Ulrike Helzel

The well-known mezzosoprano Ulrike Helzel has been for many years a member of the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Vienna State Opera enjoys an international career as an opera and concert singer. Among others she recently has been invited to the Hamburg State Opera to sing Marcellina in Mozart’s NOZZE DI FIGARO, to the Bonn Opera for the Mother in HÄNSEL UND GRETEL and to the Munich Opera Festival for the role of the Mother in the world premiere of Nikolaus Brass’ DIE VORÜBERGEHENDEN. During the next seasons she will take part in a new production of DIE WALKÜRE at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and in DER ROSENKAVALIER at La Scala, Milano.

From 2006-2012 the artist appeared at the Bayreuth Festival as Wellgunde in RHEINGOLD and GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG and Blumenmädchen and Knappe in PARSIFAL. At the Basle Theater she sang Angelina in LA CENERENTOLA and at the Komische Oper Berlin, Donna Elvira in DON GIOVANNI. In the title role of Bizet’s CARMEN, she has been invited to the Semperoper Dresden, the Komische Oper Berlin, to the Cologne Opera, the Braunschweig Opera, the Weimar National Theatre and the Halle Opera. Furthermore, Ulrike Helzel appeared at the Opéra La Monnaie, Bruxelles, the Bavarian State Opera, Munich, the Nederlandse Opera Amsterdam, the Grand Théâtre de Genève, the Leipzig Opera, the Festival de Música de Canarias, the Dresden Music Festival, and the Festival Radio France, Montpellier.

In 2013 Ulrike Helzel sang her first Fricka in RHEINGOLD under Kirill Petrenko in Rome. In 2011 she made her debut at the Vienna State Opera. Since then she sang here roles like Jenny (AUFSTIEG UND FALL DER STADT MAHAGONNY), Annina (ROSENKAVALIER), Siegrune and 2. Norn in Wagner’s RING, Marcellina (NOZZE DI FIGARO), 2. Dame (ZAUBERFLÖTE) etc. Being a member of the Deutsche Oper Berlin for many years, she sang her major repertoire: Cherubino in LE NOZZE DI FIGARO, Fuchs in DAS SCHLAUE FÜCHSLEIN, Hänsel in HÄNSEL UND
GRETEL, Siebel in Gounod’s FAUST, Orpheus in ORPHEÉ ET EURIDICE, Octavian in DER ROSENKAVALIER, Mère Marie in LES DIALOGUES DES CARMÉLITES Suzuki in MADAMA BUTTERFLY and Maria Maddalena de Pazzi in the INFINITO NERO (written 1998) by Salvatore Sciarrino.

She worked with conductors like Alain Altinoglu, Frédéric Chaslin, Adam Fischer, Mikko Franck, James Gaffigan, Simone Young, Cornelius Meister, Ingo Metzmacher, Andris Nelsons, Tomáš Netopil, Philippe Jordan, Kirill Petrenko, Simon Rattle, Ulf Schirmer, Peter Schneider, Jeffrey Tate, Christian Thielemann and Franz Welser-Möst. Apart from opera, Ulrike Helzel is highly demanded concert singer all over Europe, Japan and the United States with a broad repertoire from Bach to music of the 20th and 21st century. Important recitals: a ZEMLINSKY RECITAL in Berlin, Brahms’ ZIGEUNERLIEDER in Weimar and Mussorgsky´s Cycle KINDERSTUBE in the Dresden Philharmonie.

Born in Magdeburg, Ulrike Helzel studied voice at the Leipzig Music University. She has been successful in a number of singing contests including the Dvorak-Contest in Karlovy Vary 1990, was awarded by the Richard Wagner Foundation and received the Handel-award of Halle.