Chorus Master Tilman Michael
Oper Frankfurt's chorus is one of the largest in Germany. The stagione-system was introduced in 1993 and the chorus reduced. A few years later Oper Frankfurt returned to the repertoire system and the chorus was enlarged again. It is now possible to perform operas with demanding roles for a large chorus using the chorus' own forces, with only the occasional help of extra chorus members.
Oper Frankfurt's Chorus, under Tilman Michael's leadership since the 2014/2015 season, and regularly praised by public and press alike, were voted »Chorus of the Year 2022« by Opernwelt magazine, above all for their extraordinary achievements in last season's breathtaking new production of Dallapiccola's Ulisse. They won second place in this category in 2005.
A chorus' "role" in an opera is often as difficult and demanding as a soloists "leading role" - one only has to think of Verdi's operas or great Russian operas such as Mussorgsky's "Khowanshchina".
Solo roles are regularly entrusted to members of Opera Frankfurt's Chorus. This means that chorus singers' voices are also trained to soloist standards so that their voice can »carry« in the opera house. They must train every day, even on days when there is no performance. They constantly work at furthering their artistic development in lessons, on the operatic stage or in concert.
The international spectrum of the opera's chorus is huge - with members from the USA, Russia, China, Korea, Japan, Chile, the Ukraine, Lithuania, Switzerland, Austria, France, Italy, Spain, Serbia, Albania and, of course, Germany. This babylonian mixture of languages ceases when the chorus sing on stage in a common language: in German, Italian, English, French, Russian and Czech. This in itself is impressive enough but they must also sing everything from memory.
If you would like to enquire about vacancies in the Opera Chorus, Extra Chorus or Children's chorus, or have any other questions about the Frankfurt Opera Chorus, send an email to one of the people in the chorus office, see below.
Tilman Michael
Phone + 49 (0)69 212 37 548
tilman.michael@buehnen-frankfurt.de
Álvaro Corral Matute
Maria Karb, Ines Rafflenbeul
Gesa Johanna Horn
Gesa.Horn@buehnen-frankfurt.de
Johanna Fell
Johanna.Fell@buehnen-frankfurt.de
MEMBERS:
SOPRANOS
Malin Aldener Nardi, Julia Jordan Bell, Christine Brenk, Marta Casas, Jerilyn Chou, Janice Creswell, Katrin Dieckelt-Kowalczyk, Stefanie Heidinger, Birgit Herget, Ursula Hering, Julia Katharina Heße, Alketa Hoxha, Bock-Sill Kim, Eui Kyung Kim, Elke Kerstin Nordeck, Anna Oswald, Kalliopi Patrona, Camelia Suzana Peteu, Jadranka Petrovic-Cadez, Edeltraud Pruß, Chloe Robbins, Bianca Schatte, Michaela Gisela Schaudel, Konstanze Schlaud, Magdalena Tomczuk
ALTOS
Gunda Boote, Enikö Boros, Emma Char, Janet Collins, Yvonne Hettegger, Katja Isken-Sturm, Claudia Kapteinat, Young Sook Kim, Anja Knittel, Tiina Lönnmark, Julia Mattheis, Hiromi Mori, Tatiana Press, Anna Suchotzkaja, Elena Tasevska, Svea Verfürth, Christiane Maria Waschk-Gemünd, Jianhua Zhu
TENORS
Carlos Andrés Cárdenas, Roberto Cassani, Hyun Ouk Cho, Alexey Egorov, Sebastian Franz, Donát Havár, Patrick Henckens, Ricardo Iturra, Sung Ho Kim, Young Shik Kim, Hyung Kwon Lee, Johannes Lehner, Pere Llompart, Constantin Neiconi, Florian Richter, Enzo Salini, Won Woo Shim, Otakar Souček
BASSES
Olivier Brunel, Thomas Charrois, Yan Lei Chen, Jin Soo Choi, Aslan Diasamidze, Dong-Hyub Hong, Garegin Hovsepian, Cheol Kang, Nicolai Klawa, Hyeonjoon Kwon, Jin Soo Lee, Yongchul Lim, Lars Rößler, Thomas Schobert, Gerhard Singer, Pavel Smirnov, Boris Stenzel
There are 70 singers, aged between 6 and 18, in Oper Frankfurt's Children's Chorus. They rehearse at least once a week, in addition to rehearsals for productions. There are also 30 children in the so-called pre-chorus, preparing to join the children's chorus, trained by Bettina Weber. Boys voices break, which means that they generally leave the chorus earlier than girls. The children have taken part in many productions and the three "boys" in Die Zauberflöte have been sung by members of this chorus since 2010.
Children's Chorus Master: N.N.
