Wiebke Lehmkuhl

Source: ks-gasteig.de

The alto from Oldenburg received her vocal training from Ulla Groenewold and Hanna Schwarz at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg. After guest engagements at the Kiel Opera House and the Hamburg and Hanover State Operas, Wiebke her first permanent engagement at the Zurich Opera House while still a student. In 2012, she made her debut at the Salzburg Festival under the direction of Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Wiebke Lehmkuhl’s extraordinary versatility enables her to perform a broad repertoire,
ranging from Monteverdi, Handel and Bach to romantic oratorios, Mahler and Wagner. This makes her a sought-after performer both on the international concert stage and on the opera stage. The contralto regularly performs with renowned orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, the Concertgebouw Orchestra and the the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, where she has worked with renowned conductors such as Kirill Petrenko, Klaus Mäkelä, Daniel Harding and Riccardo Chailly. Also at festivals such as the Schleswig Holstein Music Festival, the Rheingau Music Festival and the Lucerne Festival.

Wiebke Lehmkuhl has appeared on the opera stage at the Salzburg and Bayreuth Festivals.  As Cornelia in a new production of Handel’s opera Giulio Cesare at the Palais Garnier in Paris. Palais Garnier in Paris. Her absolute key role is without question Erda in Wagner’s Rheingold and Siegfried: “And with Wiebke Lehmkuhl’s Erda, an operatic miracle occurred in the third act an operatic miracle in the third act: a performance that has long been very good with very good singers is elevated to a unique world-class level by a very special singer. Weighing every word and yet weaving every word into the legato line, the registers of her the registers of her dreamlike alto voice like ebony – Wiebke Lehmkuhl’s Urmutter the vocal crown of the evening.” (Peter Krause, “OPERN-KRITIK: GRAND THÉÂTRE DE GENÈVE – SIEGFRIED – Poetry instead of politics”, www.concerti.de; 15.02.2019) This role has since taken her to the stages of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the Grand Théâtre de Genève, the Opéra de Bastille in Paris and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London and with conductors such as Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Antonio Pappano Marek Janowski and Philippe Jordan. She will also appear in the new Munich Ring, which starts in the 24/25 season with Rheingold, at the Bavarian State Opera under Wladimir Jurowski as Erda. The artist will then follow an invitation from Zurich Opera to perform the role of the Queen in a staged adaptation of Mendelssohn’s adaptation of Mendelssohn’s Elijah under the musical direction of Gianandrea Noseda to take over the role. At the Salzburg Easter Festival, she will perform this work in concert with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra before traveling to the USA to perform Mahler’s 3rd Symphony with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Klaus Mäkelä. Mahler’s works are once again a central part of her repertoire in the 24/25 season. repertoire: the 2nd Symphony is on the program in Toulouse, the 2nd Symphony at the International the 3rd Symphony at the International Music Festival of the Canary Islands, and with the Orchestre national de Lyon under Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider the Song of the Earth. But Wiebke Lehmkuhl’s heart also beats for baroque music, especially the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. With Bach’s Christmas Oratorio in Bergen and on tour with B’Rock. In the During Passiontide, she will perform the Mass in B minor with the Orchestre de Paris and Klaus Mäkelä and take on the alto role in the St. Matthew Passion at St. Michael’s Church in Hamburg.

Wiebke Lehmkuhl’s artistic work has been captured on numerous recordings, including including J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the Gewandhausorchester zu Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Riccardo Chailly (Decca) or C.P.E. Bach’s Magnificat with the RIAS Chamber Choir and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin under Hans-Christoph Rademann (Harmonia Mundi).