Katia Plaschka
Encyclopedia
Katia Plaschka is a German coloratura soprano
who performs in opera, especially contemporary opera, and concert performances of oratorio
s.
until 2002 with Gunnel Tasch–Ohlsson. She also studied with Heidrun Kordes. In the field of historically informed performance
she has collaborated with Thomas Hengelbrock
, Frieder Bernius and Helmuth Rilling
. She has participated in the Ohrwurm-Projekt, an educational music project aimed at elementary school children.
, in a concert performance in the "Zeitfluss" series at the Salzburg Festival
of his Io, Frammento da Prometeo (Io, excerpts from Prometeo
) for three sopranos, small chorus, bass flute
, contrabass clarinet
and live electronics (1981) that took place at the Kollegienkirche, Salzburg. The performance was recorded and released in 2004, at which time a reviewer wrote: "The singers are astonishing in their accuracy and tuning in these fiendishly difficult harmonies. Especially marvellous is the coloratura soprano Katia Plaschka." John Story commented in Fanfare: "The three sections involving the soloists are extraordinary in both their sublime if remote beauty and the sheer difficulty of the music. Katia Plaschka, quite accurately described as a high soprano, sings music of stratospheric difficulty accompanied first by the women’s voices and then the two instruments. Her ability to pull her extreme pitches out of what amounts to thin air is nothing short of amazing." The recording was awarded the 2004 Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik
in the choral works category.
Plaschka has been a soprano with the Wiener Taschenoper in Vienna, which specializes in contemporary opera. In 2003 she appeared in the premiere of Wolfgang Mitterer
's opera massacre, performed as part of the Wiener Festwochen, directed by Joachim Schlömer and conducted by Peter Rundel. In 2004 she was the singer for Mitterer's performance with dancers, Labyrinth for soprano and electronics, at the Semper Depot in Vienna, with choreographer Saskia Hölbling
and her group DANS.KIAS.
s in concert. With the Marburg Bach Choir, she has performed Haydn's Stabat Mater
(2004), Handels's Messiah (2005), and Bach's St John Passion. In 2003, with the Chor St. Martin and the chamber choir Martinis, she performed in the Unionskirche, Idstein
, Handel's Gloria
, which had been attributed to the composer only in 2001, and his Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate
. In St. Martin
, also in Idstein
, she performed Bach's Christmas Oratorio
(2004), Buxtehude's Membra Jesu Nostri
(2007), and Mozart's Great Mass in C minor (2008). In 2009, she performed there Bach's St Matthew Passion with Ulrich Cordes
(Evangelist
), Andreas Pruys
(Vox Christi
), and Klaus Mertens
, and in 2011 she was the soprano in Handel's Messiah, with Andreas Scholl
, Ulrich Cordes and Markus Flaig
. Her voice was described as clear and light, and her "Rejoice greatly" and "I know that my Redeemer liveth" were considered highlights of the performance along with Scholl's "He was despised".
In 2005, Plaschka performed Monteverdi's Vespro della Beata Vergine with the Frankfurter Kantorei. With the Neue Rheingauer Kantorei she sang Poulenc's Gloria
and John Rutter
's Magnificat in the Rheingauer Dom in Geisenheim
in 2007. In 2009 she performed Parts I–III of Bach's Christmas Oratorio in the Speyer Cathedral
, conducted by Markus Melchiori, the cathedral's director of music.
's Balthasar-Neumann-Chor. She performed among others Bach cantata
s in the Konzerthaus Dortmund and Mozart's Idomeneo
in the Barbican Centre
.
Coloratura soprano
A coloratura soprano is a type of operatic soprano who specializes in music that is distinguished by agile runs and leaps. The term coloratura refers to the elaborate ornamentation of a melody, which is a typical component of the music written for this voice...
who performs in opera, especially contemporary opera, and concert performances of oratorio
Oratorio
An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...
s.
Professional career
Katia Plaschka studied voice at the Hochschule für Musik in FrankfurtFrankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
until 2002 with Gunnel Tasch–Ohlsson. She also studied with Heidrun Kordes. In the field of historically informed performance
Historically informed performance
Historically informed performance is an approach in the performance of music and theater. Within this approach, the performance adheres to state-of-the-art knowledge of the aesthetic criteria of the period in which the music or theatre work was conceived...
she has collaborated with Thomas Hengelbrock
Thomas Hengelbrock
Thomas Hengelbrock is a German violinist, musicologist, stage director and conductor.- Biography :Thomas Hengelbrock studied the violin with Rainer Kussmaul and started his career in Würzburg and Freiburg im Breisgau...
, Frieder Bernius and Helmuth Rilling
Helmuth Rilling
Helmuth Rilling is an internationally known German choral conductor, founder of the Gächinger Kantorei , the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart , the Oregon Bach Festival , the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart and other Bach Academies worldwide, and the "Festival Ensemble Stuttgart"...
. She has participated in the Ohrwurm-Projekt, an educational music project aimed at elementary school children.
Opera
In 2001 she was the "high soprano" in music of Luigi NonoLuigi Nono
Luigi Nono was an Italian avant-garde composer of classical music and remains one of the most prominent composers of the 20th century.- Early years :Born in Venice, he was a member of a wealthy artistic family, and his grandfather was a notable painter...
, in a concert performance in the "Zeitfluss" series at the Salzburg Festival
Salzburg Festival
The Salzburg Festival is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer within the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart...
of his Io, Frammento da Prometeo (Io, excerpts from Prometeo
Prometeo
Prometeo is a 150-minute opera by Luigi Nono, written between 1981 and 1984 and revised in 1985. Here the word "opera" carries the generic Italian meaning of "work," as in work of art, and not its usual worldly meaning. Indeed, Nono scornfully labels "Prometeo" a "tragedia dell'ascolto," a tragedy...
) for three sopranos, small chorus, bass flute
Bass flute
The bass flute is the bass member of the flute family. It is in the key of C, pitched one octave below the concert flute. Because of the length of its tube , it is usually made with a "J" shaped head joint, which brings the embouchure hole within reach of the player...
, contrabass clarinet
Contrabass clarinet
The contrabass clarinet is the largest member of the clarinet family that has ever been in regular production or significant use. Modern contrabass clarinets are pitched in BB, sounding two octaves lower than the common B soprano clarinet and one octave lower than the B bass clarinet...
and live electronics (1981) that took place at the Kollegienkirche, Salzburg. The performance was recorded and released in 2004, at which time a reviewer wrote: "The singers are astonishing in their accuracy and tuning in these fiendishly difficult harmonies. Especially marvellous is the coloratura soprano Katia Plaschka." John Story commented in Fanfare: "The three sections involving the soloists are extraordinary in both their sublime if remote beauty and the sheer difficulty of the music. Katia Plaschka, quite accurately described as a high soprano, sings music of stratospheric difficulty accompanied first by the women’s voices and then the two instruments. Her ability to pull her extreme pitches out of what amounts to thin air is nothing short of amazing." The recording was awarded the 2004 Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik
Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik
The Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik is an annual prize presented for achievement in recorded music.It was inaugurated in Germany in 1963 by publisher Richard Kaselowsky with the aim of recognizing the "most rigorous standards for supreme achievement" in the field of recording.The awards...
in the choral works category.
Plaschka has been a soprano with the Wiener Taschenoper in Vienna, which specializes in contemporary opera. In 2003 she appeared in the premiere of Wolfgang Mitterer
Wolfgang Mitterer
Wolfgang Mitterer is an Austrian composer and musician .-Life and work:Wolfgang Mitterer studied with Otto Bruckner in Graz in 1977, and then from 1978 to 1983 at the Vienna University of Music he studied organ with Herbert Tachezi and composition with Heinrich Gattermeyer before working for a...
's opera massacre, performed as part of the Wiener Festwochen, directed by Joachim Schlömer and conducted by Peter Rundel. In 2004 she was the singer for Mitterer's performance with dancers, Labyrinth for soprano and electronics, at the Semper Depot in Vienna, with choreographer Saskia Hölbling
Saskia Hölbling
Saskia Hölbling is an Austrian choreographer and dancer - Life and work :Hölbling was born in Vienna. She created her first works during her degree course at the Konservatorium der Stadt Wien in from 1991 to 1995. She then continued her training until 1997 at Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s PARTS in...
and her group DANS.KIAS.
Concerts
Plaschka has performed numerous oratorioOratorio
An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...
s in concert. With the Marburg Bach Choir, she has performed Haydn's Stabat Mater
Stabat Mater (Haydn)
Joseph Haydn's Stabat Mater Hob. XXa:1 was written in 1767, for soprano, alto, tenor and bass soloists, mixed choir, 2 oboes both doubling English horn in the sections in E-flat major, strings and organ continuo. The first performance is believed to have taken place March 25, 1768 in Vienna with...
(2004), Handels's Messiah (2005), and Bach's St John Passion. In 2003, with the Chor St. Martin and the chamber choir Martinis, she performed in the Unionskirche, Idstein
Unionskirche, Idstein
The Unionskirche is the Protestant parish church of Idstein, a major town in the German Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis. Idstein was a residence of the Counts of Nassau...
, Handel's Gloria
Gloria (Handel)
George Frideric Handel's Gloria is a sacred solo cantata, a setting of the Gloria, the liturgical part of the Mass, for soprano and strings. Handel may have composed it in Germany before departing for Italy in 1706...
, which had been attributed to the composer only in 2001, and his Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate
Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate
Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate is a sacred choral composition in two parts, written by George Frideric Handel to celebrate the Treaty of Utrecht, which established the Peace of Utrecht in 1713, ending the War of the Spanish Succession. The combination of a Te Deum and Jubilate, the Psalm 100, follows...
. In St. Martin
St. Martin, Idstein
St. Martin in Idstein, Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis, is the church of the local Roman Catholic parish. The official name is Katholische Pfarrkirche St. Martin. The parish is part of the Diocese of Limburg...
, also in Idstein
Idstein
Idstein is a town of about 25,000 inhabitants in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis in the Regierungsbezirk of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany. Because of its well preserved historical Altstadt it is part of the Deutsche Fachwerkstraße , connecting towns with fine timber-frame buildings and...
, she performed Bach's Christmas Oratorio
Christmas Oratorio
The Christmas Oratorio BWV 248, is an oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach intended for performance in church during the Christmas season. It was written for the Christmas season of 1734 incorporating music from earlier compositions, including three secular cantatas written during 1733 and 1734 and a...
(2004), Buxtehude's Membra Jesu Nostri
Membra Jesu Nostri
Membra Jesu Nostri , BuxWV 75, is a cycle of seven cantatas composed by Dieterich Buxtehude in 1680, and dedicated to Gustaf Düben. The full Latin title Membra Jesu nostri patientis sanctissima translates to "The most holy limbs of our suffering Jesus". This work is known as the first Lutheran...
(2007), and Mozart's Great Mass in C minor (2008). In 2009, she performed there Bach's St Matthew Passion with Ulrich Cordes
Ulrich Cordes
Ulrich Cordes is a German tenor.-Professional career:Ulrich Cordes first studied sacred music at the Hochschule für Musik Köln with Winfried Bönig and Margaretha Hürholz, among others. He continued studying voice. In 2005 he was able to study at the CNSMDP in Paris with Pierre Mervant as a...
(Evangelist
Evangelist (Bach)
The Evangelist in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach is the tenor part in his oratorios and Passions who narrates the exact words of the Bible, translated by Martin Luther, in recitative, namely in the works St John Passion, St Matthew Passion, and the Christmas Oratorio, also in the St Mark...
), Andreas Pruys
Andreas Pruys
- Professional career :Andreas Pruys studied singing and church music at the Folkwanghochschule in Essen. He worked as a church musician for several years, also as director of the music school in Emmerich. He has been a member of the choir NDR Chor since 2001....
(Vox Christi
Vox Christi
Vox Christi, Latin for Voice of Christ, is a term for the bass voice representing Jesus in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and others. This part appears prominently in Bach's Passions...
), and Klaus Mertens
Klaus Mertens
Klaus Mertens is a German bass and bass-baritone singer who is known especially for his interpretation of the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach.-Professional career:Klaus Mertens took singing lessons while attending school...
, and in 2011 she was the soprano in Handel's Messiah, with Andreas Scholl
Andreas Scholl
Andreas Scholl is a German countertenor, a male classical singer in the alto vocal range. He is noted as a specialist in Baroque music.-Childhood:...
, Ulrich Cordes and Markus Flaig
Markus Flaig
-Professional career:Markus Flaig was born in Horb am Neckar. He studied sacred music and school music, then voice with Beata Heuer-Christen in Freiburg and with Berthold Possemeyer at the Hochschule für Musik Frankfurt. Since 2006 he has worked with Carol Meyer-Bruetting...
. Her voice was described as clear and light, and her "Rejoice greatly" and "I know that my Redeemer liveth" were considered highlights of the performance along with Scholl's "He was despised".
In 2005, Plaschka performed Monteverdi's Vespro della Beata Vergine with the Frankfurter Kantorei. With the Neue Rheingauer Kantorei she sang Poulenc's Gloria
Gloria (Poulenc)
The Gloria by Francis Poulenc , scored for soprano solo, large orchestra, and chorus, is a setting of the Roman Catholic Gloria in excelsis Deo text. One of Poulenc's most celebrated works, the Gloria was commissioned by the Koussevitsky Foundation in honor of Sergei Koussevitzky and his wife...
and John Rutter
John Rutter
John Milford Rutter CBE is a British composer, conductor, editor, arranger and record producer, mainly of choral music.-Biography:Born in London, Rutter was educated at Highgate School, where a fellow pupil was John Tavener. He read music at Clare College, Cambridge, where he was a member of the...
's Magnificat in the Rheingauer Dom in Geisenheim
Geisenheim
Geisenheim is a town in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis in the Regierungsbezirk of Darmstadt in Hessen, Germany, and is known as Weinstadt , Schulstadt , Domstadt and Lindenstadt ....
in 2007. In 2009 she performed Parts I–III of Bach's Christmas Oratorio in the Speyer Cathedral
Speyer Cathedral
The Speyer Cathedral, officially the Imperial Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption and St Stephen, in Latin: Domus sanctae Mariae Spirae in Speyer, Germany, is the seat of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Speyer and is suffragan to the Archdiocese of Bamberg. The cathedral, which is dedicated to St...
, conducted by Markus Melchiori, the cathedral's director of music.
Balthasar-Neumann-Chor
Katia Plaschka has been a regular member of Thomas HengelbrockThomas Hengelbrock
Thomas Hengelbrock is a German violinist, musicologist, stage director and conductor.- Biography :Thomas Hengelbrock studied the violin with Rainer Kussmaul and started his career in Würzburg and Freiburg im Breisgau...
's Balthasar-Neumann-Chor. She performed among others Bach cantata
Bach cantata
Bach cantata became a term for a cantata of the German Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach who was a prolific writer of the genre. Although many of his works are lost, around 200 cantatas survived....
s in the Konzerthaus Dortmund and Mozart's Idomeneo
Idomeneo
Idomeneo, re di Creta ossia Ilia e Idamante is an Italian language opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto was adapted by Giambattista Varesco from a French text by Antoine Danchet, which had been set to music by André Campra as Idoménée in 1712...
in the Barbican Centre
Barbican Centre
The Barbican Centre is the largest performing arts centre in Europe. Located in the City of London, England, the Centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhibitions. It also houses a library, three restaurants, and a conservatory...
.
Recordings
- Luigi Nono: Io, frammento da Prometeo, Das atmende Klarsein. Katia Plaschka, Petra Hoffmann, Monika Bair-Ivenz, Roberto Fabbriciani, Ciro Scarponi; Solistenchor Freiburg, Experimentalstudio Freiburg, André Richard. col legno 2 SACD 20600 (Helikon Harmonia Mundi)