Helena Rasker

Source: owlartistmanagment

Helena Rasker is a singular presence in today’s operatic and concert landscape. Equally compelling in the baroque operas of Vivaldi and Handel, the psychological complexity of 20th-century works by Britten and Janáček, and the bold creations of today’s most inventive composers, she brings a rare combination of vocal depth, dramatic intelligence, and quiet intensity to every role.

This season, Helena makes her debut at Theater an der Wien in a new production of Unsuk Chin’s Alice in Wonderland, singing the roles of the Ugly Duchess and the Owl. She also debuts the role of Madame de Croissy in a new production of Dialogues des Carmélites at Opéra national de Lorraine and appears at the Salzburg Whitsun Festival in Il viaggio a Reims, directed by Barrie Kosky. She will reprise her role as “4” in Philip Venables’ acclaimed We Are The Lucky Ones at the Ruhrtriennale and Tiroler Festspiele Erl. On the concert platform, Helena will sing Auntie in a performance of Peter Grimes with the Dutch Radio Orchestra, and joins La sfera Armoniosa for Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam.

In the 2024/25 season, she made her role debut as Mescalina in Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre at Teatro Massimo, Palermo, and returned to Dutch National Opera for two new productions: as Auntie in Peter Grimes, and as “4” in the world premiere of Venables’ We Are The Lucky Ones. She continued her long association with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, singing Irene in Handel’s Tamerlano on tour to Valencia, Madrid, Oviedo, and Berlin. Her recent opera appearances include: Zita and La Badessa in Barrie Kosky’s Il trittico at Dutch National Opera; Andronico Il Giustino at the Staatsoper Berlin; Gluck’s Orfeo at the Teatro Real, Madrid and the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona and she appeared at the Salzburg Festival in Simon Stone’s staging of The Greek Passion and in Romeo Castelucci’s staging of De temporum fine comoedia. A passionate advocate of new music, Rasker has created leading roles in several world premieres, including Alexander Raskatov’s Animal Farm, Philip Venable’s We Are The Lucky Ones, Sivan Eldar’s Like Flesh, Georg Friedrich Haas’s Morgen und Abend, Daan Janssens’ Brodeck and Hans Abrahamsen’s The Snowqueen. She has also appeared in George Benjamin’s Into the Little Hill at Wigmore Hall, Elbphilharmonie, and Festival Présences and the Prague Festival.