Katharina Konradi, Julian Habermann, Tobias Berndt, Gaechinger Cantorey, Hans-Christoph Rademann
Biography Katharina Konradi, Julian Habermann, Tobias Berndt, Gaechinger Cantorey, Hans-Christoph Rademann
Katharina Konradi
was born in Bischkek, Kyrgyzstan, and is the first soprano from this country to have an international career as a lied, concert and opera singer. She made her debut as Ännchen in Weber’s Der Freischütz at the Hamburg State Opera in 2018 and has since been a member of the regular ensemble there. Before then she was under contract for three years at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden.
She sings the major soprano roles and it was not long before other renowned opera houses offered her engagements, for instance as Zdenka in Arabella by Richard Strauss at the Semperoper in Dresden (2018/19), as the young shepherd in the production of Tannhäuser at the Bayreuth Festival (2019 and 2021) and as Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier conducted by Vladimir Jurowski, directed by Barry Kosky at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich (2020/2021). Besides singing in productions at her home opera house, the Hamburg State Opera, Katharina Konradi returns to the Bavarian State Opera in the 2021/22 season, again to sing Sophie, as well as Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro.
Katharina Konradi is also highly sought-after as a concert soloist in major concert halls. She has given concerts with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, the Symphony Orchestra of the MDR, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and the Balthasar Neumann Ensemble. She sings in concerts conducted by Thomas Hengelbrock, Manfred Honeck, Paavo Järvi, Kent Nagano, Daniel Harding and Gustavo Dudamel.
In the season 2021/22 Katharina Konradi will sing in a performance of Ein Deutsches Requiem by Johannes Brahms conducted by Thomas Hengelbrock in Neumarkt. She is also a soloist in Mozart’s Mass in C minor at the Cologne Philharmonie (Cologne Chamber Orchestra / Christoph Poppen) and in Mozart’s Requiem conducted by Michael Sanderling in Porto in November. She performs in the traditional ZDF Advent Concert together with the Staatskapelle Dresden conducted by Petr Popelka in the Frauenkirche in Dresden, and in the concert Christmas in Vienna in the Konzerthaus in Vienna (broadcast on ORF Austrian TV). The year 2022 begins with a rousing programme for the New Year with the Czech Philharmonic in Prague (conducted by Manfred Honeck). The season closes as it began: in July 2022 with Ein Deutsches Requiem by Brahms in Madrid and Granada (conductor: David Afkham).
Lied interpretation is a special preoccupation for the young soprano. She regularly gives recitals at the Schubertiade in Vilabertran, the Schubertiade in Hohenems/Schwarzenberg and in the Wigmore Hall in London. She has given recitals at the Philharmonie in Cologne and in the Boulez Hall in Berlin. She will give concerts accompanied by Malcom Martineau in Madrid and in the Konzerthaus in Vienna. She enjoys an artistically fruitful association performing chamber music together with the Trio Gaspard and the Schumann Quartet.
She began her vocal training with Julie Kaufmann in Berlin and subsequently completed her Master’s Degree in lied interpretation with Christiane Iven and Donald Sulzen at the Munich Academy of Music and Theatre. She won the German Music Competition in 2016 and will be supported until the end of 2021 by the BBC in the context of the New Generation Artist programme.
In March 2021 her highly acclaimed CD Liebende on which she is accompanied by Danel Heide, was released by AVI Music and features songs by Strauss,
Julian Habermann
born in Freising in 1993, was a member of the Regensburg Cathedral Choir (Domspatzen). The artist was a junior student of Christian Elsner at the Würzburg Conservatory. Subsequently, he continued his musical studies at the Frankfurt Conservatory, with Hedwig Fassbender and Thilo Dahlmann.
In 2012, he was a prize winner of the Bundeswettbewerb Gesang and in 2017 he became the youngest participant and finalist of the international song competition Das Lied. At the Bundeswettbewerb Gesang (2018) he received the Rosenbaum Foundation prize. Further, he was awarded with a scholarship of the Academy of the Heidelberger Frühling and for several years he had been a participant of the Liederwerkstatt Kissinger Sommer with Axel Bauni, Jan Philip Schulze and Steffen Schleiermacher. In Kissingen he has been awarded with the Luitpold-prize (2019)
From 2019-2022 the artist was a member of the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden where he sang Steuermann in THE FLYING DUTCHMAN, Evangelist in Bach’s ST MATTHEWS PASSION, Dancairo in CARMEN, Fiorillo in BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA, Ottokar in DER ZIGEUNERBARON, First officer in CANDIDE, Basilio in LE NOZZE DI FIGARO, Oronte in ALCINA, Malcolm in MACBETH, Gastone in LA TRAVIATA, Brother in THE 7 DEADLY SINNS. During the 2021/22 season he will appear as Pedrillo in ABDUCTION OF THE SERAGLIO.
In the 2021 / 2022 season he made a guest appearance at the Komische Oper Berlin as Ottokar in DER ZIGEUNERBARON (ML Stefan Soltesz / directed by Tobias Kratzer).
Julian Habermann has been invited to sing the arias in Bach’s ST. MATTHEW’S PASSION on a tour of Germany and Italy with the Tölzer Boys Choir and in concerts with the Nederlandse Bachvereniging under Philippe Herreweghe. He sang the Evangelist part in Bach's CHRISTMAS ORATORIO at the anniversary concert of the Frankfurt Cäcilienchor and with the Gemischter Chor Zürich at the Tonhalle Zurich and the Evangelist part in Bach's JOHN PASSION with the Philharmonie Zuidnederland in Maastricht and at the Lutherkirche Wiesbaden. Further concerts took him to St. Michaelis Hamburg, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Naarden, Utrecht, Den Haag, etc. In 2021 he was invited to the Gaechinger Cantorey for concerts and a CD recording of Haydn's SCHÖPFUNG conducted by Hans-Christoph Rademann.
Future projects: CHRISTMAS ORATORIO in Nuremberg, MOZART REQUIEM in Paris, MESSIAS with the Dresden Philharmonic in Dresden, Haydn's JAHRESZEITEN and BACHKANTATEN with CD recording with the Gaechinger Cantorey in Stuttgart and a guest contract for Janacek's TOTENHAUS at the Staatstheater Wiesbaden.
Tobias Berndt
The native Berliner Tobias Berndt began his musical training with the Dresden Choir of the Church of the Holy Cross. He studied with Hermann Christian Polster at the University of Music and Theatre Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy in Leipzig and continued his training with Rudolf Piernay at the Mannheim University of Music and Performing Arts. During further studies and master’s courses, he worked with Theo Adam, Wolfram Rieger, Norman Shetler, Irwin Gage, Axel Bauni, Julia Varady and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.
Accredited with multiple scholarships, he was a prize winner at the National Song Contest Berlin 2004, the International Song Contest at the Hugo-Wolf Academy in Stuttgart 2007, the International Summer Academy of the Mozarteum in Salzburg 2008 and the International Contest “Franz Schubert und die Musik der Moderne” in Graz 2009. His most recent accolades include winning 1st prize at the International Johannes-Brahms Contest in Pörtschach 2008 and at the Cantilena Song Contest in Bayreuth 2009, as well as winning the Thomas Quasthoff initiated contest “Das Lied – International Song Competition” in February 2009 in Berlin.
Important points in his singing career have included concerts with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchester, The English Concert, L’arpe festante, the Thomanerchor Leipzig choral group, the Saxony Vocal Ensemble and the MDR Radio Choir. He has sung under renowned conductors such as Peter Schreier, Helmuth Rilling, Howard Arman, Ludwig Güttler, Gewandhaus organist Michael Schönheit and Andreas Spering and could be heard at international festivals.
