Janina Baechle

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Janina B a e c h l e (mezzosoprano): Studies of musicology and history at the Hamburg university. At the same time vocal studies with Gisela Litz at the music university of Hamburg. Today the mezzosoprano is working regularly with Brigitte Fassbaender.
After first appearances on stage in university opera productions, as Kabanicha (Janacek, Katja Kabanowa) or La zia principessa in Puccinis “Suor Angelica”, Janina Baechle gave her professional debut as Sharon Graham in Terrence McNally`s “Masterclass” at the Hamburg Thalia Theatre in 1997. She became a member of the Braunschweig State Theatre in 1998 and performed there until march 2001 major mezzo roles such as Auntie in “Peter Grimes”, Frau Reich in Nicolai`s “The merry wives of Windsor”, Erda as well as Fricka in “Rheingold”, Prince Orlofsky and Mrs. Begbick in “ The rise and fall of the town Mahagonny”.
Already during that time she was invited as a guest singer and has since then appeared at the opera houses of Frankfurt/M., the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Dresden Semperopera(Ortrud and Brangäne), at Würzburg, Mannheim ,Saarbrücken, Kiel, Basel and the Liceu Barcelona .
From 2001 to 2004 she was a member of the Hannover State Opera, where she portrayed Amneris (“Aida”), the countess Geschwitz (“Lulu”), Fenena (“Nabucco”), Cornelia (“Giulio Cesare”) and Octavian in “Der Rosenkavalier” as well as being part of the Peter Konwitschny production of Nono´s “Al gran sole carico dámore” that was invited to the Edinburgh Festival in 2004.
Brigitte Fassbaender invited the mezzo to perform at the TLT Innsbruck the parts of Czipra(“The gypsy baron”), Azucena (“Trovatore”) and the Nurse in R. Strauss´s “Frau ohne Schatten”.
Since the beginning of the 2004 /2005 season Janina Baechle is a member of the Vienna State Opera singing parts as Hedwige (“G.Tell”), Teresa (Sonnambula) Brigitta ( Korngold`s “Tote Stadt”), Grandmother Burja(“Jenufa”), Madelon(“André Chénier”), the Marquise Berkenfield (la fille du régiment), Innkeeper(Boris Godunow), Emilia(Otello), Mrs.Quickly (Falstaff),Eboli (Don Carlo), Ulrica (Ballo in maschera), both Frickas, Erdas and Waltraute in “The Ring”, Herodias (Salome), Brangaene (Tristan) as well as Ortrud in the new production of “Lohengrin”, a performance for which she was awarded the Eberhard-Wächter-medal 2006( for Ortrud and Magdalena in “Evangelimann” at the Volksoper) . In the 2009/2010 season she will sing Both Frickas and Erdas and Waltraute in different cycles of the ring as well as Ulrica in Vienna, Brangäne at the Liceu in Barcelona and Fricka (Walküre) in San Francisco.
Recent guesting invitations brought her to the Semperoper Dresden as Ortrud and Brangaene; as Mrs. Quickly and the Nurse (Frau ohne Schatten) to the Hamburgische Staatsoper and as Amneris to Stuttgart . Future engagements will see her a.o.in Munich (Jezibaba /Ortrud), Vienna and in the title role in the creation of Bruno Mantovanis “Anna Akhmatova” at the Opera National de Paris.
The mezzosoprano has worked among others with directors Brigitte Fassbaender, Andreas Homoki, Sven-Eric Bechtholf, Nicolas Joel, David Pountney and Peter Konwitschny and with conductors Seiji Ozawa, Semyon Bychkov, Franz Welser-Möst, Peter Schneider, Paolo Carignani, Pinchas Steinberg, Christian Thielemann, Bertrand de Billy,Kent Nagano, Donald Runnicles, Leif Segerstam, and Simone Young.
In may 2007 she gave her concert debut with the Vienna Philharmonic as the alto soloist in Mahlers symphony no.2. in which she also had her US debut with the New York Philharmonic and Gilbert Kaplan in New York in Decembre 2008.She will end the year 2009 with her debut with the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester and Beethoven´s symphony No.9 under the baton of Maestro Riccardo Chailly.

In her concert and recital appearances she is focussing on the repertoire of the 19th and 20th century.Having given her recital debut at the Vienna Musikverein in 2006 with a programme including G. Mahler, Alban Berg, Carl Loewe, Robert Schumann and Hugo Wolf the mezzosoprano returned to the Musikverein in January 2008 with a recital of Alma Mahler, Reynaldo Hahn, Lili Boulanger and Richard Strauss and sang “Die schöne Magelone” by Johannes Brahms in Klagenfurt in February 2008 with Charles Spencer , piano and Michael Heltau, speaker.She was the alto soloist inGustav Mahlers “Lied von der Erde” under Kent Nagano , gave a recital in Bremen in the series “New Stars”, at the Brahms Fest Bad Salzuflen and a recital focussing on the 20th century (Schönberg, Berg, Milhaud, Reimann). In May 2009 she gave a series of concert debuts including Elgar Sea Pictures (Hagen), Brahms Alto Rhapsodie (Hamm) and Caplet “Le miroir de Jesu” (Toulouse).Recitals will bring her to Graz (2009) and to the Mahler festival in Toblach (2010).
Her first disc appeared in May 2008 “Chansons Grises”, songs by Hahn, Milhaud, Boulanger and Zemlinsky accompanied by Charles Spencer, a second with songs by Franz Liszt is scheduled to appear in January 2010.

(may 2009)


Biography Repertoire Schedule Live on Stage CD/DVD Images Reviews Contact Imprint News German site		Janina B a e c h l e (mezzosoprano): Studies of musicology and history at the Hamburg university. At the same time vocal studies with Gisela Litz at the music university of Hamburg. Today the mezzosoprano is working regularly with Brigitte Fassbaender. After first appearances on stage in university opera productions, as Kabanicha (Janacek, Katja Kabanowa) or La zia principessa in Puccinis “Suor Angelica”, Janina Baechle gave her professional debut as Sharon Graham in Terrence McNally`s “Masterclass” at the Hamburg Thalia Theatre in 1997. She became a member of the Braunschweig State Theatre in 1998 and performed there until march 2001 major mezzo roles such as Auntie in “Peter Grimes”, Frau Reich in Nicolai`s “The merry wives of Windsor”, Erda as well as Fricka in “Rheingold”, Prince Orlofsky and Mrs. Begbick in “ The rise and fall of the town Mahagonny”. Already during that time she was invited as a guest singer and has since then appeared at the opera houses of Frankfurt/M., the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Dresden Semperopera(Ortrud and Brangäne), at Würzburg, Mannheim ,Saarbrücken, Kiel, Basel and the Liceu Barcelona . From 2001 to 2004 she was a member of the Hannover State Opera, where she portrayed Amneris (“Aida”), the countess Geschwitz (“Lulu”), Fenena (“Nabucco”), Cornelia (“Giulio Cesare”) and Octavian in “Der Rosenkavalier” as well as being part of the Peter Konwitschny production of Nono´s “Al gran sole carico dámore” that was invited to the Edinburgh Festival in 2004. Brigitte Fassbaender invited the mezzo to perform at the TLT Innsbruck the parts of Czipra(“The gypsy baron”), Azucena (“Trovatore”) and the Nurse in R. Strauss´s “Frau ohne Schatten”. Since the beginning of the 2004 /2005 season Janina Baechle is a member of the Vienna State Opera singing parts as Hedwige (“G.Tell”), Teresa (Sonnambula) Brigitta ( Korngold`s “Tote Stadt”), Grandmother Burja(“Jenufa”), Madelon(“André Chénier”), the Marquise Berkenfield (la fille du régiment), Innkeeper(Boris Godunow), Emilia(Otello), Mrs.Quickly (Falstaff),Eboli (Don Carlo), Ulrica (Ballo in maschera), both Frickas, Erdas and Waltraute in “The Ring”, Herodias (Salome), Brangaene (Tristan) as well as Ortrud in the new production of “Lohengrin”, a performance for which she was awarded the Eberhard-Wächter-medal 2006( for Ortrud and Magdalena in “Evangelimann” at the Volksoper) . In the 2009/2010 season she will sing Both Frickas and Erdas and Waltraute in different cycles of the ring as well as Ulrica in Vienna, Brangäne at the Liceu in Barcelona and Fricka (Walküre) in San Francisco. Recent guesting invitations brought her to the Semperoper Dresden as Ortrud and Brangaene; as Mrs. Quickly and the Nurse (Frau ohne Schatten) to the Hamburgische Staatsoper and as Amneris to Stuttgart . Future engagements will see her a.o.in Munich (Jezibaba /Ortrud), Vienna and in the title role in the creation of Bruno Mantovanis “Anna Akhmatova” at the Opera National de Paris. The mezzosoprano has worked among others with directors Brigitte Fassbaender, Andreas Homoki, Sven-Eric Bechtholf, Nicolas Joel, David Pountney and Peter Konwitschny and with conductors Seiji Ozawa, Semyon Bychkov, Franz Welser-Möst, Peter Schneider, Paolo Carignani, Pinchas Steinberg, Christian Thielemann, Bertrand de Billy,Kent Nagano, Donald Runnicles, Leif Segerstam, and Simone Young. In may 2007 she gave her concert debut with the Vienna Philharmonic as the alto soloist in Mahlers symphony no.2. in which she also had her US debut with the New York Philharmonic and Gilbert Kaplan in New York in Decembre 2008.She will end the year 2009 with her debut with the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester and Beethoven´s symphony No.9 under the baton of Maestro Riccardo Chailly. In her concert and recital appearances she is focussing on the repertoire of the 19th and 20th century.Having given her recital debut at the Vienna Musikverein in 2006 with a programme including G. Mahler, Alban Berg, Carl Loewe, Robert Schumann and Hugo Wolf the mezzosoprano returned to the Musikverein in January 2008 with a recital of Alma Mahler, Reynaldo Hahn, Lili Boulanger and Richard Strauss and sang “Die schöne Magelone” by Johannes Brahms in Klagenfurt in February 2008 with Charles Spencer , piano and Michael Heltau, speaker.She was the alto soloist inGustav Mahlers “Lied von der Erde” under Kent Nagano , gave a recital in Bremen in the series “New Stars”, at the Brahms Fest Bad Salzuflen and a recital focussing on the 20th century (Schönberg, Berg, Milhaud, Reimann). In May 2009 she gave a series of concert debuts including Elgar Sea Pictures (Hagen), Brahms Alto Rhapsodie (Hamm) and Caplet “Le miroir de Jesu” (Toulouse).Recitals will bring her to Graz (2009) and to the Mahler festival in Toblach (2010). Her first disc appeared in May 2008 “Chansons Grises”, songs by Hahn, Milhaud, Boulanger and Zemlinsky accompanied by Charles Spencer, a second with songs by Franz Liszt is scheduled to appear in January 2010. (may 2009)