Kai Wessel (singer)

Kai Wessel (* 1964 in Hamburg ) is a German countertenor , composer , conductor and music teacher .

Kai Wessel's musical training began with piano and organ lessons in childhood. Through membership in several Hamburg (church) choirs, he continuously went through the vocal mutation from boy soprano to alto and tenor to bass. With the aim of becoming a composer, Kai Wessel began studying music theory and composition at the Lübeck University of Music in 1983 with Roland Ploeger and Friedhelm Döhl (graduation in music theory 1989, Jean-Philippe Rameau's "Traité de l'Harmonie" - translation of the foreword and the first book with commentary; Completion Composition 1991). After Ute von Garczynski discovered his countertenor voice, singing became the third course in 1984 (degrees: diploma in 1988, concert exam with distinction in 1991). Parallel to his main studies with Ute von Garczynski in Lübeck, he studied historical performance practice at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with René Jacobs (1984–1988). First appearances as a countertenor took place in autumn 1984 (Lübeck, Berlin, Flensburg).

Kai Wessel has received prizes at the German Singing Competition (Category B 1984; Category A 1988, special prize from the German Stage Association for the best interpretation of a contemporary work) and the Concours Musica Antiqua Brugge (1990) and grants (Gotthard Schierse Foundation Berlin; Studienstiftung des Deutschen Vokes ; German Academic Exchange Service for postgraduate studies with Peter Kooy in Hilversum).

Kai Wessel has been an international ensemble singer and soloist on stage and podium since 1984. He made his first stage experience with the title role in Antonio Caldara's Il Batista at the 1986 summer theater festivals in Hamburg ( Kampnagel ) and Munich (directors: Thomas Röschner and Bernhard Helmich ; musical director: Michael Mayr). His first guest engagement was in the role of the first Parzen in Jean-Philippe Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie at the Stadttheater Freiburg in 1988 (director: John Dew ). Since then he has worked with orchestras and ensembles under the direction of Philippe Herreweghe , Nikolaus Harnoncourt , Gustav Leonhardt , Ton Koopman , Jordi Savall , William Christie , Nicholas McGegan, Reinhard Goebel , Masaaki Suzuki , Martin Haselböck , Hermann Max , Konrad Junghänel , Michael Hofstetter , Michel Corboz , Friedemann Layer , Hans-Werner Henze , Hans Zender , Kent Nagano , Sylvain Cambreling , Arturo Tamayo , Heinz Holliger , Peter Rundel , Iván Fischer, Markus stenz, Franz Welser-Möst and many more. This collaboration was documented by numerous radio and television programs - and over 100 CD recordings.

Opera guest performances have led Kai Wessel to the houses in Barcelona, ​​Nice, Hamburg (UA Burkhard Friedrich Lancelots Spiegel ), Hanover, Berlin (Komische Oper; UA Isabel Mundry Ein Atemzug - Odyssey , Deutsche Oper), Dresden, Stuttgart, Munich (UA Jörg Widmann Babylon ), St.Gallen and the Theater Basel , to which he was a guest from 1994 to 2004. There he was involved in productions directed by Herbert Wernicke ( Theodora, Giulio Cesare in Egitto, Wie geht die Stadt so wüsten, Actus tragicus, Israel in Egypt ), Karin Beier ( Semele ), Claus Guth (UA Klaus Huber Schwarzerde ) and Joachim Schlömer ( Orfeo ed Euridice ; WP Olga Neuwirth Lost Highway ). He has also appeared in stage productions at festivals for baroque or contemporary music such as the Handel Festival in Göttingen (Joacim, Unulfo, Arsace, Giulio Cesare), Halle (Unulfo, Bertarido) and Karlsruhe (Giustino, Cleofe), in Schwetzingen (UA Salvatore Sciarrino Luci mie traditrici ; UA Georg Friedrich Haas Thomas ), Vienna and Salzburg (including Salvatore Sciarrino Luci mie traditrici and Aribert Reimann Lear ), Amsterdam and Venice ( Mauricio Kagel from Germany ), Innsbruck and Bregenz (UA Georg Friedrich Haas Die Schöne Wunde ) .

Works by Annette Schlünz , Rebecca Saunders , Karola Obermüller , Chaya Czernowin , Mauricio Kagel , Heinz Holliger , Klaus Huber , Matthias Pintscher , Stefano Gervasoni , Helmut Oehring and others have been written for his voice . a.

Kai Wessel began his educational career at the Cologne University of Music and Dance (teaching position 1997–2009) and the Vienna Conservatory Private University (2006–2012). He was a lecturer in singing with a focus on contemporary vocal literature at the Bern University of the Arts (2014-2020) and interim lecturer in singing at the Haute École de Musique Genève (2019/20). Since 2009 he has been Professor of Singing and Historical Performance Practice for Singers at the Cologne University of Music and Dance. Francesco Antonio Mamiliano Pistocchi's Pastorale Il Narciso (Vienna 2008, Cologne WDR 2011) and Antonio Caldara's Il Batista (Cologne WDR 2014) were performed again under his direction .

Kai Wessel is editor of the Seraphic Tunes series at Edition Walhall (works by JW Franck, FAM Pistocchi, J.Ph. Sack, G.Ph. Telemann and others) and co-editor of the Schott Campus volume Der Countertenor .

Compositions

• Letters in War (Georg Trakl, Ernst Barlach) for mezzo-soprano, speaker, oboe, guitar and 2 percussionists (1984)
• For me - 4 variations for my voice on "Where I stand shadow" (1985)
• In just-spring (EE Cummings) for soprano and piano (1985)
• Sounds for viola da gamba (1986)
• Sol-I for 2 trumpets (1985–1987)
• Passacaglia for 11 cellos (1986)
• Leisegang-Lieder (Dieter Leisegang) for soprano and low string trio (1988/89)
• Two songs based on Matthias Claudius ("Tändelei", "Christiane") for high voice, clarinet, horn, violin, cello and piano (1990)
• Ninna Nanna - Lullaby for an alto voice (countertenor) and orchestra (based on A. Scarlatti and T. Merula) (2005)

Web links

• Homepage of the singer and composer
• Works by and about Kai Wessel in the catalog of the German National Library