Biographies & programs
27.5.24
15:50
Helena Donie
Germany
Yeon Seo Ra
South Korea
Program
Franz Schubert
Auf dem See D 543 (Goethe) - 1R
Vedi quanto t ́adoro D 510 (Metastasio) - 1R
Verklärung D 59 (Pople/Herder)
Robert Schumann
Myrthen, Op. 25
17. Zwei Venezianische Lieder I (Moore)
18. Zwei Venezianische Lieder II (Moore)
Hugo Wolf
Spanisches Liederbuch
12. In dem Schatten meiner Locken (Anonymous/Heyse)
36. Bedeckt mich mit Blumen (Maria do Ceo/Geibel)
Emile Paladilhe
Psyché
Edvard Grieg
Die verschwiegene Nachtigall Op. 48, Nr.4 (Walter von der Vogelweide)
Henri Duparc
Mélodies
5. Phidylé (de Lisle) - 1R
Ivor Gurney
Five Elizabethan Songs
1. Orpheus with his Lute (Shakespeare) - 1R
Eytan Pessen
Five Songs of Jan Kochanowski
3. Modlitwa o deszcz
Ramón Gil González
Zagalejo de Perlas (Lope de Vega)
Media
Helena Donie
Mezzo-soprano
Year of birth:
1993
Mezzo-soprano Helena Donie grew up in the Rheingau. She had her first contact with music at an early age. She began singing lessons at the age of 12, later decided to do a school exchange year in Italy and then continued her musical training intensified. Since 2012 she has been studying singing with Prof. Ingrid Haubold at the Karlsruhe University of Music. She completed her bachelor's degree in February 2017; In April 2021 she completed her master's degree in opera at the Institute for Music Theater Karlsruhe. Since October 2021, she has been continuing her artistic training in song design in Prof.res Mitsuko Shirai/Hartmut Höll's class. During her bachelor's degree she discovered her passion for chanson and operetta. Together with her piano duo partner Yvonne Funk, she founded the Duo Goldregen and performs successfully in German-speaking countries with programs ranging from funny to evil. In 2019 she was a scholarship holder of the Richard Wagner Association Karlsruhe, and the associated visit to the Bayreuth Wagner Festival had a great impact on her. Participation in master classes with Barbara Frittoli, Stephan Herheim and Dan Ettinger, among others, are just a few components of her extensive training.
She received further important impulses from Professor Daniel Fueter, Liv Solveig Wagner, Kathey Romey, Helmuth Rilling and Hans-Christoph Rademann. Together with her pianist Yeon Seo Ra, she successfully completed the master class at the Zeist International Song Festival in the Netherlands and was a participant in the Udo Reinemann Academy 2021/2022 in Brussels. As part of these master classes, she was able to work with, among others, Elly Ameling, Robert Holl, Wolfgang Holzmair, David Selig, Bernarda Fink and Christianne Stotijn. She was also a participant in the Young Artists Program at the International Leeds Lieder Festival in England, together with pianist Hana Kang. She made her opera debut in January 2018 as Orlofsky and Ida in Johann Strauss' “Die Fledermaus” at the Karlsruhe University of Music. She has appeared on stage for several smaller productions. For example, she sang the role of Angelina in the children's opera “Cinderella”. She appeared on stage as Cherubino in the independent JKMT production of The Marriage of Figaro. Another success for her followed in June 2019 when she shone in the role of Mrs Grose in Benjamin Britten's “The Turn of the Screw”. She was allowed to step in in this role at the Heidelberg Theater in March 2022. In the summer of 2022, she sang the lead role in Benjamin Britten's “The Rape of Lucrezia” during the JKTM's “Macht.Theater.Reality” festival in Karlsruhe. In the 2022/23 season she can be seen as the Sandman in Engelbert Humperdinck's fairy tale opera “Hansel and Gretel” at the Karlsruhe State Theater.
Yeon Seo Ra
Pianist
The Korean pianist Yeon Seo Ra has been studying in Germany since 2008, first in Hanover with Mikyeong Kim, then from 2010 in the bachelor's degree in piano at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts in the class of Prof. Bernhard Wetz and Prof. Oliver Kern. From 2016 she studied the master's degree in Collborative Piano at the Mannheim University of Music and Performing Arts in the class of Scott Faigen, Rie Shimada, Corina Korff, Babara Baun and David Santos. In the winter semester of 2018, she began her master's degree in song design at the Karlsruhe University of Music in the class of Prof. Hartmut Höll and Prof. Dr. h.c. Mitsuko Shirai, which she completed with honors in 2021. She is currently successfully continuing her studies as part of a concert exam at the Karlsruhe University of Music. During her studies she accompanied her in various singing and instrumental classes with Prof. Marco Rizzi, Prof. Viviane Hagner, Prof. Snezana Stamenkovich, Prof. Timothy Sharp, Prof. Stefanie Krahnenfeld, Prof. Christian Elsner, Prof. Christiane Libor, Prof. Stephan Klemm, Prof. Hanno Müller-Brachmann and Prof. Wolfhard Pencz. And she works as an accompanist at various university events.
Yeon Seo Ra won first prize in the International Music Competition “Brussels” Grand Prize Virtuoso 2019 in the chamber music category, Rainer Koch Memorial Prize for the Best Interpretation of a Work by Wolfgang Rihm 2022 with her partner Lorenzo de Cunzo. And she won awards in Korea. She also accompanied the Korean singer Soyeon Lee in the International Robert Schumann Competition in Zwickau in 2021, where she won a prize.
She was invited to the Udo Reinemann International Masterclass 2021/22 in Brussels and the International Lied Festival in Zeist 2021 together with mezzo-soprano Helena Donie.
She appeared at various public concerts as a soloist, chamber musician and accompanist, such as at the Tyrolean Festival 2023 as part of “Song as an escape from the legacy” in the festival hall “Kleiner Saal”, the opening concert of the Schumann Festival in Zwickau 2022, the Chamber music concert by young artists from the Gesellschaft für Neue Musik e.V. Mannheim and at the Heidelberg Chamber Music Festival. She also finds her passion in the organization and event-themed concerts, such as “Letters in the Music Box”, “Dialogue of Flowers” or “Do you know the song?”.
She has received numerous scholarships, including from the DAAD, the Circle of Friends in Karlsruhe and the Karl and Erna Eigner Foundation. She received important musical impulses in master classes with artists such as Dorothea Röschmann, Margreet Hornig, Christoph Prégardien, Brigitte Fassbaender, David Selig, Wolfgang Holzmair, Olaf Bär, Bernd Götzke, Wolfgang Manz, Helmut Deutsch, Grigory Gruzman and John O'Conner.