Brigitte Oelke (born c. 25 May 1975 in St. Gallen) is a Swiss singer, actress, and dancer.

Vita

Brigitte Oelke's affection for music started very early in her life. Her mother was the leader of the children's choir at the St. Gallen Stadttheater, in which Brigitte took part herself. Furthermore, she learnt to play multiple instruments (piano,

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

, guitar and the

recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

) but nevertheless, singing was her greatest passion. A friend of the family, Prof. Kurt Pahlen contributed to Brigitte's high-class musical education. During her education as commercial clerk she gained experience as a front woman, for instance in her first band ''Sterling oder Nightgambler'' with which she toured

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. After completing her education at the age of 19 she spent a year as an

au pair An au pair (; plural: au pairs) is a helper from a foreign country working for, and living as part of, a host family. Typically, au pairs take on a share of the family's responsibility for childcare as well as some housework, and receive a monet ...

in Los Angeles where she received an education in singing,

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

and Stepdance. Back in Europe she also received private tutoring in singing and acting in St. Gallen, Vienna and Bregenz before she entered the ''Stage School of Music, Dance and Drama'' in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, leaving it as a graduate actress.

Work

1997 she worked with Roman Polanski and Jim Steinman at the world premiere of Tanz der Vampire (Dance of the Vampires) in Vienna as a member of the ensemble and alternate "Rebecca". In 1998 she played Nellie in director Dietrich Hilsdorf's German premiere of

Jekyll & Hyde ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'' is a 1886 Gothic novella by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. It follows Gabriel John Utterson, a London-based legal practitioner who investigates a series of strange occurrences between his old ...

. November 2000 she won the contest to be one of three candidates to sing the Swiss contribution to the German preliminaries for the

European Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pri ...

2001– together with Leslie Bogaert and

Joy Fleming Joy Fleming (born Erna Raad, 15 November 1944 – 27 September 2017) was a German singer. She is best known for her performance in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1975. She performed the song " Ein Lied kann eine Brücke sein" and was placed seven ...

she performed the song "Power of Trust" making second place. From December 2004 to October 2006 she got the chance to work in the German production of We will rock you alongside her teenage idols

Brian May Brian Harold May (born 19 July 1947) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and astrophysicist, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead guitarist of the rock band Queen (band), Queen. May was a co-founder of Queen with lead singer Fredd ...

and

Roger Taylor Roger Taylor may refer to: *Roger Taylor (Queen drummer) (born 1949), drummer for Queen *Roger Taylor (Duran Duran drummer) (born 1960), drummer for Duran Duran *Roger Taylor (author), author of epic fantasy Hawklan series *Roger Taylor (college pr ...

, playing the role of "

Killer Queen "Killer Queen" is a song by the British rock band Queen. It was written by lead singer Freddie Mercury and recorded for their third album ''Sheer Heart Attack'' in 1974. It reached number two in the UK Singles Chart and became their first US ...

". In December 2006 she moved to Zurich,

with the production of WWRY and on 24 January 2008 she conquered the third German speaking country–

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, Austria. Brigitte currently continues her trail of success as "Killer Queen" at the Apollo Theater in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

, Germany.

Engagements

* 1994 Lorca's Escapada–"Yerma" (Theatron Hamburg) * 1994 Into the Woods–"Hexe" (Amerika-Haus Hamburg) * 1994 La Cage aux Folles–"Madame Dindon", "Jacqueline" (Delphi-Theater Hamburg) * 1995 Grease–"Jan" (Imperial-Theater Hamburg) * 1995 West Side Story–"Anita" (Oper/Musikal. Komödie Leipzig) * 1996 Sweet Charity–"Nicky" (St.-Pauli-Theater Hamburg) * 1996 Dames at Sea–"Joan" (Delphi-Theater Hamburg) * 1996 Die Schöne und das Biest–"Mathilde" (Tournee D/CH/A, BB-Promotion) * 1997 Der kleine Horrorladen–"Crystal" (TheaterZelt Das Schloss München) * 1997 Tanz der Vampire–"Rebecca", Ensemble (Raimund-Theater Wien) * 1998 Rock it!–Solistin (Seebühne Zell am See) * 1998 Jekyll & Hyde–"Nellie" (Musical-Theater Bremen) * 2000 Beatlemania–Solistin (Seebühne Zell am See) * 2000 Evita–"Evita" (Städtische Bühnen Münster) * 2002 West Side Story–"Anita" (Theater Bielefeld) * 2002 Jesus Christ Superstar–"Maria Magdalena" (Städtische Bühnen Münster) * 2003 Jekyll & Hyde–"Nellie" (Musical-Dome Köln) * 2003 Cabaret–"Sally" (Städtische Bühnen Münster) * 2003 Das Mädchen Rosemarie–"Lilly" (Capitol Theater Düsseldorf) * 2004 West Side Story–"Anita" (Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf) * 2004 Die Tenoritas–Solistin (Gala-Auftritte Hamburg, Hannover, Bonn) * 2004 We Will Rock You–"Killer Queen" (Musical-Dome Köln) * 2006 We Will Rock You–"Killer Queen" (Theater 11, Zürich) * 2008 We Will Rock You–"Killer Queen" (Raimund-Theater, Wien) * 2008 We Will Rock You – "Killer Queen" (Apollo Theater, Stuttgart)

Discography

* 1995 Solo artist auf Lace and chains Giacopuzzi CH (Jazz-Soul-Pop) * 1996 Solo artist – International Country Hits Barry Lane Compilation * 1997 Musical-CD Tanz der Vampire –Ensemble (Weltpremiere Cast) * 1999 Musical-CD Jekyll & Hyde–"Nellie" (Deutsche Erstaufführung) * 2001 Single Maxi-CD Power of trust–Lesley, Joy & Brigitte (Eurovision Song Contest) * 2003 Solo artist auf Doppel-Live-CD Musikalisches Feuerwerk (Schweiz) * 2003 Musical on Ice-CD Romeo und Julia –"Lady Montague“ * 2004 Solo artist – David Plate's The Perception * 2004 Musical-CD Das Mädchen Rosemarie –"Lilly" (World Premiere Cast) * 2005 Musical-Live-CD We will Rock You live –"Killer Queen" (Original Cologne Cast)

References

External links

Brigitte Oelke Official Homepage

Official We Will Rock You Homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oelke, Brigitte Swiss stage actresses Swiss female dancers Living people Year of birth missing (living people) People from St. Gallen (city)