In 2024/25 Austrian mezzo-soprano Sophie Rennert sings the title role in Bizet’s ‘Carmen’ at Munich’s Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz – After the premiere, the Süddeutsche Zeitung (20.10.24) ran the following headline: ‘Bizet’s opera classic with a spectacular Sophie Rennert. Proud, vulnerable and with a strong impact: Sophie Rennert’s unusual role debut in the new production of Bizet’s opera classic at the Gärtnerplatztheater.’
Other roles include Ruggiero in Handel’s ‘Alcina’, Donna Elvira in Mozart’s ‘Don Giovanni’ and Charlotte in Massenet’s ‘Werther’. Prior to that she sang Dorabella (‘Così fan tutte’), Charlotte (‘Werther’), Nicklausse (‘The Tales of Hoffmann’), Orlofsky (‘The Bat’), Cherubino (‘The Marriage of Figaro’), Rosina (‘Il barbiere di Siviglia), Hansel (’Hansel and Gretel‘) and Angelina (’La Cenerentola”), among others.
Guest engagements this season also take her to the Theater an der Wien (‘Das Paradies und die Peri’) and to the Nationaltheater Mannheim as Giulio Cesare.
In the recent past, she performed the title role in Vidaldi’s ‘Juditha Triumphans’ at the Festwochen der Alten Musik in Innsbruck, sang Schumann’s ‘Das Paradies und die Peri’ in Utrecht and Phèdre in Rameau’s ‘Hippolyte et Aricie’ at the Nationaltheater Mannheim.
Sophie Rennert has also established herself as one of the leading lieder singers and can be heard regularly with pianists such as Joseph Middleton, Graham Johnson and Helmut Deutsch at the Schubertiade in Schwarzenberg, the Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Brucknerhaus Linz and the Zeist Festival.She has performed at major festivals such as the Salzburg Festival, the Bayreuth Festival and the Göttingen Festival.
She has worked with conductors such as David Afkham, Ivor Bolton, Semyon Bychkov, Laurence Cummings, Christian Curnyn, Ottavio Dantone, Rubén Dubrovsky, Ádám Fischer, Bernhard Forck, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Hartmut Haenchen, Martin Haselböck, Philippe Jordan, Joanna Mallwitz, Alessandro de Marchi, Andres Orozco-Estrada, Claudio Osele, Mark Piollet, Jordi Savall and Andreas Spering and orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic, the Orquesta Nacional de España and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
Sophie Rennert’s repertoire spans all epochs, styles and genres: from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio to Mozart’s Requiem and Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. and the CD recording ‘Von den Göttern weiß ich nichts’ with contemporary vocal works by Uli Rennert; from the role of Andronico in Vivaldi’s ‘Tamerlano’, Piacere in Handel’s ‘Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno’ and Idamante in Mozart’s ‘Idomeneo’ to Harper Pitt in ‘Angels in America’ by Peter Eötvös at the Neue Oper Wien.
In 2017/18, the mezzo-soprano was selected for the Vienna Konzerthaus’s ‘Great Talents’ series. From 2014 to 2016, she was a member of the Konzert Theater Bern ensemble. In 2013, Sophie Rennert was a member of the ‘Young Singers Project’ at the Salzburg Festival.
Sophie Rennert’s discography includes the aforementioned CD of contemporary vocal works, Leopold Mozart’s Missa Solemnis with the Bayerische Kammerphilharmonie and Handel’s Lotario from Göttingen, Brahms songs accompanied by Graham Johnson on hyperion, as well as the recording of Vivaldi’s Tamerlano with the Accademia Bizantina under Ottavio Dantone on naïve classique.
Sophie Rennert won 2nd prize and the audience prize at the 7th International Cesti Competition for Baroque Singing in Innsbruck in 2016 and was a prizewinner at the Salzburg International Mozart Competition.
In addition to violin and piano lessons, Sophie Rennert began her vocal training with her mother, the soprano and vocal teacher Sigrid Rennert. In 2014, she graduated with honours from the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna with Karlheinz Hanser and Charles Spencer. She attended masterclasses with Brigitte Fassbaender, Ann Murray and Helmut Deutsch.
www.sophierennert.at
11/2024
