Sophie Harmsen
Mezzo soprano Sophie Harmsen looks forward to an exciting season as she will once again be working with some of her most formative conductors. She will give her debut as Donna Elvira in “Don Giovanni” with René Jacobs and will subsequently be on a tour of Europe with him and Beethoven’s “Missa Solemnis”. A CD production and tour of this piece with Frieder Bernius is also scheduled. Philippe Herreweghe has invited her to sing Dvořák (Konzerthausorchester Berlin), C.P.E. Bach (Collegium Vocale Gent) as well as Mozart (Mozartwoche Salzburg); Andrea Marcon has asked her on a tour of Bach’s B Minor Mass. “Liebeslieder-Walzer” by Brahms at the Hamburger Staatsoper with the Hamburger Staatsballett (John Neumeier) is another interesting project. After last season’s award winning CD of Bruckner’s “Missa Solemnis” a further recording as well as concerts of Bruckner’s works with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, the RIAS Kammerchor and Lukasz Borowicz are planned this season. Sophie Harmsen is thrilled to be working with David Afkham for the first time with Haydn in Madrid and Mendelssohn in Brussels. In her work with famous directors such as Robert Wilson, Ursel and Karl-Ernst Herrmann, William Kentridge and Andreas Dresen she was able to hone her already convincing and much praised acting skills.
Early Music is one of Sophie Harmsen’s greatest loves. Her solo recitals with Concerto Köln and Capella Augustina were raving successes. Concerts with Constantinos Carydis, Daniel Harding, Iván Fischer, Adam Fischer, Thomas Hengelbrock, Jérémie Rhorer, Markus Stenz, Manfred Honeck, Václav Luks, Raphaël Pichon, Hans-Christoph Rademann, as well as numerous concerts and CD recordings with Frieder Bernius are documentation of her artistic versatility. Sophie Harmsen is a frequent performer at large international festivals such as the Salzburger Festspiele, the Schleswig Holstein Musik Festival, the Rheingau Musik Festival and the Bachfest Leipzig.
She sees the collaboration with large symphony orchestras such as the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the SWR Symphonieorchester, the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra is an integral part of her artistic journey. Having already travelled the world at a young age as the daughter of German diplomats, Sophie Harmsen studied at the University of Cape Town and with Prof. Dr. Edith Wiens and now lives in Berlin with her family.
As of August 2018