German soprano singer Juliane Banse will delight opera and classical music lovers with two concerts presented by Hong Kong Sinfonietta on 30 October and 2 November: HKS Recital Series: An Evening of Songs + Chamber Music with Juliane Banse and Mahler and Richard Strauss – On Love and Death.
Ahead of the concerts, Juliane Banse shared with us her musical journey and her enthusiasm to collaborate again with Hong Kong Sinfonietta.
Born in 1969 in Tettnang, Germany, Juliane Banse grew up in a family of musicians. She started the violin at 4 years old, took vocal classes from 14 and decided to become a professional singer when she finished school.
As she says, “music was around me all my life. I started to play the violin when I was 4 years old and I was told that I would imitate the singing students of my parents once they had left the house. However, the decision to professionally train to become a singer happened only shortly before I finished school. I did a lot of classical ballet in those years, and I took vocal lessons from the age of 14, but it was only after meeting and singing for Brigitte Fassbaender, who encouraged me and offered me a place in her class, that I really decided on and trusted this path”.
Banse received her vocal training at the Zürich Opera, and with German mezzo-soprano opera singer and stage director Brigitte Fassbaender in Munich. She won first prize in the singing competition of the Kulturforum in Munich in 1989. The same year, she made her debut as Pamina in Mozart’s The Magic Flute at the Komische Oper Berlin. In 1993, she won the first prize in the International Franz Schubert Competition.
When asked about her vocal training routine, Banse explains that vocal training is not far from instrumental and sports training. “Repetition, muscle training, building up the body memory, so that unusual reflexes are fading and healthy actions of the body become natural – a mix of technical exercises and musical work. The special thing about a singer’s education is that the instrument you are working with is constantly changing. Between 16 and 25, the body and the voice are still developing and maturing, so you have to be very careful to accompany this process in a healthy way,” she says.
In 1998, Banse gave the world premiere of Heinz Holliger’s opera Schneewittchen (Snow White) as the title role at the Zürich Opera House and her performance was highly celebrated. In 2005, she premiered J.S. Bach’s newly-discovered aria “Alles mit Gott und nichts ohn’ ihn, BWV 1127”. In 2014, she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York as Zdenka in Richard Strauss’ Arabella.
Banse is renowned for her diverse and extensive repertoire, ranging from Fiordiligi (Così Fan Tutte), the Countess in Figaro (her début at the Salzburg Festival), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Vitellia (La Clemenza di Tito), Genoveva (title role), Tatyana (Eugene Onegin), Arabella (title role), Grete (Der Ferne Klang), and Leonore (Fidelio).
Having performed at prestigious companies and festivals such as the Vienna State Opera, Metropolitan Opera New York, Bavarian State Opera, Salzburg Festival and Glyndebourne Festival, Banse has enjoyed close working relationships with such monumental conductors and prestigious companies as Claudio Abbado, Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Chailly, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel, Vienna State Opera, Metropolitan Opera New York etc. She was twice-awarded the ECHO Klassik for her recorded albums. Her cross-genre project Winterreise, where she appears both as singer and dancer, has also received wide critical acclaim.
Banse also performs in chamber music concerts, for instance at Schubertíada de Vilabertran, in Oxford, at Elmau (Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder), in Bremen with a composition by Aribert Reimann dedicated to her, and with Wolfram Rieger as accompanist for the opening of Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin.
A dedicated teacher at the Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Banse is convinced that music and arts have to play an essential role in education. “There are so many aspects to it, especially if children actively take part in artistic and musical experiences: social competence, focusing, brain development, cultural horizon, understanding of historic and cultural connections, let alone the possibility to communicate beyond language or other boundaries,” she says.
Collaboration is an important aspect of classical music, whether it’s playing with other musicians or working with a conductor or ensemble. For the soprano, “working with colleagues is always a very inspiring experience, whether it is with longtime friends or new connections. Everybody comes with different approaches and maybe new views on the music we have to prepare. That is very exciting for new repertoire, but also for pieces that you think you know and suddenly see through “new glasses”.
Banse is married to Hong Kong Sinfonietta’s Music Director Christoph Poppen. For her concert Mahler and Richard Strauss – On Love and Death, she will play under Poppen’s baton. “To sing under my husband’s baton has so far always been a completely comfortable experience. We both somehow switch to a “working mode”, which, on the basis of really knowing each other quite well, allows us to collaborate really relaxed,” she shared with us.
On 30 October, Banse will perform in HKS Recital Series: An Evening of Songs + Chamber Music with Juliane Banse, an intimate evening of songs and chamber music with selected musicians of Hong Kong Sinfonietta and local star pianist Colleen Lee. They will deliver a timeless programme of Mahler, Respighi and Chausson, as well as the world première of James Cuddeford’s Ave Maria: Four Songs for Voice & Violin.
“The repertoire I am bringing to Hong Kong is quite versatile, and I am really happy that I will also have the chance to collaborate with musicians of the orchestra in a chamber music concert this time. To have, for instance, songs by Gustav Mahler both with piano and orchestra accompaniment will show the many colours, depth and variety that is in his music and, of course, I am very excited to sing James Cuddeford’s work together with him,” Banse explains.
On 2 November, she will perform in Mahler and Richard Strauss – On Love and Death, a concert centred around beloved lieder by Richard Strauss and Mahler’s song cycle Lieder eines Fahrenden Gesellen. The programme also includes Strauss’ Tod und Verklärung, a transcendent tone poem contemplating and painting what lies beyond death – a depiction later approved by the composer himself on his deathbed when he remarked, “dying is exactly the way I composed it in Tod und Verklärung”.
These concerts will mark Banse’s second collaboration with Hong Kong Sinfonietta in the city and the soprano can’t wait to share her art with the local audience. “I remember the Hong Kong audience as extremely openhearted, warm and welcoming, and I am very much looking forward to coming back to that beautiful city, the friendly people, the friends at Hong Kong Sinfonietta and the amazing food,” she concluded with enthusiasm.
More details on the concerts can be found here:
HKS Recital Series: An Evening of Songs + Chamber Music with Juliane Banse – 30 October at Hong Kong City Hall
Mahler and Richard Strauss – On Love and Death – 2 November at Hong Kong City Hall
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