Contact
Kerstin Altka@karstenwitt.com+49 30 214 594 -235
Daniel Schumacherds@karstenwitt.com+49 30 214 594 -210
General Management
Until 8 May, Ulrike Mayer can be seen in a breeches role at Theater Bremen - she received outstanding reviews for her role debut as Sesto in Mozart's opera La clemenza di Tito after the premiere at the end of March.
Jacques Offenbach, Orpheus in der Unterwelt
Ulrike Mayer, mezzo-soprano
William Kelley, conductor
Frank Hilbrich, stage direction
Bremer Philharmoniker
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, La Clemenza di Tito
Ulrike Mayer, mezzo-soprano(Sesto)
Sasha Yankevych, conductor
Marco Štorman, stage direction
Ludwig van Beethoven, Chorfantasie op. 80
Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125
Simon Bode, tenor
Lenneke Ruiten, soprano
Hanno Müller-Brachmann, bass-baritone
Kit Armstrong, piano
Arnold Schoenberg Chor
Le Concert Olympique
Jan Caeyers, conductor
Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen
The mezzo-soprano not only has a beguilingly beautiful timbre, she is also adept at narratively interpreting the lyrics. […] Ulrike Mayer lends the evening a broad, suspenseful arc. Deutschlandfunk
Ulrike Mayer’s velvety rich mezzo-soprano, full of lyrical warmth, is matched by her outstanding gift for theatrical interpretation. As a permanent member of the ensemble at Theater Bremen, she regularly takes on major roles in her field such as Dorabella, Cherubino, Hänsel, Carmen, and Oreste. In recent years, the singer has also internationally established herself as a versatile concert soloist in addition to appearing in numerous opera roles, including at the Ruhrtriennale, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Hamburg State Opera, the Schwetzingen Festival, Bregenz Festspiele, and the Opéra Bastille and Opéra Comique in Paris. Further guest engagements have taken her to the Grand Théâtre du Luxembourg, to the Kurt Weill Fest Dessau, and to the Scottish Opera, where she made her acclaimed debut as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, for which she was nominated as singer of the year in 2011 by Opernwelt magazine.
After the mezzo-soprano’s critically acclaimed performances in recent seasons as Lazuli in Chabrier’s L’étoile, as Ruggiero in Handel’s Alcina, as Gianetta in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore, Composer in Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos, as well as Nerone in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea and her own recitals at her home theatre with works by Henry Purcell, Benjamin Britten, Kurt Weill, and Joseph Marx, in the 2023/24 season she will appear as Public Opinion in Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld, Irene Molloy in Hello Dolly, and as Sesto in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito.
As a concert soloist and lieder singer, Ulrike Mayer is a regular guest at renowned concert halls such as Konzerthaus Berlin, Philharmonie Berlin, the Auditorio Nacional de Música, Madrid, as well as at festivals such as the Weimar Kunstfest, Magdeburg’s Telemann Festival, and Mannheimer Mozartsommer. As a soloist she has been invited to perform with the Bochumer Symphoniker, SWR Sinfonieorchester, Dresdner Sinfoniker, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Colombia, the Münchner Symphoniker, Lautten Compagney Berlin, and Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin. Ulrike Mayer has also worked with conductors such as Kurt Masur, Alessandro De Marchi, Andreas Spering, Miguel Gómez-Martínez, and Hartmut Haenchen.
Born in Stuttgart, she studied with Thomas Quasthoff at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold and then with Klesie Kelly at the Hochschule für Musik Köln, where she completed her studies with a concert exam. She is the recipient of numerous grants and international prizes, including first prize at the “Euriade Vocal Concours” in Holland and at the Chamber Opera Schloss Rheinsberg’s competition. During her studies she was engaged by Theater Magdeburg, whose ensemble she was a member of until 2009. A high point of this engagement was the production of Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice (stage directed by Andreas Kriegenburg and nominated for German theatre award “Der Faust”, in which she sang Orpheus.
2023/24 season
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“By far the star of the evening was Ulrike Mayer as Sesto, who achieved a stellar performance between richly coloured singing and moving emotional portrayal down to the smallest body fibres.”
Ute Schalz-Laurenze, Neue Musikzeitung, 31/3/2024
“All the roles were excellently cast in terms of singing and acting. […] First and foremost is Ulrike Mayer, who left nothing to be desired as Sesto with her colourful mezzo and emotional interpretation.”
Wolfgang Denker, Der Opernfreund, 30/3/2024
“Ulrike Mayer fascinated with the warm luminosity of her mezzo-soprano and sparkling colouratura in a concise role portrayal of inner composure.”
Michael Pitz-Grewenig, klassik.com, 28/3/2024
“With her suitably versatile mezzo, Ulrike Mayer is the energetic centre of a production of strong women.”
Opernwelt, Peter Krause, August 2023
“Ulrike Mayer received strong cheers from the enthusiastic audience for her exciting portrayal of the composer, which she knew how to create with purely musical means – a high-pitched, powerful mezzo with excellent handling of the text.”
Das Opernglas, Markus Wilks, 03/2023
“In her leading role as Lazuli, the immensely agile, characterful Ulrike Mayer proved that she has a very well-trained, sonorous mezzo.”
Das Opernglas, 2019
“[Ruggiero is] a great breeches role for Ulrike Meyer, which she [performs] with macho charm and swaying shoulders, but at the same time full of neo-masculine tenderness and an awakened sense of justice. […] A very exciting, thrilling inner duel in an intense performance and much applause for Ulrike Mayer, who marks her macho aptly, even in a lower register.”
Berliner Theaterkritiken, 2019
“It is also the evening of Ulrike Mayer as Ruggiero, who manages to show a touching portrayal of the character’s seduction and remorse with an immense number of vocal facets – especially in the dreamlike Verdi prati. With her arias, she passes through arrogance, doubt, disappointment, wistful memory and questionable self-control.”
Neue Musikzeitung (NMZ), 2019
“I was impressed with mezzo Ulrike Mayer, standing in for a disposed singer. She had an impressive range, reaching some particularly low notes in the Salve.”
Early Music Reviews, 2016
“Ulrike Mayer’s Cherubino was one of the great successes of the evening. Her Cherubino was very much the precocious teenager whose description of himself as being firstly on fire and then icy cold in Non so più was marvellously matched by gripping sforzandos from the pit. Miss Mayer even managed to allow her Cherubino to look more awkwardly boyish whilst dressed in petticoats than he had done wearing a suit – a rare achievement indeed.”
Opera Britannia, 2010
“The mezzo-soprano not only has a beguilingly beautiful timbre, she is also adept at narratively interpreting the lyrics. […] Ulrike Mayer lends the evening a broad, suspenseful arc.”
Deutschlandfunk, 2007
Engelbert Humperdinck: Hänsel und Gretel | Hänsel
Emmanuel Chabrier: L’étoile | Lazuli
Alban Berg: Lulu | Gymnasiast
Felix Mendelssohn: Elias | Aria “Weh ihnen, dass sie von mir weichen”
Péter Eötvös: Angels in America | Harper Pitt
Richard Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos | Komponist
Ulrike Mayer, Sophie Wagner (soprano), Markus Schäfer (tenor), Konrad Jarnot (bass), Monteverdi Kammerchor Würzburg, Reinild Mees (piano), Matthias Beckert (conductor)
TYXart TXA 14046, 2015
Ulrike Mayer, Kammerchor der Biederitzer Kantorei, Cammermusik Potsdam, Michael Scholl (conductor)
Amati ami 2601/2, 2012