Representation: World
"Wundsam inspires with effortlessly achieved top notes, with moving intensity, with diabolic and erotic charisma."
Ingrid Freiberg | ioco - Kultur im Netz |31 January 2023
Katrin Wundsam studied singing at the Anton Bruckner Private University in Linz (Austria) with Prof. Gerald Trabesinger and at the Mozarteum Salzburg with Prof. Ingrid Mayr. In addition, she took master classes with KS Robert Holl and Kurt Widmer and refined her vocal techniques with Prof. Irina Gavrilovici in Vienna and Margreet Honig in Amsterdam.
As ensemble member of Oper Köln from 2009 to 2016, the Austrian mezzo-soprano covered a large repertoire and presented herself to the Cologne audience in many roles including Penelope (Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria), Ottavia (L'incoronazione di Poppea), Bradamante (Alcina), Dorabella (Così fan tutte), Sesto (La clemenza di Tito), Smeton (Anna Bolena), Ascanio (Benvenuto Cellini), Nicklausse (Les contes d'Hoffmann), Preziosilla (La forza del destino), Prince Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus), Hansel (Hänsel und Gretel), Suzuki (Madama Butterfly), Concepcion (L'heure espagnole) and Martuccia (Die Gezeichneten). In guest performances of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen in Shanghai, Katrin Wundsam appeared as Flosshilde (Das Rheingold), Grimgerde (Die Walküre) and Second Norn (Götterdämmerung). As Grimgerde, Katrin further appeared at the Salzburg Easter Festival under Christian Thielemann and under Jaap van Zweeden at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. Further highlights from these years include the title role of Bizet’s Carmen as well as a highly acclaimed version of Georg Kreisler’s singspiel “Heute Abend: Lola Blau.”
During the last years Katrin continued to be firmly associated with Oper Köln as a guest soloist, giving her recent debut as the Pilgrim in Kaija Saariaho's L'Amour de loin and as Hansel in Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel, further to the Foreign Princess in Antonín Dvořák's Rusalka marking a significant step into a more dramatic repertoire. With the latter role and in combination with Ježibaba, Katrin will also make her house debut at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden in a new production directed by Daniela Kerck and soprano Olesya Golovneva. At the Tokyo Spring Festival, she will take over the role of Magdalene in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg under the baton of Marek Janowski. Her successive house debut at Theater an der Wien is related to a new production of Alban Berg's Lulu, staged by Marlene Monteiro Freitas and conducted by Maxime Pascal.
Katrin Wundsam also made guest appearances at the Hamburg State Opera as Dorabella in Mozart's Così fan tutte and as Rosina in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia - with the latter role she further gave her debut at Dresden’s Semperoper where she subsequently appeared as Hänsel in Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel. To create the role of Hänsel, Katrin has also been invited by the Berlin State Opera for a new production of Humperdinck’s masterpiece staged by Achim Freyer and conducted by Sebastian Weigle.
Katrin has also enjoyed a successful and fruitful collaboration with the Bregenz Festival where she has so far appeared in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte and Verdi's Rigoletto, further to Ernst Křenek's Karl V, Igor Stravinsky's Le Rossignol, Simon Laks' L'hirondelle inattendue and in Arrigo Boito's Nerone. At the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music, she was highly acclaimed in the role of Enea in Saverio Mercadante's seldom performed Didone abbandonata conducted by Alessandro De Marchi - a recording of the production has been released with the label Naxos.
On the concert stage, Katrin Wundsam has last made guest appearances with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern under Kazuki Yamada with Ravel's Shéhérazade and selected orchestral songs by Richard Strauss, as well as in Mendelssohn's Die erste Walpurgisnacht under David Reiland at the Tonhalle Düsseldorf. At Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie, she performed Mark-Anthony Turnage's dramatic scene Twice Through the Heart for mezzo-soprano and 16 players with the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra conducted by Markus Poschner.
The current concert season will see her involved in a variety of different concert projects, including a concert evening entitled "A Musical Sleigh Ride" presenting old and new Christmas classics with the Munich Symphony Orchestra, as well as Mozart's Requiem conducted by Adam Fischer in Dusseldorf. A special highlight of the current season will be the revival of Georg Kreisler's singspiel "Heute Abend: Lola Blau" at the Theater an der Wien, presented in a scenic arrangement by Eicke Ecker and accompanied by the pianist Rainer Mühlbach.
Other significant highlights of her career to date include Stravinsky's Les Noces at the Vienna Musikverein, Luciano Berio's Folk Songs with the WDR Symphony Orchestra and Jukka-Pekka Saraste at the Kölner Philharmonie, Mozart's Vesperae solennes and his Coronation Mass KV 317 with the Tonkünstler Orchestra under Ivor Bolton, Beethoven's Missa Solemnis conducted by Andrés Orozco-Estrada at the Rheingau Music Festival, the world premiere of Gerald Wirth's cantata Carmina Austriaca at the Grafenegg Festival, Mahler's Symphony No. 2 at the International Bruckner Festival Linz and his Symphony No. 8 (“Symphony of a Thousand”) at the Tonhalle Düsseldorf under Adam Fischer.
With Concerto Köln and under the artistic direction of Kent Nagano, Katrin Wundsam will furthermore take over the role of Fricka in Wagner's Das Rheingold at the Dresden Music Festival.
2022 | 2023
www.katrinwundsam.com
This biography is to be reproduced without any changes, omissions or additions, unless expressly authorized by artist management.
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 8
Polina Pasztircsák, Manuela Uhl, Fatma Said, Katrin Wundsam, Katharina Magiera, Neal Cooper, Hanno Müller-Brachmann, Peter Rose
Choir of the Städtischer Musikverein, Philharmonischer Chor Bonn, Kartäuserkantorei Köln, Youth Choir of the Clara-Schumann Musikschule
Düsseldorfer Symphoniker
Conductor: Adam Fischer
Label: Challenge Records | 2019
Giuseppe Verdi: Rigoletto
DVD
Katrin Wundsam, Stephen Costello, Vladimir Stoyanov, Mélissa Petit, Miklós Sebestyén
Wiener Symphoniker | Prague Philharmonic Choir
Conductor: Enrique Mazzola
Director: Philipp Stölzl
Label: C Major | 2019
Saverio Mercadante: Didone abbandonata
DVD
Viktorija Miškūnaitė, Katrin Wundsam, Carlo Vincenzo Allemano, Pietro di Bianco, Diego Godoy, Emilie Renard
Academia Montis Regalis | Coro Maghini
Conductor: Alessandro de Marchi
Director: Jürgen Flimm
Label: Naxos | 2019
Engelbert Humperdinck: Hänsel und Gretel
Katrin Wundsam, Alexandra Steiner, Ricarda Merbeth, Albert Dohmen, Christian Elsner, Annika Gerhards, Alexandra Hutto
Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin | Kinderchor der Staatsoper Unter den Linden
Conductor: Marek Janowski
Label: Pentatone Classics | 2017
Alban Berg: Lulu
Vera-Lotte Boecker, Lulu
Bo Skovhus, Dr. Schön
Edgaras Montvidas, Alwa
Cameron Becker, Maler
Anne Sofie von Otter, Gräfin Geschwitz
Kurt Rydl, Schigolch
Katrin Wundsam. Garderobiere / Gymnasiast
Martin Summer, Tierbändiger / Athlet
Paul Kaufmann, Prinz / Kammerdiener
ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien
Maxime Pascal, conductor
Marlene Monteiro Freitas, stage director
Alban Berg: Lulu
Vera-Lotte Boecker, Lulu
Bo Skovhus, Dr. Schön
Edgaras Montvidas, Alwa
Cameron Becker, Maler
Anne Sofie von Otter, Gräfin Geschwitz
Kurt Rydl, Schigolch
Katrin Wundsam. Garderobiere / Gymnasiast
Martin Summer, Tierbändiger / Athlet
Paul Kaufmann, Prinz / Kammerdiener
ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien
Maxime Pascal, conductor
Marlene Monteiro Freitas, stage director
Alban Berg: Lulu
Vera-Lotte Boecker, Lulu
Bo Skovhus, Dr. Schön
Edgaras Montvidas, Alwa
Cameron Becker, Maler
Anne Sofie von Otter, Gräfin Geschwitz
Kurt Rydl, Schigolch
Katrin Wundsam. Garderobiere / Gymnasiast
Martin Summer, Tierbändiger / Athlet
Paul Kaufmann, Prinz / Kammerdiener
ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien
Maxime Pascal, conductor
Marlene Monteiro Freitas, stage director
Richard Wagner: Das Rheingold
Derek Welton, Wotan
Dominik Köninger, Donner
Mauro Peter, Loge
Tansel Akzeybek, Froh
Katrin Wundsam, Fricka
Nadja Mchantaf, Freia
Gerhild Romberger, Erda
Daniel Schmutzhard, Alberich
Thomas Ebenstein, Mime
Tijl Faveyts, Fasolt
Tilmann Rönnebeck, Fafner
Ania Vegry, Woglinde
Ida Aldrian, Wellgunde
Eva Vogel, Floßhilde
Dresdner Festspielorchester
Concerto Köln
Kent Nagano, conductor
Oliver Knussen: Wo die wilden Kerle wohnen
Jasmin Delfs, Max
Katrin Wundsam, Mama / Tzippie
Peter Kirk, Bart- und Ziegenkerl
Zoltan Nagy, Hornkerl
Matthias Hoffmann, Hahnkerl
Martin Summer, Bullenkerl
Angelo Konzett und Anderson Pinheiro da Silva, puppeteer
Stephan Zilias, conductor
Nikolaus Habjan, staging
Jakob Brossmann, stage
Denise Heschl, costum
Franz Tscheck, light
Christian Schröder dramaturgy
Manuela Linshalm, puppetry coach
Marlene Lübke-Ahrens, cooperation stage
Nicola Gördes, cooperation costums
Wiener Symphoniker