Dorothea Röschmann, soprano - Ian Bostridge, tenor - Julius Drake pianist
Tuesday May 9, 2006, 7:30 pm

Ian Bostridge returns with soprano Dorothea Röschmann. Their critically acclaimed recording of Schumann duets and lieder displays the sympathetic partnership of these artists.

Born in Flensburg, Germany, Dorothea Röschmann made a critically acclaimed début at the 1995 Salzburg Festival as Susanna under Harnoncourt.  She has since returned to the Festival many times to sing Ilia, Servilia, Nanetta, Pamina and Vitellia, with Mackerras, von Dohnányi and Abbado.

With the Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich, Dorothea Röschmann has sung Zerlina, Susanna, Ännchen, Drusilla, Almirena, Marzelline, Anne Trulove and, most recently, Rodelinda. She is closely associated with the Deutsche Staatsoper, Berlin, where her roles include Elmira in Kaiser’s ‘Croesus’ and the title role in Scarlatti’s ‘Griselda’, both with Jacobs, Ännchen with Mehta, Nannetta with Abbado, and Pamina, Fiordiligi, Susanna, Zerlina and Micäela with Barenboim.  She has also sung at La Monnaie, Brussels, as Norina ('Don Pasquale'); at the Bastille, Paris, as Pamina; at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, as Pamina with Sir Colin Davis; at the Metropolitan Opera as Susanna and Pamina with Levine and at the Vienna Staatsoper as Susanna with Ozawa.  Future plans include Donna Elvira at the Deutsche Staatsoper with Barenboim, Countess Almaviva at Covent Garden with Pappano and both Countess and Vitellia at the 2006 Salzburg Festival with Harnoncourt.

Her recent concert appearances include the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bayerischer Rundfunk and Concentus Musicus with Harnoncourt; the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia with Sawallisch; the London Symphony Orchestra with Pappano; the Berlin Philharmonic with Haitink, Harnoncourt and Barenboim; the Chicago Symphony also with Barenboim and the Munich Philharmonic with Levine.

Her recital appearances include Antwerp, Lisbon, Madrid, Cologne, Brussels, New York, London, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and the Edinburgh, Munich and Schwarzenberg Festivals.

She has recorded a disc of Schumann songs with Ian Bostridge and Graham Johnson, the title role in ‘Griselda’ with Rene Jacobs, Handel's 'Neun Deutsche Arien' with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Nannetta in ‘Falstaff’ with Claudio Abbado, Handel's 'Messiah' with Paul McCreesh, Puccini's 'Suor Angelica' with Antonio Pappano, Mahler’s Fourth Symphony with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra under Daniel Harding, Pergolesi’s ‘Stabat Mater’ with David Daniels under Fabio Biondi and Europa Galante and, most recently, Pamina with the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester and Claudio Abbado.

Miss Röschmann studies with Vera Rozsa in London.

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Ian Bostridge was a post-doctoral fellow in history at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, before embarking on a full-time career as a singer.   His international recital career includes the world’s major concert halls and the Edinburgh, Munich, Vienna, Aldeburgh and Schubertiade Festivals. In 1999 he premiered a song-cycle written for him by Hans Werner Henze.  In 2003/04 he held artistic residencies at the Vienna Konzerthaus and the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, in 2004/2005 he shares a Carte-Blanche series with Thomas Quasthoff at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and in 2005/2006 he has his own Perspectives series at Carnegie Hall.

He made his operatic debut in 1994 as Lysander in Britten's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' with Opera Australia at the Edinburgh Festival; in 1996 he made his debut as Tamino at the English National Opera; in 1997 he sang Quint in Deborah Warner's award-winning production of Britten's 'The Turn of the Screw' for the Royal Opera; in 1998 he made his debut at the Munich Festival singing Nerone in David Alden's production of 'L'Incoronazione di Poppea' and he returned to the Royal Opera as Vasek in 'The Bartered Bride' under Bernard Haitink.  He sang Janacek's 'Diary of one who Vanished' in a new translation by Seamus Heaney, staged by Deborah Warner in London, Paris, Munich, Amsterdam and New York.  Most recently he sang Tom Rakewell in Munich and Peter Quint in London.

His recordings include Schubert's 'Die schöne Müllerin' with Graham Johnson (Gramophone Award 1996); Tom Rakewell with Sir John Eliot Gardiner (Grammy Award, 1999); and Belmonte (William Christie). Under his exclusive contract with EMI Classics, he has recorded Schubert Lieder and Schumann Lieder (Gramophone Award 1998), English song and Henze Lieder with Julius Drake, Britten's 'Our Hunting Fathers' with Daniel Harding, ‘Idomeneo’ with Sir Charles Mackerras, Janacek with Thomas Ades, Schubert with Leif Ove Andsnes, Noel Coward with Jeffrey Tate, Britten Orchestral cycles with the Berlin Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle, Wolf with Antonio Pappano and, for EMI/Virgin, Bach cantatas with Fabio Biondi, Britten’s Canticles  and Britten’s ‘The Turn of the Screw’ (Gramophone Award, 2003).

His concert engagements include the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, London Symphony, London Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, New York Philharmonic and Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestras and the Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera under Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Colin Davis, Sir Andrew Davis, Seiji Ozawa, Riccardo Muti, Mstislav Rostropovich, Daniel Barenboim, Daniel Harding, Donald Runnicles, James Levine and Antonio Pappano.

His opera engagements include ‘Semele’ for English National Opera, ‘Don Giovanni’ and Adès’s ‘The Tempest’ for the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, ‘The Rape of Lucretia’ in Munich, ‘Don Giovanni’ for the Vienna State Opera and ‘Death in Venice’ for English National Opera.

In 2001 he was elected an honorary fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford and in 2003 he was made an Honorary Doctor of Music by the University of St Andrew’s.   He was created a CBE in the 2004 New Year’s Honours.

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The pianist Julius Drake who studied and lives in London, specialises in the field of chamber music and works with many of the world’s leading vocal and instrumental artists, both in recital and on disc.

He appears regularly at all the major music centres: in recent seasons concerts have taken him to the Edinburgh, Munich, Salzburg, Schubertiade, and Tanglewood Festivals; to the Lincoln Centre, New York; the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam;  the Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna; the Chatalet in Paris; the Wigmore Hall and the BBC Proms in London; and on recital tours to Australia, Japan and America.

Director of the Perth International Chamber Music Festival in Australia from 2000 – 2003 Julius Drake was also musical director in Deborah Warner’s staging of Janacek’s Diary of One who Vanished, touring to Munich, London, Dublin, Amsterdam and New York.
Julius Drake’s passionate interest in song has led to invitations to devise series for the Wigmore Hall, London ( Britten Songs, Schubert Songdiary, Songs of the Nineties) the BBC, (Complete Songs of Fauré) and the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam (Brahms Songs.)
Julius Drake gives regular masterclasses in Europe and the USA and in 2006 he has been invited onto the jury of The 15th Leeds International Piano Competition.

Among the many outstanding vocal artists he has partnered are Victoria de los Angeles, Sir Thomas Allen, Olaf Bär, Barbara Bonney, Ian Bostridge, Alice Coote, Hugues Cuenod, Gerald Finley, Matthias Goerne, Dame Felicity Lott, Wolfgang Holzmair, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Simon Keenlyside, Angelika Kirschschlager, Christopher Maltman, Edith Mathis, Thomas Quasthoff, Joan Rogers, Dorothea Röschmann, Rolando Villazon and Willard White

Julius Drake is also a frequent visitor to international chamber music festivals - in 2006 he will play at Kuhmo in Finland, West Cork in Ireland, and Delft in Holland – and instrumental collaborators include Christian Altenburger, Annette Bartholdi, Natalie Clein, Robert Cohen, Michael Collins, Brett Dean, Nicholas Daniel, Chen Halevi, Steven Isserlis, Ernst Kovacic, Henning Kraggerud, Priya Mitchell, Christian Poltera and Richard Watkins. His instrumental duo with Nicholas Daniel has been described in The Independent newspaper as “one of the most satisfying in British chamber music: vital, thoughtful and confirmed in musical integrity of the highest order.”

Recordings include French song with Cuenod (Chandos), French Sonatas with Daniel (Virgin), Britten song with Ragin (Etcetera), Haydn Canzonettas with Genz (Edel), Schumann Lieder with Daneman (EMI), Clarinet and Piano works with Johnson (ASV), Gurney songs with Agnew (Hyperion), Sibelius songs with Karneus (Hyperion), Shostakovitch sonatas with Bartholdy (Naxos) and Haydn, Schumann and Mahler with Coote (EMI).  His award winning recordings with Ian Bostridge on EMI (including Gramophone Award and Edison Award) include Schumann Lieder, two volumes of Schubert Lieder, Henze’s Songs from the Arabian, Britten Canticles (also with Daniels and Maltman) and The English Songbook.

Recent and forthcoming discs include Mahler, Schumann and Haydn with Alice Coote (EMI), Songs of Charles Ives and Songs of Samuel Barber with Gerald Finley (Hyperion), French song with Lynne Dawson (Edel), Cello Sonatas with Christian Poltera (Bis) and Fauré, Poulenc and Debussy with Ian Bostridge and the Belcea Quartet (EMI).

In 2005/6 Julius Drake will host a series of concerts – Julius Drake and Friends - at Middle Temple Hall London, to include recitals with Sir Thomas Allen, Olaf Baer, Ian Bostridge, Christopher Maltman and Joan Rodgers. Other highlights of the season include concerts throughout Europe and America with Ian Bostridge; piano quintet concerts with the Belcea, Maggini and Szymanowski quartets; a tour of the USA with Mathew Pollenzani; concerts at the Schubertiade Festival and La Scala Milan with Michael Schade; a return visit to the Kuhmo International Chamber Music Festival in Finland; recitals in London and New York with Alice Coote; in Vienna with Rolando Villazon; in Denmark with Angelika Kirchschlager; in London and Strasbourg with Gerald Finley; in Amsterdam with Christianne Stotijn and Mark Padmore; and Carnegie Hall, New York with Dorothea Röschmann and Ian Bostridge.