Martina Welschenbach

Martina Welschenbach began her musical training at the Music Academy of her native Stuttgart before transferring to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where she also took opera classes at the Royal College of Music. In 2005 she was accepted into the International Opera Studio at Zurich Opera and, within just a few weeks, was made a permanent member of the company ensemble. There, along with some soprano roles, she began singing such mezzo-soprano roles as Fyodor in Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov and the Second Lady in Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Since 2008 Welschenbach has pursued her career exclusively as a soprano and is a member of the ensemble of Deutsche Oper Berlin. There she has performed such roles as Musetta in Puccini’s La Bohème, Oscar in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera, Ännchen in Weber’s Der Freischütz, Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen, and of course the Mozart repertoire including Pamina (The Magic Flute), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), and Zerlina (Don Giovanni). In the 2012-13 season she appeared at Deutsche Oper as Liù in Puccini’s Turandot, Eva in Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and the title role in Janácek’s The Cunning Little Vixen. Welschenbach’s other credits include performances at Leipzig Opera, the Stuttgart Staatsoper, and the Eutin Festival. In fall 2010 she made her debut under Christoph Eschenbach at the Opéra National de Paris, where she sang Regina in Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler. Martina Welschenbach has worked with such directors as Klaus Michael Grüber, Martin Kušej, and Christof Loy, as well as with conductors including Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Donald Runnicles, and Franz Welser-Möst.

May 2013