BRAHMS SYMPHONY NO. 4
Recent highlights include her role
debuts of Heliane in Das Wunder der
Heliane; Bianca in Eine florentinische
Tragödie; Montezuma in Die Eroberung
von Mexico; Leonore in Fidelio;
Margherita in Mefistofele; Judit in
Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle; Chrysothemis
in Elektra; Cio-Cio-San in Madame
Butterfly; and the title roles of Loreley
and Tosca.
She has received a special award of
Chambre Professionnelle des Directeurs
d’Opéra de Paris, a special award of the
Helikon Opera Moscow and second prize
for operetta at the 25 th International Hans
Gabor Belvedere Competition in Vienna,
as well as the Offenbach Award of the city
of Cologne.
She has worked with conductors such
as Gianandrea Noseda, Zubin Mehta,
Fabio Luisi, Jeffrey Tate, Julia Jones,
Julian Kovatchev, Marco Armiliato,
Dmitri Jurowski, Markus Stenz and
Gabriel Feltz, as well as stage directors
such as Calixto Bieito, Robert Carsen,
Peter Konwitschny, Graham Vick, David
Alden, Christof Nel, Pierre Audi, Tatjana
Gürbaca and Anthony Pilavachi.
Aušrinė Stundytė makes her BSO debut.
Renée Morloc
In her extensive
and varied career,
Renée Morloc has
performed all of the
main mezzo-soprano
and dramatic alto roles.
She studied German philology and viola
in Stuttgart and Paris, as well as vocal
performance with Georg Jelden and Grace
Hoffman in Stuttgart. She perfected her
craft at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and
took part in masterclasses directed by
Christa Ludwig.
After working with the Mannheim
National Theatre and Staatsoper Hannover,
she joined the Düsseldorf Opera ensemble
in 1996. She has been a guest singer in
Helsinki, Berlin, Hamburg, Munich,
Berne, Frankfurt, Salzburg Festival, Tokyo,
Montpellier, Geneva, Opéra de Paris, Scala
di Milano, Lisbonne, Stuttgart, Brussels,
Antwerp, Nantes and Dresden.
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OV E R T U R E / BSOmusic.org
She has performed varied roles,
including the title role in Carmen,
Orphée in Orphée et Eurydice, Erda in
Das Rheingold, Fricka in Die Walküre,
Waltraute in Götterdämmerung, Mary
in The Flying Dutchman, Ortrud in
Lohengrin, Klytämnestra in Elektra,
Kabanicha in Káťa Kabanová, Jezibaba
in Rusalka, Auntie in Peter Grimes,
La Première Prieure in Dialogues des
Carmélites, Azucena in Il Trovatore,
Quickly in Falstaff, Larina in Eugene
Onegin, Gertrud in Hansel and Gretel,
Stolzius’ Mutter in Die Soldaten,
Klementia in Sancta Susanna and
Babulenka in The Gambler.
She has performed in concert with
several major orchestras, including
the Bavarian Radio Symphony
Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic,
Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra,
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester
Berlin, Bamberg Symphony, Hamburg
Symphony Orchestra, MDR Leipzig
Radio Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki
Philharmonic Orchestre, Czech
Philarmonic and the Jerusalem
Symphony Orchestra. Repertoire has
included Mahler’s Das Lied von der
Erde Kindertotenlieder, Ruckert-Lieder,
Second Symphony, Third Symphony
and Eighth Symphony; Bernstein’s
Jeremiah Symphony; Verdi’s Requiem;
and Ligeti’s Requiem.
Morloc has recorded Zigeunerlieder
by various composers, including
Wolf, Brahms, Liszt and Schumann,
for ARS Production. Forthcoming
projects include Die Walküre, The
Fiery Angel, Das Rheingold, Falstaff,
Götterdämmerung, Hansel and
Gretel and Siegfried in Düsseldorf
and Duisburg.
Renée Morloc makes her BSO debut.
Sonya Alexandra
Knussen
Praised by The New
York Times for her
“gracefully shaped
vocal lines,” The
Washington Post for her “confident and
penetrating account of line” and The
Albany Times Union for her “dead-on
surety of pitch and attractive tone,”
Sonya Alexandra Knussen, contralto,
is equally at home performing new
music and established repertoire.
Knussen has also premiered works
at festivals in the U.S. and U.K. As
a featured soloist, she has performed
with the Cathedral Choral Society
of Washington, Washington Bach
Consort, Bang on a Can Summer
Music Festival and Tanglewood
Festival Chorus at venues including
the Snape Maltings, Symphony Space
and Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood.
Her operatic roles include Bianca
in The Rape of Lucretia, Rebecca
Nurse in The Crucible and Florence
Pike in Albert Herring. Knussen
is a seasoned ensemble singer
performing regularly with the Choir
of the Basilica of the Shrine of the
Immaculate Conception, Chantry
Early Music and her own ensemble,
hexaCollective.
Knussen teaches at Severn School,
Severna Park and the High School
Performing and Visual Arts magnet
program in Anne Arundel County. At
Children’s Chorus of Washington, she
was first Director of SING DC,
a choral outreach program, and taught
preparatory classes. She has been a vocal
animateur for projects with English
National Opera and the BBC Proms.
Her media experience includes
serving as the producer for recordings
of Carter’s Boston Concerto and Cello
Concerto; the music assistant on
recordings of works by August Read
Thomas, Oliver Knussen and Hans
Werner Henze; and the researcher for
Sounds from the Big White House
for BBC 4, as well as score-reader
for LWT/Channel 4’s series on
20 th -century orchestral music with
Simon Rattle entitled Leaving Home.
She also blind-directed cameras
throughout live performances at
Elliott Carter’s Centenary Celebrations
at Tanglewood.
Sonya Alexandra Knussen makes her
BSO debut.