Heidrun Kordes, soprano
The lyric soprano Heidrun Kordes began her career by winning first prize in Germany's prestigious Berlin National Vocal Competition (VDMK). Upon completion of her studies with Beata Heuer in Freiburg she was engaged at the "Musiktheater im Revier" in Gelsenkirchen. Her next station was the "Hessisches Staatstheater" in Wiesbaden, where she was a member of the ensemble until the year 2000. Since then she has been working freelance.
The major Mozart roles form the centre of Ms. Kordes’ wide-ranging repertoire on the opera stage and she has increasingly explored more dramatic roles such as Nedda and Gilda. Another important building block in her repertoire is music of the 20th century: her appearances as Simplicius in K.A. Hartmann's Simplicius Simplicissimus and Sophie Scholl in Udo Zimmermann's Weiße Rose were a resounding success. Guest appearances as an opera singer have brought her to opera houses such as Cologne, Leipzig, Dresden, Mannheim, Frankfurt, Kassel and Düsseldorf.
Ms. Kordes also enjoys an international career as a concert and oratorio singer. She has appeared in concert in many of Europe's most prestigious concert halls and Festivals, including the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Palais des Beaux Arts Brussels, De Doelen Rotterdam, Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, the Philharmonie Cologne, the Alte Oper Frankfurt, the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Gewandhaus Leipzig, as well as the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Schwetzinger Festspiele, the Festival de San Sebastian, the Holland Festival Utrecht etc.
Among numerous conductors, with whom Heidrun Kordes had the pleasure to work with are Hans Wallat, Gennadi Roshdestwenskij, Jonathan Nott, Jun Märkl, Oleg Caetani, Toshiyuki Kamioka or Ulf Schirmer, just to mention a few.
Within the framework of her opera-productions the artist works with such major directors as Dietrich Hilsdorf, Christof Loy, Brigitte Fassbender, Pet Halmen or Peer Boysen.
Partners on stage therewith were Alberto Cupido, Simon Estes, Christoph Prégardien, Scot Weir, Roberto Sacca, Albert Dohmen, Agnes Baltsa, Michaela Kaune, Nadia Michael, Sandrine Piau and many others.
In addition to radio and TV broadcast the artist has recorded a number of CDs. Most recently, a widely acclaimed first-recording of love songs from the Belle Epoque and the Late Romantic Era for soprano, flute and piano titled ‘Rossignol - Mon Mignon’ was released (NCA). Within the framework of the ‘Schlossfestspiele Ludwigsburg she sang the title role in the first-ever CD-recording of J.A. Hasse’s ‘S. Petrus et S. Maria Magdalena’
Recent scenic opera productions include the title roles in Glucks ‘Armide’ at the Theater im Pfalzbau Ludwigshafen and Händels ‘Deidamia’ at the Göttinger Händel-Festspiele, Edilia in Händel’s ‘Almira’ at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, Adelaide in Händels ‘Lotario’ and Maria Maddalena in ‘La Resurrezione’.
An important aspect in the artistic life of Heidrun Kordes is her intense and diverse educational work. From 1997 to 2010 she has been teaching at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Frankfurt/Main; in 2004 she was appointed professor there. In addition, she teaches at selected master-classes.
Her students have won numerous competitions and awards, and are now present in engagements both at prestigious theatres, as well as in the international concert scene.
