Contact
Kerstin Altka@karstenwitt.com+49 30 214 594 -235
Daniel Schumacherds@karstenwitt.com+49 30 214 594 -210
General Management
Marie Heeschen and her ensemble Paper Kite are dedicated to the evocative music created during or as a result of the Thirty Years' War.
Sergej Prokofjew, The Love for Three Oranges
Marie Heeschen, soprano
Beethoven Orchester Bonn
Daniel Johannes Mayr, conductor
Leonardo Muscato, technical, staging
Dirk Kaftan, conductor
Unflaggingly vibrant. The Guardian
Marie Heeschen mesmerises audiences with a lush and flowing voice that is highly adaptable. Since 2016 she has been an ensemble member at Theater Bonn, where she brings a playful and natural stage presence to roles such as Atalanta (Xerxes), Poppea (Agrippina), Valencienne (The Merry Widow), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Marzelline (Fidelio), Clorinde (La Cenerentola) or Oscar (Un ballo in maschera). Additional parts include the vocally agile role of Tussy in Jonathan Dove’s critically acclaimed opera, Marx in London. In the 2023/24 season, she will give Ninetta (The Love for Three Oranges) at the Theater Bonn, besides singing Adele (Die Fledermaus) at Stadttheater Klagenfurt.
In addition to regular appearances in operas, the versatile singer is also active across other genres of classical music. With Paper Kite, her chamber music ensemble consisting of two violins and basso continuo, she revives the lesser-known cantata repertoire of the German and Italian baroque. The ensemble, sought-after for its chamber music spirit and finely balanced sound, was awarded the Biagio Marini Prize in 2013 and has since released two CDs on Coviello Classics: the album felice un tempo comprises a world premiere recording by Giovanni Legrenzi as well as sonatas and cantatas by Giovanni Bononcini and Domenico Scarlatti, and Abend-Andacht features works from the period of the Thirty Years’ War.
This inquisitive and open-minded singer is also a committed interpreter of contemporary music. In 2013 she founded the ensemble BRuCH with Sally Beck (flute), Ella Rohwer (cello), and Claudia Chan (piano), which focuses on interpreting impressionist works in combination with 20th and 21st century music. They have collaborated with composers such as Helmut Lachenmann, Gordon Kampe, and Johannes Schöllhorn. Distinct in its unusual lineup, the quartet won second prize at the Karlsruher Competition for the Performance of Contemporary Music in 2014. They regularly develop new works with young composers including Ricardo Eizirik, Matthias Krüger, Julien Jamet, Thea Soti and Huihui Cheng. Since 2020, the ensemble has presented its own concert series in Cologne. Last season, the group was in residence at the Royaumont Abbey in summer, before premiering a new work by Lukas Ligeti together with the band Burkina Electric, led by the composer, at the Festival NOW! in Essen, Germany.
As a soloist, Marie Heeschen has performed at the Handel Festival Halle, Oude Muziek Fest Utrecht, Acht Brücken Festival in Cologne, MAFestival in Bruges, and Konserthuset Kristiansand. Recent highlights include her debut at Musikverein Wien together with Bach Consort Wien, concerts with RIAS Kammerchor, performing Bach’s St John Passion under Christoph Prégardien, and the world premiere of Samuel Penderbayne’s Unsex Me Here after Shakespeare’s Macbeth in the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg together with Ensemble Resonanz. In the 2023/24 season, Marie Heeschen will perform at the Philharmonie Berlin, singing in Mozart’s Requiem, as well as at the Kölner Philharmonie, interpreting Arthur Honegger’s Le Roi David, amongst other places.
Marie Heeschen trained with Christoph Prégardien and Lioba Braun in Cologne. She studied contemporary and chamber music in Essen with David Smeyers and Barbara Maurer, among others. Master classes and lessons with Klesie Kelly-Moog, Ruth Ziesak, Martin Kränzle, and Jil Feldman completed her education.
2023/24 season
This biography is to be reproduced without any changes, omissions or additions, unless expressly authorised by the artist management.
Programmes with BRuCHProgrammes with Paper Kite
Abend-Andacht with Ensemble Paper KiteWorks by H. Schütz, P. H. Erlebach, J. P. Krieger, A. Hammerschmidt, and J. Rosenmüller
Cantate d'amore with Ensemble Paper Kite A. Scarlatti: Hor che die Febo ascosi; O qual meco Nice cangiata
Epochéwith Sandra Urba (piano)Songs by O. Schoeck, L. Boulanger, L. Dallapiccola, E. Schulhoff, F. Poulenc, M. Delage
Winterreisewith Sandra Urba (piano)Schubert: Winterreise D 911
“Marie Heeschen has a featherweight soprano as Adele and radiates just as much playful wit.”
kleinezeitung.at, Helmut Christian, 16 Dezember 2023 – on the role of Adele in the operetta The Bat, Klagenfurt
“In her role as Poppea, Marie Heeschen’s youthful soprano and radiant high notes present a wonderful contrast to the Empress.”
Online Musik Magazin, Thomas Molke, January 2023
"This is the first time I have heard Heeschen in a production, but I hope it is far from the last. Heeschen's elegant and young voice makes a perfect Gilda, and as a whole she signals vulnerability and charm. I'm deeply impressed by her delivery throughout the performance, which repeatedly gave me goosebumps."
Den 4 Vaeg, Frederik Nagel Fryland, 15 August 2021
"German soprano Marie Heeschen as Gilda sings with such sparkling clarity that every word burns directly into the soul."
iscene.dk, August 2021
"How beautiful it was to hear the big and round soprano sound of the German Marie Heeschen.... A wonderful voice!"
borsen.dk, August 2021, Jakob Wivel
"Marie Heeschen is here as the ideal choice for the role. Her soprano proves once again to be wonderfully versatile. Coloratura - she can do. Long baroque lines as well. Her corresponding instrument is the violin - and Poppea dances. When the guys press her, she spins like a doll on a music box. Her costume also tells thoughts and feelings. The naive silly girl who gives blowjobs with her chewing gum? The clever woman who conducts all the men in a magical game of hide-and-seek? The seductive courtesan who doesn't miss a precious gift? A great character, given life by Marie Heeschen's springfidel, and given depth by the aria Vaghe perle, eletti fiori."
liveinderoper.com, 22 June 2021
"Marie Heeschen is here ideally cast. Her soprano again proves wonderfully versatile. Coloratura - she can do it. Long baroque lines as well ... A great character, given life by Marie Heeschen's springfidel, and given depth by the aria Vaghe perle, eletti fiori."
liveinderoper.com, 17 March 2019
“The crowning musical achievement [of the evening] is Marie Heeschen as the beguilingly beautiful Juno, whose singing is both warm and lyrically supple.”
Online Musik Magazin, Stefan Schmöe, 8 October 2020
“Marie Heeschen interprets the Feldman composition in a hummed version. [...] The acoustics of the nave give her a reverberation and a richness of tone, which a solo voice can produce only here. What makes the magic? [...] The pauses in which the eyes of the flutist Sally Beck and the soprano create music with their glances? Two minutes of silence in which no one claps their hands with hasty applause? [...] Breathing pauses. And then the cello [Ella Rohwer] hums into the idyllic chirping of birds. The flute gives off energy equally well with individual notes. The analogy to an abrupt standstill is easily established. Half an hour of music like what was heard today allows everyone to slowly release themselves from their state of shock.”
Liveinderoper – on the first concert with BRuCH after the Corona-induced lockdown in May 2020
“Soprano Marie Heeschen is perfectly cast as chambermaid Adele. She captivates with her witty interpretation, easily winning the audience’s hearts with her singing.”
General-Anzeiger Bonn, Bernhard Hartmann, 10 March 2020
“Heeschen brings a wonderful luminosity to her phrasing.”
General-Anzeiger Bonn, Bernhard Hartmann, 16 September 2019
“With her youthful charisma and beautifully delivered lyric soprano, Marie Heeschen gives this role – the musical embodiment of the tragic opera heroine – the necessary creative depth.”
Das Opernmagazin, Ursula Hartlapp-Lindemeyer, 17 September 2019
“As Marx’s daughter Tussy, soprano Marie Heeschen brought spot-on intonation to dozens of very high notes and masterfully navigated arpeggios that skipped all arund, while still radiating impish rebelliousness.”
Bachtrack.com, 22 January 2019 – on the role "Tussy" in J. Dove’s opera "Marx in London" at Theater Bonn
"This is an ensemble of great promise."
Early Music Review, 17 January 2019 - on felice un tempo
“Marie Heeschen’s Tussy twittered in the stratosphere with coloratura showpieces.”
Sunday Times, 31 December 2018 – on the role "Tussy“ in J. Dove’s opera "Marx in London“ at Theater Bonn
“Dove lavishes some of his most ambitious vocal writing on the Marxes’ daughter ans is rewarded with an unflaggingly vibrant performance by the engaging Marie Heeschen.”
The Guardian, 11 December 2018 – on the role "Tussy" in J. Dove’s opera "Marx in London" at Theater Bonn
“Brilliantly singing coloratura and very high notes, Marie Heeschen has a fling as rather eccentric daughter Tussy who edges into the acting business.”
FAZ, Josef Oehrlein, 17 December 2018 – on the role „Tussy“ in J. Dove’s opera "Marx in London" at Theater Bonn
“Marie Heeschen’s voice is extremely sensous […] The three cantatas are unusually beautiful one should not miss out listening to.”
Scherzo, September 2017 – on the CD felice un tempo with Ensemble Paper Kite, Coviello 7250711
Samuel Penderbayne: Unsex me here (WP)
Ensemble Resonanz, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg
Rebecca Saunders: Oh Yes & I
György Kurtág: Kafka-Fragmente
W. A. Mozart: Arie der Pamina
Jonathan Dove: Marx in London
Marie Heeschen (Tussy), Christian Georg (Freddy), Beethoven Orchester Bonn
G. F. Handel: Alpestre Monte HWV 81
Ensemble Paper KiteWDR3 Funkhauskonzert, April 2021
Marie Heeschen, SopranoAntonio de Sarlo, violinRafael Roth, violinGuillermo Turina, celloFelix Schönherr, harpsichord
This is an ensemble of great promise. Early Music Review 2019
Paper Kite is the soprano Marie Heeschen, the cellist Guillermo Turina, the harpsichordist Felix Schönherr and the violinists Antonio de Sarlo and Rafael Roth. All specialized in historical performance practice, they want to revive the lesser-known cantatas repertoire of the German and Italian Baroque. The group is particularly characterized by lively and rousing interpretations.
Ensemble BRuCH, Ensemble Ascolta, Ensemble Inverspace, WDR Sinfonieorchester, Elena Schwarz (conductor), Nicholas Kok (conductor)
Wergo WER 6435 2, 2021
Ensemble Paper Kite: Marie Heeschen, Guillermo Turina (violoncello), Felix Schönherr (cembalo), Antonio de Sarlo (violin), Rafael Roth (violin)
Coviello Classics COV91719, 2017
Coviello Classics COV92012, 2021