A native of Neubrandenburg in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, contralto Britta Schwarz first studied voice with Christa Niko in Berlin and completed her studies with Christian Elssner and Hartmut Zabel in Dresden. She then took on a four-year engagement with the Dresden Staatsoper Studio and came to the music world’s attention through several international awards, such as the Schumann Competition in Zwickau and the Walther Grüner Lieder Competition in London. Concert singing and lieder then became the focus of her artistic career. Schwarz was invited to perform as soloist in concerts with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Dresden Staatskapelle, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, singing under the baton of conductors like Gustavo Dudamel, Philippe Herreweghe, Marek Janowski, Kent Nagano, Helmuth Rilling, András Schiff, and Bruno Weil. She is especially passionate about music of the baroque and has collaborated with such specialist ensembles as the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Musica Antiqua Köln, and the Academy for Ancient Music Berlin, finding particular inspiration in her work with Reinhard Goebel, Gustav Leonhardt, Ludger Rémy, and Hans-Christoph Rademann. Together with lutenist Stefan Maass, Britta Schwarz has performed many duo programs for solo voice and basso continuo. In the field of romantic art song, her partner is Camillo Radicke, with whom she has undertaken such wide-ranging projects as the twelve-part song cycle “LIED ZWEITAUSEND.” Schwarz heads the course in oratorio performance at the Dresden Music Academy Carl Maria von Weber; since April 2010 she has also been a guest teacher in voice at the Hanns Eisler Music Academy in Berlin.
March 2012