South African contralto Freya Apffelstaedt initially studied musicology at Dresden’s University of Technology, later training as a singer at Munich’s University of Music and Performing Arts, where she recently completed a master’s degree in Daniela Sindram’s class. As part of her studies she appeared in a number of opera productions, including the world premiere of liminal space (2018), a joint venture with the Munich Biennale for New Music Theatre. As a concert artist Freya Apffelstaedt performs an extensive repertoire ranging from the great Masses and oratorios of Monteverdi, Schütz, Bach, Handel and Mozart to 20th-century sacred works. Among the numerous scholarships that she has received in the course of her studies are the German Scholarship and bursaries from the Manfred and Monika Wölfel Foundation and the Franz and Christel Kuhlmann Foundation. In 2018 she received a bursary from the Tübingen Bach Festival and in 2019 from the Bayreuth Wagner Society.
In 2020 Freya Apffelstaedt won numerous prizes in national and international competitions, including the second prize in the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University Competition, a special prize at the DEBUT International Classical Singing Competition and the third prize at the Federal Singing Competition. In September 2021 she will be joining the International Opera Studio of the Zurich Opera.
