Martina Koppelstetter is a German

mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano or mezzo (; ; meaning "half soprano") is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middle C ...

in opera and concert. She is particularly interested in contemporary music.

Career

Born in

Lower Bavaria Lower Bavaria (german: Niederbayern, Bavarian: ''Niedabayern'') is one of the seven administrative regions of Bavaria, Germany, located in the east of the state. Geography Lower Bavaria is subdivided into two regions () – Landshut and Donau-W ...

, she enrolled at the

Musikhochschule München The University of Music and Performing Arts Munich (german: Hochschule für Musik und Theater München), also known as the Munich Conservatory, is a performing arts conservatory in Munich, Germany. The main building it currently occupies is t ...

in 1983, graduating with distinction in 1990. She made her debuts in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

and

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

under

Enoch zu Guttenberg Georg Enoch Robert Prosper Philipp Franz Karl Theodor Maria Heinrich Johannes Luitpold Hartmann Gundeloh Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg (29 July 1946 – 15 June 2018) was a German conductor. He also owned the large winery estate Weingut Reichs ...

and performed at venues such as the

Tiroler Landestheater Innsbruck The Tyrolean State Theatre in Innsbruck (german: Tiroler Landestheater Innsbruck) is the state theatre in Innsbruck, Austria, located near the historic Altstadt (Old Town) section of the city. The theatre is surrounded by Imperial Hofburg, the Hof ...

and the Stadttheater Hildesheim. She was a member of the ensemble of the

Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz The Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz (''State Theatre at Gärtnerplatz''), commonly called the Gärtnerplatztheater, is an opera house and opera company in Munich. (The "Gärtnerplatz" is an urban square in the borough Ludwigsvorstadt-Isarvorstadt.) ...

in Munich from 2003 to 2007, where she appeared as Dorabella in Mozart's ''

Così fan tutte (''All Women Do It, or The School for Lovers''), K. 588, is an opera buffa in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was first performed on 26 January 1790 at the Burgtheater in Vienna, Austria. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte w ...

'', Lola in ''

Cavalleria rusticana ''Cavalleria rusticana'' (; Italian for "rustic chivalry") is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from an 1880 short story of the same name and subsequent play b ...

'', as Tisbe in ''

Aschenputtel "Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...

'', as Flora Bervoix in ''

La Traviata ''La traviata'' (; ''The Fallen Woman'') is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on ''La Dame aux camélias'' (1852), a play by Alexandre Dumas ''fils'' adapted from his own 18 ...

'', and as Frau Reich in ''

Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor ''The Merry Wives of Windsor'' (German: ''Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor'') is an opera in three acts by Otto Nicolai to a German libretto by Salomon Hermann Mosenthal based on the play ''The Merry Wives of Windsor'' by William Shakespeare. The ...

'', among others. With the ensemble cosifacciamo, she appeared in 2002 as Ottavia in Monteverdi's ''

L'incoronazione di Poppea ''L'incoronazione di Poppea'' ( SV 308, ''The Coronation of Poppaea'') is an Italian opera by Claudio Monteverdi. It was Monteverdi's last opera, with a libretto by Giovanni Francesco Busenello, and was first performed at the Teatro Santi Giovanni ...

'' 2002, in 2008 as Messagera and Proserpina in his ''

L'Orfeo ''L'Orfeo'' ( SV 318) (), sometimes called ''La favola d'Orfeo'' , is a late Renaissance/early Baroque ''favola in musica'', or opera, by Claudio Monteverdi, with a libretto by Alessandro Striggio. It is based on the Greek legend of Orpheus, and ...

''. She also appeared at festivals such as the

Rheingau Musik Festival The (RMF) is an international summer music festival in Germany, founded in 1987. It is mostly for classical music, but includes other genres. Concerts take place at culturally important locations, such as Eberbach Abbey and Schloss Johannisberg, ...

, the

MDR Musiksommer The MDR Musiksommer is a music festival involving three federal states of Germany: Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. It started in 1992 with 15 concerts, but grew to more than 104 concerts. The festival is held in July and attracts internation ...

and the

Bath International Music Festival The Bath International Music Festival was held late each spring in Bath, South West England between 1948 and 2016. The festival included many genres such as Jazz, Classical, World and Folk and merged with the Bath Literature Festival in 2017 to ...

. Koppelstetter has earned critical praise for her

Lied In Western classical music tradition, (, plural ; , plural , ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German, but among English and French s ...

er recitals in particular.

Contemporary music

She is interested in contemporary music and has performed at the Münchener Biennale and the festival

A*Devantgarde The A•DEvantgarde festival was founded in 1991 by Sandeep Bhagwati and Moritz Eggert. A•DEvantgarde is a music festival held every 2 years in Munich, Germany. In 2007 the theme of the festival was on totalitarianism where the festival debuted ...

. She has participated in concerts of the series "Musica Viva" of the station

Bayerischer Rundfunk Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR; "Bavarian Broadcasting") is a public-service radio and television broadcaster, based in Munich, capital city of the Free State of Bavaria in Germany. BR is a member organization of the ARD consortium of public broadcas ...

(br) and the series "Das neue Werk" (The new work) of the

Norddeutscher Rundfunk Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR; ''Northern German Broadcasting'') is a public broadcasting, public radio and television broadcaster, based in Hamburg. In addition to the city-state of Hamburg, NDR broadcasts for the German states of Lower Saxony, M ...

. In 1992, she was a soloist in the premiere of

Volker David Kirchner Volker David Kirchner (25 June 1942 – 4 February 2020) was a German composer and violist. After studies of violin and composition at the Peter Cornelius Conservatory, the Hochschule für Musik Köln and the Hochschule für Musik Detmold, he w ...

's Symphony No. 2 ''Mythen'', a commission of the Rheingau Musik Festival for

Michael Herrmann Michael Herrmann (born 4 February 1944, in Wiesbaden) is a German culture and music administrator. He founded the Rheingau Musik Festival in 1987 and is its Artistic Director and Chief Executive Officer. He also runs a concert agency in the Frankf ...

, performed by the

Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz The Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz (State Philharmonic of Rhineland-Palatinate) is the largest and leading symphony orchestra of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, based in Ludwigshafen am Rhein. It gives concerts in Rhineland-Palati ...

, conducted by

Bernhard Klee Bernhard Klee (born 19 April 1936) is a German conductor, originally from Schleiz, in Thuringia. Trained as a member of the Thomanerchor, he has since conducted many of Europe's most prestigious orchestras including the Vienna Philharmonic and Sta ...

. She recorded several songs and song cycles by

Rudi Spring Rudi Spring (born 17 March 1962) is a German composer of classical music, pianist and academic. He is known for vocal compositions on texts by poets and his own, and for chamber music such as his three Chamber Symphonies. Career Born in Lindau ...

for the br, including ''Galgenliederbuch'' (after

Christian Morgenstern Christian Otto Josef Wolfgang Morgenstern (6 May 1871 – 31 March 1914) was a German author and poet from Munich. Morgenstern married Margareta Gosebruch von Liechtenstern on 7 March 1910. He worked for a while as a journalist in Berlin ...

) and ''Weltflucht'' (after

Else Lasker-Schüler Else Lasker-Schüler (née Elisabeth Schüler) (; 11 February 1869 – 22 January 1945) was a German-Jewish poet and playwright famous for her bohemian lifestyle in Berlin and her poetry. She was one of the few women affiliated with the Expressi ...

. In 2006, she sang the part of Hilde Mack in Henze's ''

Elegie für junge Liebende ''Elegy for Young Lovers'' (German: ') is an opera in three acts by Hans Werner Henze to an English libretto by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman. Background The opera was first performed in a German translation by Louis, Prince of Hesse and by R ...

'' in a concert performance of the Theater am Gärtnerplatz, to celebrate the composer's 80th birthday. In 2010, she premiered the song ''Im Gebirg'' (The Mountain) by

Graham Waterhouse Graham Waterhouse (born 2 November 1962) is an English composer and cellist who specializes in chamber music. He has composed a cello concerto, ''Three Pieces for Solo Cello'' and ''Variations for Cello Solo'' for his own instrument, and string ...

on a poem by

Hans Krieger Hans Krieger (13 March 1933 – 9 January 2023) was a German writer, essayist, journalist of influential weekly papers such as Die Zeit, broadcaster and poet. Life Born in Frankfurt, Krieger studied German and Romance studies in Frankfurt, Mun ...

at the

Gasteig Gasteig is a cultural center in Munich, opened in 1985, which hosts the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra. The Richard Strauss Conservatory, the Volkshochschule, and the municipal library are all located in the Gasteig. Most of the events of the Fi ...

with

Jens Josef Jens Josef (born 5 August 1967 in Solingen-Ohligs) is a German composer of classical music, a flutist and academic teacher. Career Jens Josef received flute instructions from Rita Eggenweiler and Klaus Grünow, principal flute of the Staatsthea ...

(alto flute), the composer (cello) and Christopher White (piano).

Selected recordings

In 1992, she recorded Bach's

Mass in B minor The Mass in B minor (), BWV 232, is an extended setting of the Mass ordinary by Johann Sebastian Bach. The composition was completed in 1749, the year before the composer's death, and was to a large extent based on earlier work, such as a Sanctu ...

with the Slovak Philharmonic Chorus and the

Capella Istropolitana The Cappella Istropolitana is a Slovak chamber orchestra based in Bratislava, Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bor ...

, conducted by

Christian Brembeck Christian Brembeck (born 1960 in Munich) is a German conductor, organist and harpsichordist. He studied organ, piano and conducting at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München in Munich, and was awarded the Organ Prize of the City of Würzbu ...

. Her recordings also include the ''Missa a due chori'' by

Johann Ernst Eberlin Johann Ernst Eberlin (27 March 1702 – 19 June 1762) was a German composer and organist whose works bridge the baroque and classical eras. He was a prolific composer, chiefly of church organ and choral music. Marpurg claims he wrote as much a ...

and the ''Kemptener Te Deum'' by

Franz Xaver Richter Franz (Czech: František) Xaver Richter, known as ''François Xavier Richter'' in France (December 1, 1709 – September 12, 1789) was an Austro-Moravian singer, violinist, composer, conductor and music theoretician who spent most of his life fir ...

. She recorded

Bernhard Lang Bernhard Lang (born 24 February 1957 Linz, Austria) is an Austrian composer, improviser and programmer of musical patches and applications. His work can be described as contemporary classical, with roots, however, in various genres such as 20th-cen ...

's 2003 song cycle ''DW 15'' (DW short for "Differenz / Wiederholung", "Difference / Repetition").

References

External links

*
Martina Koppelstetter

Naxos Naxos (; el, Νάξος, ) is a Greek island and the largest of the Cyclades. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture. The island is famous as a source of emery, a rock rich in corundum, which until modern times was one of the best abr ...

Martina Koppelstetter

Theater Ulm Theater Ulm is the municipal theater in the Baden-Württemberg city of Ulm in Germany. Founded in 1641, it is the oldest municipal theater in Germany. Today, it operates distinct ensembles for opera/operetta, acting, and ballet. Until 2006, i ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Koppelstetter, Martina German operatic mezzo-sopranos University of Music and Performing Arts Munich alumni People from Lower Bavaria Living people Year of birth missing (living people)