It’s beginning to look a lot like… Christmas concerts! This month our artists are getting into the holiday spirit. There is of course a lot of performances of Händel’s iconic “The Messiah”, and J.S. Bach’s immortal “Weihnachtsoratorium”, but our audience can also look forward to various winter and Christmas themed operas and concerts.

Here are some highlights of the month:

Tenor CONNY THIMANDER is appearing in the opera “Snøsystera” (Snow sister) at Opera Nordfjord, re-opening on December 1st. Another winter-themed opera opening this month is “Vinteryra” (Flurry Tale) at Malmö Opera starring soprano KRISTINE NOWLAIN. The premiere is on December 16th.

Mezzosoprano FRANCINE VIS is singing a wonderful French themed Christmas concert with Camerata Øresund Dec. 2nd-3rd in Copenhagen.

In Pfaltztheater Kaiserslautern SOFIE LUND will sing Pamina in “Die Zauberflöte”, when their production premieres on December 16th.

Another long anticipated production of the same opera, is a new recorded film-version in Danish, "Tryllefjøjten", produced by Operaen i Midten in collaboration with Opera Hedeland and Concerto Copenhagen. Ascolta Artists are proud to represent no less than five singers in this production: IAN BJØRSVIK (Tamino), MARLENE METZGER (Pamina), WILLIAM PEDERSEN (Papageno), SIDSEL ERIKSEN (Papagena) and JONATHAN KEIDING (Monostatos). The opera will be available for stream and will also be shown in select cinemas in Denmark from December 13th.

No December without the iconic work “The Messiah” by Händel. Soprano FREDERIKKE KAMPMANN is singing the soprano part both with Copenhagen Oratorio Choir (Dec. 6th-7th), and along with tenor CONNY THIMANDER they will sing this piece with Camerata chamber Choir in Holmens Church in Copenhagen (Dec 19th-22nd). Mezzosoprano MATHILDA BRYNGELSSON is singing the alto part in Lund Cathedral in Sweden on December 9th and baritone JENS SØNDERGAARD (photo) will sing the bass part with South Denmark Philharmonic (Dec14th-16th)

Tenor CONNY THIMANDER, being a sought after oratorio singer, will also sing the tenor part in “Weihnachtsoratorium” in Aarhus on December 10th.

On December 21st multiple Christmas concerts are happening: baritone JENS SØNDERGAARD is singing a magical Christmas concert with Aalborg Symphony Orchestra, and soprano MARLENE METZGER joins Concerto Copenhagen in celebrating Christmas in Trinitatis Church in Copenhagen. 

We wish you all a fantastic Holiday season blessed with wonderful music!  

Here is where you can find some of our brilliant artists this November:

It is Requiem-season and baritone TEIT KANSTRUP sings Duruflé’s Requiem with Copenhagen Boys Choir on Nov 3rd in the Copenhagen Cathedral.

One of our other young talented mezzo-sopranos is MATHILDA BRYNGELSSON, making her role debut with Fekluša in “Katja Kabanova” at Bergen Nasjonale Opera opening on Nov. 4th

At Staatsoper Hamburg our soprano CELINE MUN will star in the performance “Handel’s Factory” also opening on Nov 4th

Baritone TEIT KANSTRUP will sing Prince Millo in the opera “Ravnen” now touring with Den Jyske Opera, along with three of our other singers SIBYLLE GLOSTED, ANDERS KAMPMANN and STEFFEN BRUUN.

The new children’s opera “Der Goldene Brunnen” is still playing at Pfaltzteater Kaiserslautern with soprano SOFIE LUND in the lead role as the brave girl Machenka, who sets out to save her village. Performances on Nov 10th, 11th and 26th

At L’Opéra de Reims soprano YANA KLEYN will star in “Rusalka”, playing on Nov. 17th and 19th

In the Netherlands, Reisopera is touring with Jevgeni Onjegin, starring our tenor YAROSLAV ABAIMOV as Lenski. The premiere will be in Wilminktheater in Enschede on Nov. 17th

There’s also the possibility to enjoy yet another Mozart’s Requiem starring soprano KRISTINE NOWLAIN and mezzo-soprano MATHILDA BRYNGELSSON with Linköping Symphony Orchestra on Nov 19th

You can enjoy a festive concert with tenor ANDERS KAMPMANN with Vejle Symphony Orchestra on Nov 21st in Musikhuset Vejle, and in Slagelse on nov 23rd you can experience soprano SOFIE JENSEN in this years’ Christmas concert with Sct. Georges Gilderne.

Finally this month, soprano JOHANNA NYLUND gets her role debut as Adele in “Die Fledermaus” at the Finnish National Opera on Nov 24th

 Joining our roster is canadian baritone, Jonah Spungin, with his delicious warm and round sounding baritone. Critiques have acclaimed his “tremendous placement of voice and timbre” (Le Devoir).

Managing Director Jonas Fosdal describes him:
“Jonah really impressed me with his honest and touching interpretation of Jan in "Breaking the Waves” at the Vadstena Academy. Despite his young age his big, caramel creamy sounding and well projected baritone voice already points towards repertoire beyond the Cavalier repertoire so he is certainly a young singer to follow!"
A warm welcome to Jonah!

Our singers have busy month ahead of them, and here are a few highlights. On Oct. 1st soprano SOFIE LUND will sing the lead role of Maschenka in the world premiere of “Der Goldene Brunnen” a new fairytale opera composed to the Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern

Tenor, FABIAN DÜBERG will appear in “Venere e Adono” in the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg on Sep. 29th-Oct. 3rd, produced by Staatsoper Hamburg. DÜBERG will also appear on the touring opera “Kronbruden” with Malmö Opera, until Dec 3rd.

Also on Malmö Opera is bass NICOLAI ELSBERG appearing as Masetto in “Don Giovanni” premiering on Oct. 7th. Another version of “Don Giovanni” is currently playing at the Finnish National Opera, where our soprano JOHANNA NYLUND (photo) will sing the demanding role of Donna Anna, with her debut being on Oct 12th.

Another Mozart opera will premiere on Oct. 12th with the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen - “The Magic Flute”, in the iconic production by Barrie Kosky and starring seven of our singers: JONATHAN KOPPEL (Tamino), LOUISE MCCLELLAND (Pamina), SVETLANA MOSKALENKO (Queen of the Night), MARLENE METZGER (1st lady), SIMON DUUS (Papageno), JENS CHRISTIAN TVILUM (1st armored man), NICOLAI ELSBERG (Sarastro). Not all are appearing on the same dates, but make sure to check www.kglteater.dk for the cast-list.

On Oct. 13th there will be two premieres with singers from our roster. One of them being the world premiere of the opera “Det Långe Seklet” (the long century) in Bastionen, Malmö, produced by Freebird Operalab and featuring Mezzo-soprano FRANCINE VIS and soprano KRISTINE NOWLAIN.
The same evening, In Odense - the birthplace of Danish fairytale writer Hans Christian Andersen, Den Jyske Opera has rediscovered one of his operas, “Ravnen” (the Raven), starring our singers SIBYLLE GLOSTED (Armilla), ANDERS KAMPMANN (Jennaro), TEIT KANSTRUP (Prince Millo) and STEFFEN BRUUN (Norando). The opera will tour all of Denmark until Dec 2nd.

Two semi-staged concert versions of operas in two very different locations of Europe will take place on Oct 14th and 15th. On the 14th Helsingborgs Symfoniorkester will perform the Rossini opera “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” with mezzo-soprano SIDSEL ERIKSEN in the leadrole as Rosina, and our tenor ALEJANDRO ROY sings the demanding tenor part in “Il Trovatore” with Amigos de la Ópera de Vigo on Oct. 15th.

Beethoven’s grandiose 9th symphony will go on a mini-tour from Oct. 20th-22nd with the dutch orchestra Phion, starring soprano AYLIN SEZER.

The romantic and somewhat tragic opera “Eugen Onegin” premieres on Oct 22nd at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen with baritone JENS SØNDERGAARD as Onegin and soprano SOFIE JENSEN as Tatjana.

And rounding off the month with more romantic music, is a concert version of “Tosca” premiering on Oct. 29th with Lyngby-Taarbæk Symphony Orchestra starring soprano YANA KLEYN, and baritones LARS FOSSER and FREDERIK ROLIN 

Great success for soprano TRINE MØLLER in her portrayal of Brünnhilde in “Die Walküre” and “Das Rheingold” as a part of a new ring cycle spanning over the next two seasons “Der Ring - Ein Festival” at Theater Basel

Aarhus Symphony Orchestra and our baritone JENS SØNDERGAARD celebrated danish opera, and did a wonderful concert with highlights from cherished and newly re-discovered danish operas to much success

Soprano AYLIN SEZER sang the part of Adele in a concert version of the opera “Il Pirata” by Bellini in the iconic Concertgebouw

Energetic tenor CONNY THIMANDER enjoyed a successful opening of “La Cenerentola” as Prince Ramiro at Folksoperan in Stockholm

Tenor JONATHAN KOPPEL and soprano FREDERIKKE KAMPMANN (jump-in) sang a wonderful version of Joseph Haydn’s “Die Schöpfung” with Copenhagen Phil with standing ovations at both
concerts.

We are also very excited for the new singers joining our roster this month; tenor IAN BJØRSVIK, soprano ALINA TKACHUK and mezzosoprano NUTSA ZAKAIDZE - A warm welcome to you!