Kirchschlager, Angelika
Kirchschlager, Angelika
Kirchschlager, Angelika, admired Austrian mezzo-soprano; b. Salzburg, Nov. 24, 1965. She studied piano at the Salzburg Mozarteum before pursuing vocal training with Gerhard Kahry at the Vienna Academy of Music, from which she graduated with a diploma in 1992. She also studied the art of lieder and oratorio interpretation with Walter Berry. In 1993 she made her professional operatic debut as Octavian in Graz, a role she would make very much her own in subsequent years. In 1994 she sang Massenet’s Chérubin at the Vienna Chamber Opera. She became a member of the Vienna State Opera in 1994, where she won notable distinction for her Mozart and Strauss roles. In 1995 she portrayed Octavian at the Berlin State Opera and sang in recital at N.Y.’s Town Hall. She portrayed Périchole at the Vienna Volksoper in 1996. In 1997 she made her U.S. operatic debut as Octavian at the Seattle Opera, and also sang Cherubino at the San Francisco Opera, Dorabella at the Vienna Festival, and Mozart’s Annio in Paris, and appeared in recital at London’s Wigmore Hall. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut in N.Y. as Annio on Nov. 26, 1997. On Dec. 31, 1998, she was a soloist with Masur and the N.Y. Phil, in a New Year’s Eve Gala Concert that was televised live to the nation by PBS.
—Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire