Ulrike Helzel

Mezzo-soprano

The German Mezzo-soprano Ulrike Helzel is a member of the Ensemble of the Wiener Staatsoper, where she has appeared on stage in more than 150 performances, among them in roles such as Jenny Hill (Weill: Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny), Wellgunde (Wagner: Das Rheingold and Götterdämmerung), 2. Norn (Wagner: Götterdämmerung), Annina (Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier), Zweite Dame (Mozart: Die Zauberflöte), Second Elf (Dvořák: Rusalka) and Page of Herodias (Strauss: Salome).

Recently she has performed at the Hamburgische Staatsoper (Marcellina in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro) and at the Munich Opera Festival, where she performed the role of Mother in the world premiere of Uraufführung von Die Vorübergehenden by Nikolaus Brass. In the summers from 2006 to 2012 she sang Wellgunde and Knappen (Wagner: Parsifal) at the Bayreuth Festival. She made her role debut as Fricka (Wagner: Das Rheingold) at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma under Kirill Petrenko.

She has also made guest appearances at the La Monnaie in Brussels, Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, the Nederlandse Opera Amsterdam, the Grand Théâtre de Genève, the Oper Leipzig, the Festival de Malaga de Canarias, the Dresden Music Festival and the Festival Radio France Montpellier. At the Theater Basel she appeared in the title role of Rossini’s Cenerentola, at the Komische Oper Berlin as Donna Elvira (Mozart: Don Giovanni) and as Carmen at the Dresden Semperoper. Prior to her engagement at the Wiener Staatsoper, she was an ensemble member at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

The conductors with whom she has worked so far include Alain Altinoglu, Frédéric Chaslin, Adam Fischer, Mikko Franck, James Gaffigan, Simone Young, Cornelius Meister, Ingo Metzmacher, Andris Nelsons, Tomo Netopil, Kirill Petrenko, Simon Rattle, Ulf Schirmer, Peter Schneider, Jeffrey Tate, Christian Thielemann and Franz Welser-Möst.

In addition to her operatic activities, Ulrike Helzel is a sought-after concert singer. Her repertoire stretches from Bach to the twentieth century. Ulrike Helzel, who was born in Magdeburg, received her vocal training at the Leipzig Academy of Music. In 1990, she was awarded the 2nd prize at the  International A.Dvořák Singing Competition in Karlovy Vary and received the Handel Prize from the City of Halle. Ulrike Helzel was a scholarship holder of the Richard Wagner Foundation and is an honorary member of the Richard Wagner Association Magdeburg.