Ria Bollen

Ria Bollen

Ria Bollen (born 11 February 1942) is a Flemish alto, who had an international career as a concert singer between 1965 and 1992.

Life

Born in Sint-Truiden, after her classical humanities, she started to study psychology, but after two years she gave up that study. She went to the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp in Antwerp to study singing with Lucie Frateur. She would continue to accompany her throughout her career. She graduated in 1968 with the major distinction. But she also studied with Pierre Bernac, Felix de Nobel, Erik Werba and Christa Ludwig.

She made her debut as a soloist before graduating, in 1965, in Godelieve by Edgar Tinel conducted by Léonce Gras. Also before she graduated, she obtained the first prize of the Maria Canalswedstrijd in Barcelona, in 1967. Later, she was laureate of four more prestigious competitions: the International Vocal Competition 's-Hertogenbosch (1968), the "ARD International Music Competition" (1969), the "Concours international d'exécution musicale de Genèva", in which she won first prize (1970), and the "Internationaler Wettbewerb für Gesang" of the "Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien", better known as the Wiener Musikverein (1972).

Her repertoire was extensive. She sang works with orchestra or chamber orchestra from

• the Baroque music: Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Motet pour une longue offrande; Antonio Vivaldi's Gloria and Johann Sebastian Bach's, Matthäus-Passion and St John Passion, Hohe Messe, a number of cantatas;
• The Classical music: Haydn, Masses; Mozart's, Requiem; Beethoven's, Missa Solemnis and Symphony No. 9;
• The Romantic music: Berlioz's, Les Nuits d'été; Brahms, Altrhapsodie; and especially Mahler, of whom she sang almost the entire repertoire for alto and orchestra: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Des Knaben Wunderhorn, the Rückert-Lieder, Kindertotenlieder, Das Lied von der Erde and Symphony No. 2, 3 and 8;
• the 20th century: Hindemith, Die junge Magd; Honegger's Le Roi David and Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher; Janáček, Glagolitic mass; Markevich, Le paradis perdu; Prokofiev's, Alexander Nevsky (the cantata); Respighi, Il Tramonto; Satie, Socrate; Stravinsky, Requiem Canticles]; Tippett, A Child of Our Time; Vogel, Wagadus Downfall durch die Eitelkeit. She has a special predilection for the work of Frank Martin, who asked her to sing the alto solos in the creation of his Requiem, And of whom she also sang just about everything Martin wrote for her voice type.

Her song repertoire, which she often performed with pianist Jozef De Beenhouwer, was also very extensive, ranging from Purcell to contemporary composers. It would be pointless to mention individual songs, but the following works (cycles or songs often performed as such) give an idea of her lieder art: Brahms' Zigeunerlieder and Vier ernste Gesänge, Dvořák's Gypsy Melodies, Schumann's Frauenliebe und -leben, Vogel's 5 Lieder nach Texten von Nelly Sachs and Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder. It is also worth mentioning that she had the complete songs of Clara Schumann in her repertoire.

Besides the large repertoire, she also sang many works by Belgian composers, such as Peter Benoit, René Defossez, Jef Van Hoof, Marinus de Jong, Willem Kersters, Lodewijk Mortelmans, Lodewijk Mortelmans, Flor Peeters and David Van de Woestijne.

She performed in Israel, Japan, Canada and the Soviet Union, but of course mainly in Western Europe, and particularly in the German-speaking part, alongside Belgium and the Netherlands. She sang in many festivals, such as the Festival of Flanders, the Berliner Festwochen, the Wiener Festwochen, the Carinthischer Sommer and the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart. She made studio recordings for radio and television in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, France, Luxembourg and Switzerland and could be heard in a large number of well-known and less well-known concert halls throughout Western Europe.

One performance deserves special mention. On 4 April 1981, Bach's Matthew Passion was performed in the large (golden) hall of the Wiener Musikverein under the direction of Peter Schreier. It was a concert in memory of the recently deceased Karl Richter (dead 15 February 1981), under whose direction Bollen had also sung, and in this in memoriam concert she sang the alt-arias.

Well-known conductors under whose direction she sang inspired her: Besides the already mentioned Léonce Gras, Felix de Nobel, Karl Richter and Peter Schreier, also Herbert Blomstedt, Eduard Flipse, John Eliot Gardiner, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Christopher Hogwood, Heinrich Hollreiser, Ferdinand Leitner, Igor Markevich, Georges Prêtre, Karl Richter, Helmuth Rilling, Gennadi Rozhdestvenski, Paul Sacher, Leif Segerstam, Hans Swarowsky, Michael Tilson Thomas and André Vandernoot.

In 1988, Bollen was a member of the jury of the first Queen Elisabeth Competition for singing.

On the occasion of her 75th birthday, Ria Bollen was solemnly received on 10 April 2017 in the Antwerp City Hall and honoured by Mayor Bart De Wever. The laudation was pronounced by Luc Leytens.

Recordings

• Bach, Cantate Warum betrübst du dich, mein Herz, BWV 138. On part 50 of the recording of all Bach cantatas by Helmuth Rilling, Hänssler Classic 98630.
• Haydn, Harmoniemesse', Hob. XXII:14 (with the orchestra of the Südwestfunk, the Bach choir from Mainz, Barbara Martig-Tuller (soprano), Adalbert Kraus (tenor), Kurt Widmer (baritone); conductor Diethard Hellmann). Profil Medien PH11049.
• Jef Van Hoof, 19 songs (with Jozef De Beenhouwer, piano). René Gailly CD 87 006.
• Frank Martin, Requiem. Jecklin-Disco JD 631-2. Also on DVD 2 of a double DVD en compagnie de Frank Martin (Cascavelle VELD 7005). This also includes Martin's Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke (with Frank Martin as conductor of the West Flemish Orchestra, now the Symfonieorkest Vlaanderen).
• Pergolesi's, Stabat Mater (with Concinite, the Chamber Orchestra Marjeta Delcourte-Korosec and Jill Gomez (soprano), conductor Karel Aerts). LP Eufoda 1036.
• Arthur Verhoeven, 10 songs (with Jozef De Beenhouwer, piano). LP Eufoda 1046.
• Vivaldi, Gloria in D, RV 589 (with the Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim, the Berner Kammerchor and Ana-Maria Miranda (soprano), conductor Jörg Ewald Dähler). Claves CLV 0801.
• Homage to Ria Bollen (music by Vivaldi, Bach, Haydn, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Rossini, Respighi, Mahler and De Boeck). Phaedra, In Flanders' Fields vol. 91 (92091).

External links

• Ria Bollen discography at Discogs