Elisabeth of Magnus

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Elisabeth von Magnus , née Elisabeth Harnoncourt (born May 29, 1954 in Vienna ) is an Austrian opera, oratorio, lied and concert singer ( mezzo-soprano / alto ).

Life

After graduating from high school, Elisabeth von Magnus studied recorder at the Vienna University of Music. She then founded the Ensemble Récréation and played as a soloist in the Concentus Musicus Vienna . She then began acting training at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and then studied singing at the Munich University of Music (today: University of Music and Theater Munich ). Her singing teacher was the alto Hertha Töpper . In addition, she attended the song interpretation class with Paul Schilhawsky in Salzburg and worked as a freelancer for the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation as a daily announcer and presenter of her own series.

Elisabeth von Magnus made her operatic debut as Polly in Benjamin Britten's version of Beggar's Opera at the Marstalltheater in Munich. This was the beginning of a career that quickly reached an international level and took the artist to major opera houses, concert podiums and festivals around the world: Alte Oper Frankfurt, Berlin and Cologne Philharmonic , Wiener Musikverein , Wiener Konzerthaus , Barbican Center London, Concertgebouw Amsterdam , Carinthian Summer , Théâtre des Champs-Élysées Paris, Haydn Festival Eisenstadt, Music Festival Potsdam , Lucerne Festival , International Handel Festival Göttingen , Bach Week Ansbach , also to Leipzig, Dresden, Budapest, Florence, Paris, Linz, Passau and 1993 to the Salzburg Festival , where the singer u. a. was heard in Mozart's C minor Mass , Monteverdi's Vespers of Mary and his opera The Coronation of Poppea . She performed with fellow singers such as Christine Schäfer , Dorothea Röschmann , Michael Schade and Markus Schäfer . She also sang Argene in Vivaldi's L'olimpiade under René Clemencic , which has also appeared on CD, and Clelia in Fux ' Costanza e fortezza under Howard Arman .

Under the direction of Peter Schreier , she made her USA debut in Bach's St. Matthew Passion with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra . With the great Bach oratorio, the singer and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir toured the major musical centers of Europe, Japan and the USA. Her operatic appearances in The Marriage of Figaro , directed by Jürgen Flimm in Amsterdam and Zurich, in the baroque opera Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell and in Xerxes by Georg Friedrich Handel were well received .

Elisabeth von Magnus worked intensively with the pianists Anthony Spiri and Markus Vorzellner as a song accompanist. For many years she has formed a duo with the pianist Jacob Bogaart . The two artists have built up a large and wide-ranging repertoire of programs with a wide variety of topics (from the baroque to classical and romantic to Alban Berg , George Gershwin , Irving Berlin , Cole Porter and Kurt Weill ).

Many internationally renowned conductors accompanied her artistic path, including Claudio Abbado , Frieder Bernius , Frans Brüggen , Dennis Russell Davies , John Fiore , Ádám Fischer , Nikolaus Harnoncourt , Simon Schouten , Markus Stenz , Hans Vonk , Bruno Weil , Lothar Zagrosek and Jaap van Zweden .

Since Elisabeth is an actress trained by Magnus, she repeatedly takes on cross-border roles and also gives readings. Several CDs, videos, radio and television appearances (at home and abroad) round off the singer's artistic activity.

The mezzo-soprano and her three siblings are the children of the conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt and his wife Alice . Her first marriage was from 1981 to 1999 with Ernst Jürgen von Magnus. Her second marriage is to the Dutch conductor and former countertenor Simon Schouten, who founded the Ensemble Lyriqe in 1999 .

Since March 2012, Elisabeth von Magnus has been Vice Rector for Art at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz .

Discography (selection)

  • J. Strauss: Die Fledermaus (Part of Ida) (East West Records, 1995)
  • J. Strauss: Der Zigeunerbaron (part of Mirabella) (East West Records, 1996)
  • CM v. Weber: Der Freischütz (Part of the Bridesmaid) (East West Records, 1996)
  • JS Bach: Christmas Oratorio (Erato, 1996)
  • JS Bach: St. Matthew Passion (Teldec, 2000)
  • JS Bach: various cantatas (Challenge Records)
  • Canzonettas & Arianne a Naxos Haydn (Challenge, 2002)
  • Testoride argonauta (NuovaEra, 2002)
  • Tonight Kurt Weill (Preiser, 2006)

literature

Web links

annotation

  1. ↑ Elisabeth von Magnus is the name that has become a stage name from his first marriage to the Austrian resident German von Magnus. (Compare here: Art. 109 Weimar Constitution of 1919, and the assumption of the Austrian's name when a German marries.)
  2. ↑ Georg Demcisin, Christian Fastl, Ingeborg Harer: Harnoncourt, family. In: Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon . Online edition, Vienna 2002 ff., ISBN 3-7001-3077-5 ; Print edition: Volume 2, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2003, ISBN 3-7001-3044-9 .
  3. ↑ Genealogy E. v. Magnus
  4. ↑ Simon Schouten, Conductor ( Memento of the original from December 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ensemblelyrique.nl  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ensemblelyrique.nl
  5. ↑ https://www.kug.ac.at/news-veranstaltungen/news/kug-aktuell/details/article/neues-vizerektorat-der-kunstuniversitaet-graz-gewaehlt.html
  6. ↑ https://www.kug.ac.at/ueber-die-universitaet/ueber-die-universitaet/lösungen/allgemeines-universitaetspersonal.html?tx_kugpeople_pi1%5Bperson_nr%5D=55231&cHash=76dea12b552fbd282ea6478 .b38257777
personal data
SURNAME Magnus, Elisabeth of
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Harnoncourt, Elisabeth (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian opera, oratorio, lied and concert singer (mezzo-soprano / alto)
DATE OF BIRTH May 29, 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna