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The Gerrman baritone, Menno Koller, studied in Freiburg first music education, later singing with Bernd Göpfert and in the Lied class of Hans-Peter Müller. From 2009 to 2016, he continued his studies at the Robert-Schumann-Hochschule in Düsseldorf. First in the class of Konrad Jarnot, since 2012 with Thomas Laske. Master-classes with Grace Bumbry, René Jacobs, Siegfried Jerusalem, Emma Kirkby, Tom Krause, Anna Tomowa-Sintow and Kai Wessel completed his previous education.
In 2013, Menno Koller was the winner of the "Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg" competition in the role of Wolfram in Binder's Tannhäuserparodie at the Schlosstheater Rheinsberg. In addition to several university productions in Freiburg and Düsseldorf (including as Guglielmo in W.A. Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, Marco in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi and Papageno in W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte), Koller could be heard in the 2011-2012 season as a member of a chamber ensemble in the production of Mörder Kaspar Brand by Anno Schreier at the "Central" of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf. In 2015, in concerts in Germany and France, he played the title role of Aeneas in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas in scenic and semi-staged versions. From 2016 to 2018 he will be singing at ChorWerk Ruhr with the production Earth Diver of the Ruhrtriennale and the Transparency Muziektheater on tour in Europe.
As a member of ChorWerk Ruhr (Director: Florian Helgath), Gächinger Kantorey Stuttgart (Director: Hans-Christoph Rademann) and Vocalensemble Rastatt (Director: Holger Speck), Menno Koller participates in numerous concerts, television, radio and CD productions and works as a temporary assistant to the Radio Choir of the MDR, NDR-Chor and SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart.
A focal point of Menno Koller's artistic activity is church music. His varied repertoire includes, in addition to masses and cantatas, the great oratorios. Among other things, he sang J.S. Bach's Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248) in Kiel, George Frideric Handel's Messiah in Recklinghausen, Johannes Brahms's Dutsches Requiem in the Black Forest, Felix Mendelssohn's Erste Walpurgisnacht in the Rhineland and J.S. Bach's Mass in B minor (BWV 232) at concerts in France and Germany. In 2016, he was a member of the ensemble PREFERENZA at the world premiere of Karl von Feilitzsch's Mass in Es at the Church of St. Michael in Munich. He performs with renowned choirs and orchestras such as the Neuen Westfälischen Philharmonie, Romanian State Philharmonic Dinu Lipatti, Altstadtherbst or Universitätschor Düsseldorf.
Lieder recitals complete Menno Koller's solo career. After concerts of the Liedklasse Düsseldorf at the Beethovenfest 2010 in Bonn, he appeared several times in the series "Junges Podium" at the Johann Sebastian Bach Hall Düsseldorf. He performed together with Sebastian Rasel in the House of the Universität Düsseldorf as part of the series "Schumann @ Heine" with a French song program and interpreted excerpts from Francis Poulenc's Le Travail du Peintre as part of a Miró exhibition in the K20 art collection in Düsseldorf. He also gave a concert with Austėja Valušytė at "100DADA/SATIE150" at the Heinrich-Heine-Institut. In 2017, he received invitations including "Kontrapunkte Speyer", vocalart Frankfurt, Fränkischen Musiktagen and the Saarbrücker Sommermusik, where he will also be heard again in 2018.
Since 2011, Menno Koller is a scholarship holder of the DOMS DOMS-Stiftung Basel. |
