Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Interview with Theresa Krügl and Virgil Mischok

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Theresa Krügl and Virgil Mischok are promising young singers who are part of the Audi Youth Choir that will appear with the Orchestra of Music Makers to perform the solos of the Brahms's A German Requiem on 6 September 2012 (tomorrow!) We have a short chat with them.


The Mad Scene: Firstly please introduce yourself in your own words, including your nationality, age, current place of work or study, and how you landed this gig in Singapore.

Theresa: My name is Theresa Krügl, I´m from Germany. I´m 21 years old and I am studying singing in Vienna at the music university with Prof. Gabriele Lechner. I started singing at the age of 15. Since the Audi Jugendchorakademie was founded in 2008, I have been a member of the choir. This was very important for my musical education. I also learned that singing is not only hard business, but also a lot of fun. Of course it makes me very happy and proud that they asked me to sing the soprano solo part this year.

Virgil: I´m Virgil Mischok, 23 years old and I sudy singing with Prof. Andreas Schmidt in Munich, Germany. The Audi Jugendchorakademie was the choir where I starded singing in 2008, and so it was a dream coming true when they asked me to sing the solo part in the Brahms Requiem.



The Mad Scene: Is this your first time in Singapore?

Virgil: Yes, it´s our first time in Singapore.

The Mad Scene: Tell us about your experience learning the solo parts of Brahms's German Requiem. What are the challenges and rewards you get from singing it.

Theresa: It has always been a dream for me to sing the solo part of the German Requiem. I love this music so much. I did not believe that I would get to sing it so early at the age of 21. The phrases of the solo part are long, you have to sing it very legato, and you should not forget to feel and think of what you are singing at the moment. Technique and emotion are both very important here. So on the one hand it is a challenge for me, but on the other hand I learned so much during the study of this piece that it is really an enrichment for me. In my opinion, a singer won´t improve in his job without any challenges.

Virgil: I sang the German Requiem very often as a choir singer in different choirs, and I love this piece very much. So I already knew it well when I was asked to sing the baritone solo. For me, it´s a big enrichment to sing the solo part just because I love the music so much. What helped me a lot was my teacher, Andreas Schmidt, who sang the piece very often. He helped me very much with his wealth of experience.

The Mad Scene: Who are your favourite opera singers? Favourite CDs and/or DVDs?

Theresa: Of course, I´m very intressted in soprano voices and there are really a lot of great singers  around the world. For me there is no one single greatest singer, everyone has her own special voice and way to sing. I´m fascinated by the coloraturas of Edita Gruberova, for example. When you listen to her, you have the feeling that singing is the most simple thing in the world. I love the energy on stage of Anna Netrebko and her beautiful dark voice. Diana Damrau has a great technique, I think she can sing almost every soprano role in opera. She is really one of my favourite.

Virgil: My favourite singer is called Michael Volle, who is an ensemble-member of the munich national opera. Of course he´s a baritone and for me he is one of the best all-round singers. He recorded a lot CDs, also with the German Kunstlied Repertoire and this is the music which I listen to all the time.

My recommendation for you is his latest CD „Ein Liederabend“ where he recorded Schubert, Reuter, Strauß and Wolf Songs. This is a perfect mix of known and unknown songs and the both musicians are really great!

The Mad Scene: As this website is called The Mad Scene, tell us what is your favourite mad scene?

Theresa: I always loved the big Traviata scene at the end of the first act. I´ve heard it very often in different recordings and I love the music so much. And my absolute dream is to sing the role because of this scene.

Virgil: As you can imagine, my favourite mad scene changes very often. But there are actually two mad scenes which I always remember: I saw Madama Butterfly in Augsburg, near Munich, in a beautiful production. When she died, it was absolutely what I would call an „Opera Moment“. The music is so strong and it was so incredibly well sung,  this was a moment which you can´t find in any movie.

And the second, is the scene in Verdi's Falstaff, where Ford recognizes all the things that are going on around him. I like that very much because its serious Verdi stuff but I can find a lot of humour in it. And of course I hope that this can be my job one day.

The Mad Scene: Lastly, why we should all coerme and attend the Orchestra of the Music Makers’s and Audi Youth Choir Academy’s concert of the Brahms Requiem?

Theresa: International Affairs, especially in the music business, are so important. This project is very special in my opinion – very young singers of two countries with absolutely different cultures are working together. But it works, without any problems. That's because music is connecting people, no matter where you come from. It´s a sort of comunication. Come to the concert and you will feel it!

Virgil: First of all, in my opinion it´s always worth to come and to listen to the German Requiem of Brahms.
This piece is something very special, not only because of the german text. For me, every Brahms Requiem is an event, whether to listen, to sing in the choir or, like us, to sing the solo parts for the first time.

For musicians it´s always exciting to meet other musicans around the world and make music together. I think we will enjoy it very much. I´m sure that you will be able to hear that too!

 Brahms's German Requiem will be performed on 6 September 2012. More ticketing information is available at the Events Page.

1 comment:

  1. Johannes Brahms is proud of you!
    And so are we, the fans in Germany :-)

    ReplyDelete

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