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The Swiss-born soprano, Brigitte Geller, studied flute and singing at the Musikhochschule Basel. Her first engagement was as solo-flutist at the Neues Orchester Basel. At the same time she was a member of the International Opera Studio Zürich. She regularly attended master-classes with Gerad Wyss, Irwin Gage and Edith Mathis. She won several prestigious competitions, among them the International Miriam Helin Singing Competition, and was repeatedly awarded with a scholarship of the Migros Stiftung.
After being a member of the Opera Studio in Zürich, Brigitte Geller started her career in Germany with an engagement at the Theater Heidelberg, where she was a member of the ensemble from 1992 to 1998. Since that year she is engaged at the Komische Oper Berlin, where she performs with great success in the major roles for lyric soprano like Pamina, Susanna, Nanetta and Micaela. She still is a frequent guest at the Theater Heidelberg, where she staged Sophie in Rosenkavalier and Pamina and recently was invited to sing Ilia (Idomeneo).
In the season 2000/2001 Brigitte Geller performed - highly praised not only for her singing but also for her acting as Ännchen (Freischütz) in the new production of the Komischen Oper and made her debut as Gilda (Rigoletto) and staged Pamina at the Landestheater Salzburg. In the 2001-2002 season she sings Asteria in the new production of George Frideric Handel’s Tamerlano at the Komische Oper Berlin beside Jochen Kowalski and Axel Köhler under Michael Hofstetter and stage director David Alden.
Besides her busy opera career Brigitte Geller is also in great demand as a concert and recital singer. Therefore she has been giving recitals and concerts throughout Europe. She regulary works with conductors like Marcus Creed, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Bernhard Kontarsky, Frieder Bernius and Ton Koopman. Within Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s J.S. Bach's Cantata Pilgrimage in 2000 she participated in different concerts through Europe, also in one special concert in honour of the Prince of Wales at the Buckingham Palace in London.
Engagements include concerts with the Sinfonieorchester Basel under B. Kontarsky, the MDR Chamber Orchestra under Ton Koopman, J.S. Bach’s b-minor Mass (BWV 232) with the Chamber Orchestra Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach as well as concerts with Concerto Köln and the RIAS-Kammerchor under Marcus Creed at the Philharmonie Berlin and the Konzerthaus Berlin. She also made her debut at the Dresdner Musikfestspiele, she sang the opening concert at the Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik and was Galatea in Naumann’s Acis und Galatea at the Internationale Festtage Alter Musik Stuttgart under Frieder Bernius, which was followed by a CD-production (Orfeo). The Matthew Passion (BWV 244) under Christian Kabitz at the Philharmonie am Gasteig Munich with the Münchener Bach-Chor and Orchestra as well as with the Würzburger Bach-Chor in concerts in Würzburg and Frankfurt. She was re-invited to sing under Marcus Creed and the RIAS-Kammerchor (J. Haydn’s Creation) in Spain, sang the final concert of the Internationale Festtage Alter Musik des Stuttgarter Musikpodiums with Concerto Köln (works of Jommelli, Cannabich, Richter and Kraus) and followed an invitation of the Europäisches Festival Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen 2002 where she sang the title role in Iphigenie auf Tauris by Chr. W. Gluck under Frieder Bernius. In summer 2002 she sang at the Flandern Festival 2002 as well as in the Basilica of Vézelay within the Rencontres Musicales de Vézelay´.
Brigitte Geller's productions 2003-2004 included concerts with La Stagione Frankfurt under Michael Schneider with J.A. Hasse’s Piramo e Tisbe at the Dresden Festival, a concert tour with J.S. Bach's Cantatas through Europe with Frieder Bernius, the soprano part in Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 2 at the Rheingau Musik Festival and the Bachakademie under Helmuth Rilling, Haydns’ Die 7 letzten Worte am Kreuze with the MDR Leipzig and its orchestra in the Gewandhaus under Howard Arman and a new production of G.F. Handel’s opera Alcina with the role of Morgana at the Komische Oper Berlin under Paul McCreesh and stage director David Alden.
Future projects are her first Susanna with the Komische Oper Berlin and her debut as Konstanze at the same house.
Brigitte Geller's new CD Schubert's Friends (with works of F. Schubert) with the pianist Ulrich Eisenloher will soon appear at the label Naxos. |
