Vocal Soloists
![André Morsch](https://releases.kuk-art.com/sites/default/files/category_pictures/andre_morsch.jpg "André Morsch
Bass Vocals
Born in 1975, André Morsch began his studies in Austria, at the Conservatory in Feldkirch, with Ralf Ernst. He continued his studies with Margreet Honig at the Conservatorium of Amsterdam, graduating with distinction in 2003. His engagements include the role of Achillas (Giulio Cesare) with the State Opera, Stuttgart, Simanov in Jan van de Putte's "Wet Snow" with the National Reis Opera and Mendelssohn's Elias with the Israel Chamber Orchestra in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. In September 2002 he won the Prix Bernac of the Ravel Academy in Saint Jean de Luz.")
![Annelie Sophie Müller](https://releases.kuk-art.com/sites/default/files/category_pictures/mueller.jpg "Annelie Sophie Müller
Mezzo-Soprano
Annelie Sophie Müller was born in Freiburg i. Brsg., Germany. At very young age she had already learned to play the violin, the piano, percussion and to dance ballet. She started to take her first singing lessons when she was 19. She studied Vocal, Interpretation of Songs, and Pedagogical Music (main instrument piano) in Stuttgart, Germany. Annelie Sophie Müller got an invitation in 2010 from the Komische Oper Berlin to join the Opera Studio, therefore she finished her studies in this year. She received further musical education through masterclasses with Ks. Brigitte Fassbaender, Ks. Christa Ludwig, Thomas Hampson and Ingeborg Danz, which had influenced her intensely. Now her current teacher is Danish Professor Susanna Eken. Annelie Sophie Müller has performed with conductors such as Maurizio Barbacini, Alexander Vedernikov, Henrik Nánási, Konrad Junghänel, Axel Kober and Patrick Lange. She has also worked with stage directors such as Barrie Kosky, Calixto Bieito and Andreas Homoki. For the part of Pe- Ki, her first big part on stage, Annelie Sophie Müller received a nomination for "best upcoming singer 2012" in the journal "Opernwelt". In 2010 at the International Song Competition of the International Hugo- Wolf- Academie in Stuttgart, Germany, she was given first prize. Annelie Sophie Müller received a scholarship from the Baden- Württemberg- Stipendium and a scholarship from the Richard-Wagner-Organisation Germany. She also took part at the Academie Festival d'Aix-en-Provence in 2011 and she was in the Academy of Heidelberger Frühling in 2012. As an interpret of art songs Annelie Sophie Müller gave several concerts at famous festivals.")
![Benjamin Hulett](https://releases.kuk-art.com/sites/default/files/category_pictures/hulett.jpg "Benjamin Hulett
Tenor
The young and honoured British Tenor is currently principal tenor at the Hamburg State Opera and recently made his debut at the "Bayerische Staatsoper" Munich as "Oronte" in Handel's Alcina. He has appeared for example at the BBC Proms under Sir Andrew Davies, Sir Roger Norrington and Sir John Eliot Gardiner, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw under Phillippe Herreweghe, Markus Stenz and Jos van Veldhoven, the Halle Handel Festival under Howard Arman and Frieder Bernius. Other concert appearances include those with the BBC Symphony, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, RPO, King's Consort, Wiener Akademie, Monteverdi Choir, Orchestre des Champs-Elysees, Stavanger Symphony and Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestras. Benjamin Hulett studied musicology at the New College in Oxford and opera and vocal technique at Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.")
![Christopher Purves](https://releases.kuk-art.com/sites/default/files/category_pictures/christopher_purves.jpg "Christopher Purves
Bass
Christopher Purves received vocal instruction from David Keren and Diane Forlano. He made his solo debut at the 1988 Aix-en-Provence Festival, appearing in a Mozart program with "The Sixteen" ensemble under the direction of Harry Christophers. He has appeared as soloist in numerous operas (including works by Mozart and Monteverdi) and major Handel oratorios. He has made an earlier appearance in Maulbronn in a production of Judas Maccabaeus. His concert engagements have taken him to major concert halls throughout the world in the company of such ensembles and conductors as The Sixteen, Philippe Herreweghe, Richard Hickox, the Gabrieli Consort Covent Garden, John Taverner and the Academy of Ancient Music.")
![Daniel Raschinsky](https://releases.kuk-art.com/sites/default/files/category_pictures/artists.jpg "Daniel Raschinsky
Bass Vocals
The German bass-baritone was born in 1983. He attended the Christophorusschule in Altensteig, where he received piano lessons and choral singing training supported by a scholarship. As a member of the Christophorus-Kantorei he performed concerts and participated in numerous national and international choir competitions. In 2005 Mr. Raschinsky began to study singing at the "University of music and performing arts" in Stuttgart under Prof. Jaeger-Böhm - since 2008 with Prof. Dunja Vejzovic. Beside performances as a soloist Mr. Raschinsky has been a member of the "Stuttgart Chamber Choir", the "Wuerttemberg Chamber Choir" and the "Circus Musicus" under Prof. Dieter Kurz. His repertoire spans opera, major parts in the great oratorios, as well as Lieder literature and contemporary music.")
![Falko Hönisch](https://releases.kuk-art.com/sites/default/files/category_pictures/hoenisch.jpg "Falko Hönisch
Bass Vocals
The German baritone studied voice at the Musikhochschule in Stuttgart under the guidance of Julia Hamari and Art Song interpretation under Konrad Richter. While a student, he debuted at the Wilhelma Theater in Stuttgart in the title role of Mozart's Don Giovanni. Prior to this, Mr. Hönisch studied in Karlsruhe and Lübeck, taking voice lessons from Roland Hermann and Franz-Josef Einhaus, in addition to conducting lessons and piano with Kaya Han. He has received further instruction in several master classes by such renowned singers and pianists as Gundula Janowitz, Brigitte Fassbaender, Catarina Ligendza, Edith Wiens, Francisco Araiza, Helmut Deutsch, Julius Drake, Malcom Martineau, Tom Krause, Rudolf Piernay, Wolfgang Schöne, Charles Spencer, Bernd Weikl and many other renowned artists. The 2011-2012 marked two significant debuts for Mr. Hönisch: in November, he performed in the world premier of Auerbach's Gogol at the Theater an der Wien, and made his debut at Amsterdam's prestigious Concertgebouw. During the 2010-2011 season baritone Falko Hönisch performed Bach's St. John's Passion in a staged production signed by Dale Duesing at the Reisopera in The Netherlands. In July 2010 he sang Hans Castorp, the leading role in the World Première of Gregory Vajdas' opera Der Zauberberg under the auspices of the Young Artists Music Festival in Davos, Switzerland. Falko Hönisch was member of the soloists ensemble at various theaters in Germany, where he sang many of the leading roles of his repertoire, including Count Almaviva in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, Papageno and Sprecher in Die Zauberflöte, Gabriel von Eisenstein in Strauss' Die Fledermaus, Graf Eberbach in Lortzing's Der Wildschütz and Wolfram von Eschenbach in Wagner's Tannhäuser. The latter role marked his Italian debut at the Giuseppe Verdi Theater in Trieste during the 2009-2010 season. He has sung under the baton of numerous conductors including Frieder Bernius, Gregor Bühl, John Fiore, Siegfried Köhler, Cornelius Meister, Roberto Paternostro and Helmuth Rilling and with such orchestras as the Radio Orchestra of Munich, the Aalborg Symphoniorkester, the Symphony Orchestras of Düsseldorf and Bochum, the State Orchestra of Kassel, the Staatskapelle of Baden, the "Het Bravants" Orchestra in The Netherlands, the Limburg Symphony Orchestra, the Cologne Sinfonietta and the Bach Collegium Stuttgart. His repertoire includes the Bach's Passions, Haydn's Die Schöpfung (The Creation), and Brahms' German Requiem amongst many other titles. Mr. Hönisch has received numerous awards: he was a prize winner of the 2010 Lauritz Melchior International Singing Competition for Wagnerian voices; 2nd prize winner at the 2010 Mendelssohn Competition in Frankfurt; received the Audience Prize at the 6th International Wagnerian voices Competition in Karlsruhe; the 3rd prize and several special prizes at the 58th International ARD Competition in Munich (including the Audience Prize, the Prize for the Best Interpretation of the Mandatory Contemporary Composition and the Charlotte Hamel-Foundation Prize); in February 2009 he won the 1st prize at the Richard Strauss Competition in Munich, receiving the Richard Strauss Gold Medal during the Richard Strauss Festival in June 2009; at the 45th International Vocal Competition in 's-Hertogenbosch in 2008, he was awarded the Lied Prize; that same year he won a prize at the Robert Schumann Competition; he was also a prize winner at the 2007 Anneliese Rothenberger Competition. Mr. Hönisch has been the recipient of a grant from the Richard Wagner Association.")
![Franz Vitzthum](https://releases.kuk-art.com/sites/default/files/category_pictures/vitzthum.jpg "Franz Vitzthum
Altus, Countertenor
Born in upper Bavaria, he began singing with the Regensburg Cathedral Choir (Regensburger Domspatzen). At the Cologne University of Music, he studied singing with Kai Wessel, receiving his degree in 2007. While there, he already won numerous prizes and earned scholarships. The critics praise Franz Vitzthum's counter-tenor voice for its precision in intonation and flexibility. It effortlessly reaches up into the mezzo range, and delights with an extraordinary beauty. He has been invited to give recitals at the Rheingau Musik Festival, at the Handel Festivals in Halle, Karlsruhe and Göttingen, at La Folle Journée de Nantes, and at the Bach Festival of Philadelphia. He has worked with the conductors Nicolas McGegan, Andrew Parrot, Hermann Max, Peter Neumann, and Christoph Poppen, among others. He has also taken part in various operas and oratorio productions, for example, in Scherz, Satire, Ironie und tiefere Bedeutung (Glanert), Jephtha and Solomon (Handel), Orfeo (Gluck), Orlando generoso (Steffani), and most recently in Spartaco (Porsile) at Winter in Schwetzingen. Chamber music is also one of Franz Vitzthum's passions. He regularly gives concerts with the lutist Julian Behr and the Ensemble Capricornus from Basel, as well as with his own vocal ensemble Stimmwerck, which he founded. This many-faceted activity is reflected in his continually expanding discography. Following his debut solo-CD "Ich will in Frieden fahren” with the viol consort Les Escapades, Franz Vitzthum released a further solo-CD of Baroque sacred vocal music for Christophorus, early in 2012.")
![Heike Heilmann](https://releases.kuk-art.com/sites/default/files/category_pictures/heilmann.jpg "Heike Heilmann
Soprano Vocals
The German soprano, born in Wangen/Allgäu (Germany), has obtained many of the First and Second Prizes at the federal competition "Jugend musiziert." After graduation, she studied singing at the Staatlichen Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg/Breisgau, among other, with Professor Markus Goritzki. She then began graduate studies with focus on Lied / Oratorio with Professor Heidrun Kordes at the Hochschule für Darstellende Kunst und Musik in Frankfurt/Main. She was also a member of the opera class. In addition to her solo career Heike Heilmann is also a member in professional ensembles, such as the Balthasar-Neumann-Chor under the direction of Thomas Hengelbrock.")
![James Rutherford](https://releases.kuk-art.com/sites/default/files/category_pictures/james_rutherford.jpg "James Rutherford
Bass Vocals
James Rutherford studied at the Royal College of Music and the National Opera Studio in London. In 2000, he was elected "New Generation Artist", a programme run by the BBC to support and provide awards for young artists. He has a very wide repertoire. He is equally comfortable with the Baroque operas of Handel (Rinaldo) and Bach oratorios as he is with Mozart (Le nozze di Figaro), Wagner (The Meistersinger), Verdi (Falstaff), Stravinsky und Benjamin Britten. His engagements have led him to the Paris Opera, the Welsh National Opera and, in London, to the Royal Opera House. He has sung with the Glyndebourne Touring Opera and appeared as a guest at the music festivals in Montpellier and Innsbruck. In Germany, he has sung "Rinaldo" with René Jacobs at the German State Opera in Berlin. Besides performing with famous English symphony orchestras, he has also appeared with the Berlin Philharmonic and the SWR Rundfunk Orchestra. In August 2006, James Rutherford won the first International Wagner Competition at the Seattle Opera.")
![Joanne Lunn](https://releases.kuk-art.com/sites/default/files/category_pictures/joanne_lunn.jpg "Joanne Lunn
Soprano Vocals
Joanne Lunn (Soprano)
studied at the Royal College of Music in London, where she was awarded the prestigious "Tagore Gold Medal". She performs as a soloist with early music groups like the English Baroque Soloists, the Hilliard Ensemble, Philippe Herreweghe's Collegium Vocale Gent, the Gabrieli Consort and the Monteverdi Choir under Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Concert appearances have also included Bach's St Matthew Passion conducted by Sir Roger Norrington, concerts with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra, Bach's "Magnificat" at the BBC Proms with the Academy of Ancient Music, Bach's Mass in B Minor with the Bach Collegium Japan conducted by Masaaki Suzuki, or Bach's "Easter Oratorio" with the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales under Nicholas Kraemer.")
![Josef Wagner](https://releases.kuk-art.com/sites/default/files/category_pictures/josef-wagner.jpg "Josef Wagner
Baritone
The musical education of the Austrian Bass-Baritone Josef Wagner, born in 1975, began with a membership in a boys' choir and with violin and piano lessons. Later he studied singing at the University of Music and Dramatic Arts in Vienna, where he was inspired by Paul Esswood, Walter Berry and Christa Ludwig. His current teacher is the tenor Wicus Slabbert. After the debut with "Don Alfonso" ("Così fan tutte" and Dulcamara ("Elisir d'amore") Josef Wagner became a member of the Vienna Volksoper in 2002. His repertoire includes "Figaro" in "Le nozze di Figaro", "Don Alfonso" and "Guglielmo" in "Cosi fan tutte", "Masetto" in "Don Giovanni", "Papageno" in "Die Zauberflöte" (Mozart), "Dulcamara" in "L'elisir d'amore" (Donizetti), "Publio" in "La clemenza di Tito" (Mozart), "Alidoro" in "La Cenerentola" (Rossini), "Colline" in "La boheme" (Puccini), "Philebos" in "Der König Kandaules" (Zemlinsky), "Fra Melitone" in "La forza del destino" (Verdi) and other roles. He performs at the Salzburg Festival, the Vienna Volksoper and the opera houses of Bern, Geneva, Ireland and Japan. At the Israeli Opera he sang Lord Sidney in Il viaggio a Reims (Rossini). In addition to his career as an opera singer Josef Wagner also performes as a concert singer. Thus he gave concerts under the conductors Ton Koopman, Dennis Russell Davies and Nikolaus Harnoncourt in Vienna's Musikverein and the Vienna Konzerthaus.")
![Klaus Mertens](https://releases.kuk-art.com/sites/default/files/category_pictures/mertens.jpg "Klaus Mertens
Bass-Baritone
Klaus Mertens works with many important names in "Early Music", as it is generally known - specialists like Ton Koopman, Frans Brüggen, Nicholas McGegan, Philippe Herreweghe, René Jacobs, Sigiswald Kuijken, Gustav Leonhardt and Nikolaus Harnoncourt. He also works with many well-known classical conductors - Gary Bertini, Herbert Blomstedt and Sir Roger Norrington, for example.
This has resulted in some very successful work with famous orchestras, including the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, the Concertgebouw Orchester Amsterdam, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, all the big Berlin orchestras, as well as Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Dresden Philharmonic, Zurich’s Tonhalle Orchestra, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra.
Klaus Mertens is very well known and greatly in demand, particularly as an interpreter of the Baroque oratorio. He has repeatedly made recordings of Bach’s main vocal works with different conductors. In October 2003, he completed a recording of Bach’s entire cantatas. This was a ten-year project connected with extensive concert tours in Europe, America and Japan and marked a high point in his singing career. This was the first time ever that a singer had recorded the entire vocal works of Johann Sebastian Bach and also performed them in concert.")
![Marcus Ullmann](https://releases.kuk-art.com/sites/default/files/category_pictures/marcus_ullmann.jpg "Marcus Ullmann
Tenor Vocals
Marcus Ullmann (Tenor) studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Dresden with Hartmut Zabel and Margaret Trappe-Wiel, later with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in Berlin and Marga Schiml in Karlsruhe. He began his career at Opera Houses including the State Operas in Dresden and Mainz, the Teatro La Fenice, the Opera House in Rome, Teatro Florence and the Los Angeles Opera, where he appeared successfully in most of the major Mozart-roles, in addition to staged versions of the "St John's Passion" and "B-Minor Mass" by Bach, as well as "The Creation" and "The Seasons" by Haydn. Conductors with whom he has worked include Marcus Creed, Enoch zu Guttenberg, Hans-Christoph Rademann, Helmuth Rilling, Peter Schreier and Frieder Bernius for example. Beside his performances with choirs like the Dresden Kreuzchor and the Thomanerchor Leipzig and performances at many music festivals, Marcus Ullmann has given recitals in Tokyo, at the Wigmore Hall London, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and the Opera House Cairo.")
- Vol. 02: The most beautiful Concert Highlights 1999
- HANDEL: Oratorio Joshua
- G.F. HANDEL: Oratorio Aria Highlights
- George Fr. Handel · Saul
- G. Fr. Handel · Judas Maccabaeus
- George Fr. Handel · Belshazzar
- George Fr. Handel · Samson
- George Fr. Handel · Messiah
- George Fr. Handel · Joshua
- The Power of Handel · Oratorio Highlights
![Markus Schäfer](https://releases.kuk-art.com/sites/default/files/category_pictures/markus_schaefer.jpg "Markus Schäfer
Tenor Vocals
Markus Schäfer studied voice and church music in Karlsruhe and Düsseldorf and won competitions in Berlin (Federal Competition in Voice) and Milan (Caruso Competition). He attended the Opera Studio in Zurich. He was then engaged by the opera house in Zurich and made his début there. This was followed by engagements at the Hamburg Staatsoper and the ‘Deutsche Oper am Rhein’ in Düsseldorf. Conductors he has worked with include Kent Nagano, Fabio Luisi, Michael Gielen, Stephan Soltesz, Nicolaus Harnoncourt, Leopold Hager, Helmuth Rilling, Philippe Herreweghe, René Jacobs, Sigiswald Kuijken and Yehudi Menuhin. CD recordings of him in "Cosi fan tutte" with S. Kuijken and the "St. Matthew Passion" with Harnoncourt and the "Concentus musicus" are outstanding; indeed, the latter was awarded a Grammy. As an interpreter of the Lied, he has had great success in Vienna and at the Schubertiade festivals in Feldkirch, Schwarzenberg and New York, where he performed works by Schubert and Schumann with pianist Hartmut Höll.")
![Marlis Petersen](https://releases.kuk-art.com/sites/default/files/category_pictures/marlis_petersen.jpg "Marlis Petersen
Soprano Vocals
After studying at the State University of Music & Performing Arts in Stuttgart as well as under Prof. Sylvia Geszty, Marlis Petersen received awards at the VDMK "Opera-Operetta-Concert" competition in Berlin. In 1993 she won 1st prize in the "International Master Class in Voice" at the Jacques Offenbach Festival. During 1993/94 she was a member of the ensemble at the Städtische Bühnen in Nuremberg, singing coloratura soprano. Besides giving concerts in German-speaking countries, she has made guest appearances at the Berlin, Bremen, Düsseldorf, Hanover, Munich, Frankfurt and Wiesbaden opera houses. Marlis Petersen works extremely closely with Helmuth Rilling and the International Bach Academy in Stuttgart and also performs with them in concerts throughout Europe and the USA. She has also given very successful concerts for RAI Turin and Santa Cecilia in Rome, at the Bregenz Festival, the Opéra Bastille, the Vienna State Opera and at London’s Covent Garden. Her latest successes have included performances in Hamburg, Geneva, Athens and Monte Carlo, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the Salzburg Festival.")
- Vol. 02: The most beautiful Concert Highlights 1999
- MIDNIGHT CLASSICS Vol. 3
- G.F. HANDEL: Oratorio Aria Highlights
- G.F. HANDEL: Arias from the Oratorio Messiah
- George Fr. Handel · Saul
- George Fr. Handel · Solomon
- George Fr. Handel · Belshazzar
- George Fr. Handel · Samson
- George Fr. Handel · Messiah
- The Power of Handel · Oratorio Highlights
![Miriam Allan](https://releases.kuk-art.com/sites/default/files/category_pictures/allan.jpg "Miriam Allan
Soprano
Miriam Allan, master class graduate student of Emma Kirkby and Julianne Baird and winner of the London Handel Competition 2003, was born in Newcastle (Australia) in 1977. She studied at Newcastle University and graduated from there with several distinctions. She has performed the most important works of Bach, Handel and Purcell with leading choirs and orchestras such as the Australian Chamber Orchestra and the Sydney Philharmonic. She has also appeared as a guest with the Song Company and Sounds Baroque, including at their concertante performances. In addition to this she also gives recitals. In the summer of 2003, she sang not only the title role in the Handel opera "Semele" for the Pinchgut Opera, she also appeared in the world premiere of "Dreaming Transportation" at the Sidney Festival and sang in the first Australian performance of Bach's St Mark Passion by the Sidney Philharmonic under Arno Volmer as well as performing in Pergolesi's "Stabat Mater". Meanwhile, Miriam Allan lives in London, where she teaches singing at the Westminster Under School. She performs with ensembles such as Concerto Copenhagen, Israel Camerata, the London Handel Orchestra, the Leipzig Chamber Orchestra or Concerto Köln and is working with conductors like Trevor Pinnock, Sir John Elliot Gardiner and William Christie.")
![Miriam Meyer](https://releases.kuk-art.com/sites/default/files/category_pictures/miriam_meyer.jpg "Miriam Meyer
Soprano Vocals
The soprano Miriam Meyer was born in the German city of Osterode am Harz. After graduating from high-school, she started medical school in Hanover. In addition to that, she soon started studying vocal arts at the Hanover University of Music and Drama with W. Reimer. In 1997, she transferred to the University of Music in Lübeck as a student of Ulf Bästlein, where she received her diploma with distinction in spring 2002. She intensified her training by attending master classes by Renata Scotto, Irwin Gage, Charles Spencer, Kai Wessel, and Esther de Bros. Beside performances on the radio and on television Miriam Meyer gave numerous concerts, Lied recitals and oratorio performances throughout Germany and other European countries. At the Handel Festival in Halle in 2003, for example, Miriam Meyer's performance of the soprano solo in the oratorio "Messiah" with the Choeur des Musiciens du Louvre and the Lautten Compagney Berlin, conducted by Wolfgang Katschner, was a great success. At the Herrenchiemsee Festival of 2004, she made her debut as Susanna in "The Marriage of Figaro", conducted by Enoch zu Guttenberg. From 2002 to 2008, Miriam Meyer worked as a soloist at the Komische Oper Berlin with guest performances in Hong Kong, for example. In 2006 the soprano started cooperating very closely with Ton Koopman and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra.")
The list of vocal soloists and all releases performed by them
