweden as part of the complete recording of Wagner's "Ring für Naxos". Barkmin made his debut at the Hamburg State Opera as Marie under Kent Nagano and was heard again as Salome at the Vienna State Opera. She sang Chrysothemis at the opening of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation's cultural center, the new headquarters of the Greek National Opera . She could be heard as Ariadne at the Bavarian State Opera . At the Maggio Musicale in Florence she sang the daughter in Hindemith's "Cardillac" under the direction of Fabio Luisi. Other highlights included concerts with the Orchester philharmonique de Radio France under Mikko Franck (Elektra) and with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra under Charles Dutoit (Tosca).

In the 2018/19 season she sang the role of Eleonore in a new production of Ernst Krenek's opera "Karl V." at the Bavarian State Opera as well as Salome at the Vienna State Opera and at the May Festival at the Wiesbaden State Theater. In summer 2019 she was the star guest at two gala concerts with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra under Asher Fisch in Perth.

In the 2019/20 season, Barkmin can be heard again at the Bavarian State Opera and at the Zurich Opera House in the role of Marie in Alban Berg's “ Wozzeck ”. She returns to the Hamburg State Opera with the role of Marietta in Korngold's opera “Die tote Stadt”.

As a concert soloist, Barkmin u. a. to be heard with the Vienna Symphony at the Bregenz Festival in Brecht and Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins , Mahler's 4th Symphony with the Staatskapelle Dresden and Wagner's Wesendonck songs . She has also interpreted the role of Anna in the Seven Deadly Sins in Lyon , Edinburgh , New Zealand and Rio de Janeiro .

She is considered an important interpreter of leading roles in works by Janáček , Britten , Berg , Wagner and Richard Strauss .

Gun-Brit Barkmin lives in Berlin.

Games (selection)

Alban Berg

• Wozzeck (Marie at the National Theater in Prague and at the Welsh National Opera , Cardiff )

Benjamin Britten

• Gloriana (Queen Elizabeth I at the National Theater in Prague)
• Peter Grimes (Ellen Orford at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein and the Vienna State Opera )
• The Turn of the Screw (governess at the Komische Oper Berlin)

Leoš Janáček

• Jenůfa (title role at the Komische Oper Berlin)
• The Makropulos Affair (Emilia Marty at the National Theater in Prague)

Dmitri Shostakovich

• Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (Katerina Ismailowa at the Zurich Opera House )

Giacomo Puccini

• La Bohème (Mimi at the Komische Oper Berlin and in Seattle)
• Gianni Schicchi (Nella in Toronto)

Richard Strauss

• Ariadne on Naxos (Prima Donna / Ariadne at the Leipzig Opera )
• Elektra (Chrysothemis at the Leipzig Opera and the Vienna State Opera)
• Salome (title role with the Vienna State Opera in Tokyo and at the Vienna State Opera, at the Saarland State Theater in Saarbrücken , at the Zurich Opera House and at the New York Carnegie Hall and in Boston )

Giuseppe Verdi

• Falstaff (Alice Ford at the Komische Oper Berlin)
• Macbeth (Lady Macbeth at the Aalto Theater in Essen )

Richard Wagner

• Götterdämmerung (Brünnhilde, recording with Hong Kong Philharmonic 2018)
• Tristan und Isolde (Isolde, recording with West Australian Symphony 2019)
• Lohengrin (Elsa at the Leipzig Opera)
• Valkyrie (Sieglinde at the Vienna State Opera)

Alexander Zemlinsky

• A Florentine Tragedy (Bianca at the Opéra National de Lyon and in Toronto)
• The dwarf (Ghita at the Komische Oper Berlin)

Erich Wolfgang Korngold

• The Dead City (Marietta at the Hamburg State Opera)

Ernst Krenek

• Karl V (Eleonore at the Bavarian State Opera)

Awards

• 2002: Daphne Prize from the Berlin theater community

Discography

• 2006: Zurich Piano Trio & Gun-Brit Barkmin - Dmitri Shostakovich: Piano Trios

Web links

• Gun-Brit Barkmin homepage
• Gun-Brit Barkmin at Kocyan Artists Management
• Gun-Brit Barkmin at Operabase (engagements and dates)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Martina Helmig: Gun-Brit Barkmin is committed to steel hardness . Berliner Morgenpost. Retrieved March 21, 2014.
2. ↑ Heinz W. Koch: Salome dances, the court dances with . Badish newspaper. Retrieved March 22, 2014.
3. ↑ Gun-Brit Barkmin, soprano . Bregenz Festival. Archived from the original on March 22, 2014. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved March 22, 2014. 
4. ↑ Kurt Vlach: (...) Elektra on 7.4.2015 . In: der-neue-merker.eu , accessed on April 8, 2015.
5. ↑ Shostakovich: Piano Trios / Zurich Piano Trio . Retrieved March 21, 2014.