Simone Kermes (born 17 May 1965, in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

) is a German coloratura soprano, especially known for her virtuoso voice, suited to the opera seria genre of the Baroque and early Classical period.

Career

Kermes has performed at many important theatres and concert halls internationally, including the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, the

Staatsoper Stuttgart The Staatsoper Stuttgart (Stuttgart State Opera) is a German opera company based in Stuttgart, the capital of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The Staatsorchester Stuttgart serves as its resident orchestra. History Performances of operas, ballet an ...

, the

Bonn Opera Theater Bonn (also known as the Stadttheater Bonn) is the municipal theatre company of Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is an organization that produces operas, musicals, ballets, plays, and concerts. It operates several performance venu ...

, the

Festspielhaus Baden-Baden The Festspielhaus Baden-Baden is Germany’s largest opera and concert house, with a 2,500 seat capacity. The building was originally built in 1904 as Baden-Baden central railway station. This building replaced the original railway station whi ...

. She has appeared at festivals such as

Schwetzingen Festival The Schwetzingen Festival (German: Schwetzinger Festspiele, now Schwetzinger SWR Festspiele) is an early summer festival of opera and other classical music presented each year from May to early June in Schwetzingen, Germany. In 1952, the broadc ...

Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival The Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival is a classical music festival held each summer throughout the state of Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany. History The festival was founded in 1986 by German concert pianist Justus Frantz. In 2006, the 2 ...

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, ...

, Festa de musica Lisbona,

Ruhrtriennale The Ruhrtriennale (compound of ''Ruhr'' and ''triennale'' "lasting 3 years"), also known as Ruhr Triennale, was founded in 2002 and is a music and arts festival in the Ruhr-area of Germany which runs between mid-August and mid-October, and happens ...

arts festival, Triennale di Colonia, Dresden MDR, Prague Autumn,

Bachfest Leipzig The Bachfest Leipzig (Leipzig Bach Festival) is a music festival which takes place annually, in the month of June, in the city of Leipzig, where J. S. Bach worked as the Thomaskantor from 1723 until his death in 1750. The current artistic directo ...

, Bachfest Bonn, and Resonanzen Vienna. She has also performed with notable orchestras, including

Gewandhaus Orchestra The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (Gewandhausorchester; also previously known in German as the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig) is a German symphony orchestra based in Leipzig, Germany. The orchestra is named after the concert hall in which it is bas ...

, Symphonic Orchestra of Prague, Venice Baroque Orchestra, Classical Orchestra of Madrid, Staatskapelle Dresden, Orchestra of the Comunale of Bologna, Orchestra regionale Toscana, Complesso Barocco, and Orchestra of the Fiandre. On the opera stage she has portrayed numerous Handel heroines, including Adelaide in '' Lotario'', Asteria in ''

Tamerlano ''Tamerlano'' ( Tamerlane, HWV 18) is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel. The Italian libretto was by Nicola Francesco Haym, adapted from Agostin Piovene's ''Tamerlano'' together with another libretto entitled ''Bajazet'' a ...

'', Merab in ''

Saul Saul (; he, , ; , ; ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the first monarch of the United Kingdom of Israel. His reign, traditionally placed in the late 11th century BCE, supposedly marked the transition of Israel and Judah from a scattered t ...

'', and the title roles in ''

Alcina ''Alcina'' (Händel-Werke-Verzeichnis, HWV 34) is a 1735 opera seria by George Frideric Handel. Handel used the libretto of ''L'isola di Alcina'', an opera that was set in 1728 in Rome by Riccardo Broschi, which he acquired the year after during ...

'', '' Deidamia'', and '' Rodelinda''. She appeared in Mozart operas, as Konstanze in ''

Die Entführung aus dem Serail ' () ( K. 384; ''The Abduction from the Seraglio''; also known as ') is a singspiel in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German libretto is by Gottlieb Stephanie, based on Christoph Friedrich Bretzner's ''Belmont und Constanze, oder Di ...

'', Fiordiligi in '' Così fan tutte'' and Donna Anna in '' Don Giovanni''. Her roles have included Laodice in Scarlatti's '' Mitridate Eupatore'', Rosalinde in ''

Die Fledermaus ' (, ''The Flittermouse'' or ''The Bat'', sometimes called ''The Revenge of the Bat'') is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée, which premiered in 1874. Background The original li ...

'' by Johann Strauss, and the title role in Peri's '' Euridice''. In 2000 she performed the role of Cinzia in the first modern revival of Giovanni Legrenzi's '' La divisione del mondo'' at the

. In 2014 she sang the role of La Folie in Rameau's ''

Platée ''Platée'' is an opera in a prologue and three acts by Jean-Philippe Rameau with a libretto by Adrien-Joseph Le Valois d'Orville. Rameau bought the rights to the libretto ''Platée ou Junon jalouse'' (''Plataea, or Juno Jealous'') by Jacques Au ...

'' at the

Theater an der Wien The is a historic theatre in Vienna located on the Left Wienzeile in the Mariahilf district. Completed in 1801, the theatre has hosted the premieres of many celebrated works of theatre, opera, and symphonic music. Since 2006, it has served prima ...

and at the

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 milli ...

in New York."Les Arts Florissants serves up an exuberant ''Platée''
Judith Malafronte, ''New York Classical Review'', 3 April 2014

Awards

* 1993: 1st prize of the Felix-Mendelsohn-Bartholdy-Wettbewerb Berlin * 1996: 3rd prize at the Internationaler Johann-Sebastian-Bach-Wettbewerb Leipzig * 2003: Prize of the Deutsche Schallplattenkritik * 2011:

Echo Klassik The Echo Klassik, often stylized as ECHO Klassik, was Germany's major classical music award in 22 categories. The award, presented by the , was held annually, usually in October or September, separate from its parent award, the Echo Music Prize. Th ...

– Singer of the Year

References

External links

* * * Manuel Brug
"Die verrückte Königin der Barockmusik"
''

Die Welt ''Die Welt'' ("The World") is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE. ''Die Welt'' is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group. Its leading competitors are the ''Frankfurter All ...

'', 6 October 2012
"Archiv: Die unkonventionelle Sopranistin Simone Kermes"
villamusica.de * Stefan Schickhaus

'' Frankfurter Rundschau'', 17 August 2009 {{DEFAULTSORT:Kermes, Simone German operatic sopranos University of Music and Theatre Leipzig alumni Living people 1965 births Musicians from Leipzig