Axel Köhler (singer)

Axel Köhler (* 1960 in Schwarzenberg / Erzgeb. ) Is a German director and opera singer ( countertenor ). Rector of the Carl Maria von Weber University of Music Dresden since 2019 .

Life

Axel Köhler studied violin pedagogy and singing at the Carl Maria von Weber University of Music in Dresden . From 1984 he was a member of the ensemble of the opera house in Halle (Saale) - initially as a play baritone, mainly as alto, later also as director and artistic director.

In 1987 he made his debut as Eustazio in the Halle production of Rinaldo by Peter Konwitschny . Demanding countertenor roles followed, especially in a number of Handel operas that were performed at the Handel Festival in his hometown. Axel Köhler has made guest appearances at international festivals and has been invited to concerts, CD , radio and opera productions around the world . In 1995 Axel Köhler sang the world premiere of Arianna by Alexander Goehr at the Royal Opera House in London . In 1998 he took on the title role in the premiere of the opera Farinelli by Siegfried Matthus, staged by the Dresden Music Festival at the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden, and in 2001 he gave the devil in Detlev Glanert's comic opera Joke, Satire, Irony and Deeper Meaning at its premiere in Halle. In 2003, he sang at the Salzburg Festival in the role of Adschib in the world premiere of the opera L'Upupa of Hans Werner Henze , 2005 at the Semperoper Dresden, the part of Poro in Johann Adolf Hasse opera Cleofide , 2006, the title role in Cantor - Measurement of the Infinite by Ingomar Grünauer , a world premiere at the Halle Opera House, in which he also appeared as a baritone and violin player. The Bavarian State Opera engaged the altus for L'incoronazione di Poppea and Rinaldo , the Hamburg State Opera for L'incoronazione di Poppea . At the Halle Opera House he sang the role of La Speranza and Polinesso in Handel's Ariodante in Monteverdi's L'Orfeo , where he also appeared as the swan in Carl Orff's Carmina Burana in 2011 . He performed as Artemis in Hans Werner Henze's Phaedra from 2007 to 2010 in Berlin, Brussels, Vienna, Frankfurt and London.

As a concert singer, the countertenor has worked with renowned early music ensembles such as Concerto Köln , Musica Antiqua Köln , Lautten Compagney and conductors such as René Jacobs , Marcus Creed and Howard Arman . His alto programs “Falsetto grazioso” and “Falsetto amoroso” identify him as an excellent song interpreter.

Köhler was repeatedly seen as a countertenor in operettas. He played Orlofski alone in Die Fledermaus at the Komische Oper Berlin, the Hamburg State Opera, the Karlsruhe State Theater and the Halle Opera. In 1998 he was invited to the Accademia die Santa Cecilia in this role with the ensemble of the Vienna State Opera . He performed the title role in Orpheus in the Underworld , singing and fiddling at the Komische Oper Berlin and the Oper Halle. Axel Köhler has been singing and playing in witty cabaret programs since 2005. From 2016 the singer performed leading roles at the Dresden State Operetta - for example in the neighborhood musical ZZAUN! and most recently as Prof. Higgins in the musical classic My Fair Lady .

Axel Köhler has also worked as a director since 2000. He made his debut with Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea , followed by Handel's Rodrigo in 2001 . In 2003 Köhler's production of the Handel opera Teseo was performed in Germany, Switzerland and England. Since then he has directed in Munich, Schwerin, Augsburg, Bayreuth, Leipzig, Innsbruck, Dresden, Palermo and Graz. He attracted international attention with Schwanda, the bagpiper by Jaromír Weinberger at the Semperoper Dresden - the magazine Opernwelt chose the production for the rediscovery of the year 2011/2012, in 2014 it was transferred to the Teatro Massimo Palermo and was last performed in 2017 in Dresden. In 2013, Georges Bizet's Carmen and his productions of the Intermezzo series at the Semperoper were very popular. At the Halle Opera in 2012 he showed a modern staging of the operetta Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss and in 2014 with the semi-staged arrangement of Richard Strauss ' Arabella . Köhler's staging of Carl M. von Weber's Der Freischütz at the Semperoper Dresden 2015 was honored with the Bachtrack Award 2015 as “Best Staging”, the DVD was honored with its record Oscar 2016 by the Japanese Record Geijutsu Magazine . In 2017, Axel Köhler staged with Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde performed his first play at the Landesbühnen Sachsen, followed by Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro at the Dresden State Operetta and Carl Zeller's The Bird Trader at the Mörbisch Seefestspiele. In 2018 he staged Richard Heuberger's Der Opernball at the Vienna Volksoper, Gioachino Rossini's La Cenerentola at the Oldenburgisches Staatstheater, Emmerich Kálmáns Die Csárdásfürstin , the double evening Die Schöne Galathée  / Gianni Schicchi at the Dresden State Operetta and Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus at the Deutsche Oper on the Rhine. In 2019 the director started with Paul Burkhard's Das Feuerwerk at the Musikalische Komödie Leipzig and ended the year and initially also his directorial work with the world premiere of the musical Der Name der Rose by Gisle Kverndokk / Øystein Wiik at this year's Erfurt DomStufen Festival.

From 2009 to 2016 Axel Köhler was Artistic Director / Artistic Director of the Halle Opera. From the 2016/17 season until the end of the 2018/19 season he was a singer and director in the ensemble of the Dresden State Operetta. At the beginning of the 2019/20 academic year, Axel Köhler is rector of the Carl Maria von Weber University of Music in Dresden .

Awards

• 1994: Handel Prize from the city of Halle
• 1998: Appointment as chamber singer
• 1999: Critics' Prize of the Berliner Zeitung

Web links

• Axel Koehler homepage
• University of Music Carl Maria von Weber Dresden
• Axel Köhler at Operabase (engagements and dates)
• Semperoper Dresden
• Dresden State Operetta