Sarah Wegener

Wegener’s ability is undisputed. Her vocal placement is flawless: she has a full range of ambitious tonal shading, a superb timbre that remains smooth even at a high volume, and perfect legato. Neue Zürcher Zeitung

Sarah Wegener approaches every role with captivating intensity. She has enthralled listeners with the warmth and richness of her voice in performances such as Strauss’ Orchestral songs under Mariss Jansons and Vladimir Jurowski in Munich, London, and Hamburg, Mahler’s 8th Symphony under Kirill Petrenko in Bregenz, Eliahu Inbal in Hamburg, and Kent Nagano in Montreal, as well as in her War and Peace programme shaped around works by Handel and Purcell, which she also presented at the Schwetzingen SWR Festival. Her “marvellously radiant voice, as powerful as it is rich in colour” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) distinguishes her as a lieder singer of the highest order, as illustrated on her highly praised CDs Into the Deepest Sea and Zueignung.

Her remarkable versatility has ensured long-standing collaborations with her musical partners, including the conductors Kent Nagano, Emilio Pomàrico, Peter Rundel, Tõnu Kaljuste, Heinz Holliger, Sylvain Cambreling, and Frieder Bernius. Concerts and recitals have taken her to the Salzburg Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Rheingau Music Festival, Festival de Lanaudière, Chigiana International Festival, and Handel Festival Halle, as well as the Suntory Hall Tokyo, Konzerthaus Berlin, Tonhalle Zürich, Vienna Konzerthaus, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Philharmonie de Paris, and Royal Festival Hall London. She has sung leading roles at the Royal Opera House in London, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Wiener Festwochen, Theater Bonn, Staatstheater Saarbrücken, and Tongyeong Festival in South Korea.

Highly regarded as a performer of both classical and Romantic repertoire as well as contemporary compositions, Sarah Wegener recently sang Schumann's Das Paradies und die Peri (Jérémie Rhorer, Le Cercle de l’Harmonie), Dvořak’s Stabat Mater (Philippe Herreweghe, Orchestre des Champs-Élysées, Collegium Vocale Gent), Henze’s Floß der Medusa (Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Cornelius Meister), Penderecki’s St. Luke Passion (Orchestre symphonique de Montéal, Kent Nagano), Beethoven’s Missa solemnis (Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Andrew Manze), as well as Schönberg’s Six Orchestral Songs in Saarbrücken. She has given the premiere of numerous works by Georg Friedrich Haas, including the opera Bluthaus, for which she was chosen as Singer of the Year in 2011 by Opernwelt magazine. In 2021 she made her debut as Freia in Wagner’s Rheingold in Cologne and Amsterdam.

The 2022/23 season begins for Sarah Wegener with Strauss’ Four Last Songs with the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra under Jacek Kaspszyk as well as with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Harding. Another highlight will be Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Vasily Petrenko at Royal Albert Hall. Further engagements include Mahler’s Das Klagende Lied in Porto, Bernstein’s Kaddish with the MDR-Sinfonieorchester and Dennis Russel Davies at the Gewandhaus Leipzig, Elbphilharmonie and Philharmonie Berlin, works by Berg and Holliger with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra as well as songs by Alma Mahler with the Brandenburgische Staatsorchester. In June 2023 she will sing also Widmann’s ARCHE under Kent Nagano at the Elbphilharmonie as well as Mahler's Symphony No. 8 with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under Juanjo Mena.

Sarah Wegener’s discography includes recordings of Boesmans’ Trakl-lieder, Korngold’s Die stumme Serenade, Mozart’s C minor Mass, Rossini’s Petite Messe solennelle, as well as works by György Kurtág, Elliott Carter, and by and with Heinz Holliger. At the OPUS Klassik 2019 she was nominated as Singer of the Year for Jörg Widmann’s work, Labyrinth III, in which the composer dedicated the solo part to her. Her second Lied CD with Götz Payer, with focus on Richard Strauss, is again on the list of nominations at the OPUS Klassik 2022. A recording of songs arranged by B.A. Zimmermann with the WDR Symphony Orchestra has recently been released at WERGO.

Following her double bass studies, the British-German soprano studied singing with Prof. Jaeger-Böhm in Stuttgart and took part in masterclasses with Dame Gwyneth Jones and Renée Morloc.

Season 2022/23

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