|
The German-Greek mezzo-soprano, Stella Doufexis, studied at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin, with Professor Ingrid Figur. In addition she particpated in master-classes with Aribert Reimann and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in Berlin. She completed her studies with Anna Reynolds.
From 1995 to 1997 Stella Doufexis was a member of the Theater der Stadt Heidelberg where her roles included Cherubino, Hänsel, Nicklausse, Gluck's Orfeo, Rosina, the first German staging of Harrison Birtwistle's The Second Mrs Kong and the Philip Glass/Doris Lessing Die Ehen zwischen den Zonen 3, 4 & 5. Recent operatic engagements included W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte with the Theatre Royal de la Monnaie, Brussels, Haydn's L'Isola Disabitata at the Deutsche Staatsoper, Berlin, an acclaimed Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier for Scottish Opera and Meg Page in Falstaff under Claudio Abbado in Ferrara (also televised).
An acclaimed recitalist, Stella Doufexis made her debut at London’s Wigmore Hall in Graham Johnson's International Songmakers series and appeared in recital at the Cologne Philharmonie, the Berlin, Lucerne and Schleswig-Holstein Festivals, Frankfurt Opera, the Schubertiade, Hohenems, and in Brussels, Vienna, Athens and at the Ruhr Klavier-Festival.
In concert Stella Doufexis appeared with both the Stuttgarter Bach Akademie and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra Helmuth Rilling, Münchener Kammerorchester under Christoph Poppen, Ensemble InterContemporain under David Robertson, Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester under Kent Nagano and Deutsches Symphony Orchestra, Berlin, under Vladimir Ashkenazy. In the UK she appeared at the Aldeburgh Festival and the BBC Promenade concerts. She joined the Berliner Philharmoniker under Claudio Abbado for both Schubert's Fierrabras and the 1997 New Year's Eve concerts (recorded by Deutsche Grammophon and televised). Future engagements include appearances in Barcelona, Salzburg, Berlin, London, Paris, Moscow, Bonn and Washington.
Since autumn 2005, Stella Doufexis was a permanent ensemble member of the Komische Oper in Berlin, where she performed many important main roles of her field (Cherubino, Dorabella, Niklas and recently the Cavalier of the Rose-Oktavian) with great success. In this season, performances of W.A. Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, Theseus, Der Rosenkavalier and Hoffmanns Erzählungen are scheduled in Berlin. For summer 2009, the world premiere of Christian Jost’s commissioned opera Hamlet is forseen with Stella Doufexis singing the title role. She also appeared as Niklas at the Opera in Geneva in autumn 2008.
Numerous guest performances led Stella Doufexis, amongst others, to the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, to the German State Opera in Berlin, to the Scottish Opera (Oktavian) and the Gran Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona. At the Salzburg Festival, she convinced in Verdi’s Falstaff as Meg Page under the direction of Claudio Abbado as well as Lorin Maazel. She sang this part as well as the Dorabella in W.A. Mozart's Così fan tutte at the Communal Theatre of Ferrara under the direction of Claudio Abbado. The singer could be seen at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich in new productions of Les Troyens (Berlioz) with Zubin Mehta and the Cunning Little Vixen (Janáček) with Jun Märkl. She stepped into the breach as Dorabella in the concert performance under the direction of Simon Rattle with the Berliner Philharmoniker in 2004, which brought her special recognition both from the audience and the press.
Stella Doufexis could be heard as renowned lied singer at the festivals of Luzern and Berlin, the Schubertiade Hohenems, the Ruhr Piano Festival, the Aldeburgh Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival as well as the Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival, and continued to perform with recitals in Brussels, Vienna, London, Amsterdam, Athens, Cologne, Hamburg, Paris, Berlin and most recently in Frankfurt. With her successful and extraordinary Greece programme “Beautiful world, where are you”, she could be heard in several recitals together with Axel Bauni. In autumn last year, the label Coviello released their recording titled Sketches of Greece on CD. Further recordings include for example Lieder by B. Blacher with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Orfeo), Verdi’s Falstaff with Claudio Abbado and the Berliner Philharmoniker (DG) or Il Tramonto by Ottorino Respighi (BIS Records). In early June 2004, her recording of Joseph Marx’ Orchestral Songs was released at ASV, which was nominated for the Grammy.
In the concert field, Stella Doufexis sang with all important German radio orchestras, the Berliner Philharmoniker as well as the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Orchestre de Paris, London Symphony Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Stuttgart Bach Academy. Working with renowned conductors such as Bernard Haitink, Zubin Mehta, Semyon Bychkov, Lorin Maazel, Kent Nagano, Kurt Masur, Roger Norrington, Christopher Hogwood, Carl St. Clair, Helmuth Rilling, Ivor Bolton, Andrew Davis, Leonard Slatkin, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Christoph Eschenbach, Gustavo Dudamel, Simon Rattle and Claudio Abbado led her to the BBC Proms, the Berlin Festival, the Bonn Beethoven Festival, to the Festival in Athens, the Halle Händel Festival and the Salzburg Festival, to name a few.
Apart from performances at the Komische Oper Berlin, 2007-2008 season included amongst others invitations to Basel (Nuits d’été), Munich (Maurice Duruflé's Requiem) and to the German Symphony Orchestra in Berlin under Ingo Metzmacher (Schumann Das Paradies und die Peri) as well as quartett recitals (with Marlis Petersen, Konrad Jarnot and Werner Güra) in Germany and Italy with Johannes Brahms’ Liebesliederwalzer and Neue Liebeslieder which Harmonia Mundi was published on CD.
Stella Doufexis lived in Berlin with her husband the German composer Christian Jost. She died of cancer at age 47. |
