Source: owlartistmanagement
Helena Rasker is a unique figure on today’s opera and concert scene. She is equally compelling in the Baroque operas of Vivaldi and Handel, in the psychologically complex 20th-century works of Britten and Janáček, and in the bold creations of today’s most innovative composers. She brings a rare combination of vocal depth, dramatic intelligence and quiet intensity to every role.
This season, Helena makes her debut at the Theater an der Wien in a new production of Unsuk Chin’s Alice in Wonderland, where she sings the roles of the Ugly Duchess and the Owl. She will also make her debut in the role of Madame de Croissy in a new production of Dialogues des Carmélites at the Opéra national de Lorraine and appear 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 work We Are The Lucky Ones at the Ruhrtriennale and the Tyrolean Festival Erl. On the concert stage, Helena will sing the role of the Aunt in a performance of Peter Grimes with the Netherlands Radio Orchestra and perform Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with La sfera Armoniosa at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
In the 2024/25 season, she made her role debut as Mescalina in Ligeti’s *Le Grand Macabre* at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo and returned to the 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-standing collaboration with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and sang the role of Irene in Handel’s Tamerlano on tour to Valencia, Madrid, Oviedo and Berlin. Her most recent opera appearances include: Zita and La Badessa in Barrie Kosky’s Il trittico at the Dutch National Opera; Andronico in Il Giustino at the Berlin State Opera; Gluck’s Orfeo at the Teatro Real in Madrid and the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. She also appeared at the Salzburg Festival in Simon Stone’s production of The Greek Passion and in Romeo Castelucci’s production of De temporum fine comoedia. As a passionate advocate of new music, Rasker has created leading roles in several world premieres, including Alexander Raskatov’s Animal Farm, Philip Venables’ We Are The Lucky Ones, Sivan Eldar’s Like Flesh, Georg Friedrich Haas’ Morgen und Abend, Daan Janssens’ Brodeck and Hans Abrahamsen’s The Snowqueen. She has also performed in George Benjamin’s Into the Little Hill at Wigmore Hall, the Elbphilharmonie, the Festival Présences and the Prague Festival.
