The Hungarian soprano, Ágnes Kovács,studied at Kodály Zoltán Magyar Kórusiskola. She obtained her diploma in choral conducting and music theory at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest in 2003. She graduated in 2010 from her studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst (HDMSK), Frankfurt am Main with her diploma in opera singing. She studied in the class of Heidrun Kordes. Her studies were supplemented by master-classes with Anna Reynolds, Walter Moore, Beate Heuer-Christen, Helen Donath and Edith Wiens. In 2008 she won for the second time, the Hungarian State Eötvös Scholarship.
As a soloist Ágnes Kovács is equally at home in Lieder and oratorio as well as in new music and in the historical performance practice. In the field of early music she performs regularly with Collegium Bach in Fluss der Zeit (Director: Steve Britt), Ensemble in Paradiso, Frankfurt (Director: Andreas Küppers) and the Corvina Consort, Budapest (Director: Zoltán Kalmanovits). Simultaneously, she has a keen interest in music of the 20th century. In her repertoire are works by Alban Berg, Anton Webern, Prokofiev, Zoltán Kodály, Orbán, Ligeti, Sári, Schlee, Rihm and Büsing.
Some recent examples of Ágnes Kovács' concert activities are: In 2006 and 2007 she gave recitals under the Vienna and Salzburg Toujours-Mozart Festival with Malcolm Bilson and Zwi Meniker. At the Ittingener Spring Festival 2007 (Artistic Directors: András Schiff and Heinz Holliger), she sang the soprano part in Franz Liszt's Via Crucis. On the Baroque Night 2008, organized by the Institute for historical interpretation of the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt am Main, which was conducted in Frankfurt, Mannheim and Weilburg, she sang the title role of Colpa in Alessandro Scarlatti's oratorio La Colpa, il Pentimento e la Grazia under the direction of Michael Schneider. At the Budapest Spring Festival 2008 she sang the soprano part in the premiere of Levente Gyöngyösi's Lukas-Passion, dedicated to her. This concert was recorded by the Hungarian Radio. As part of the Budapest Jewish Summer Festival 2009, she gave a recital with Nora Fuzi. In February 2009, on the occasion of the 200th birthday of Felix Mendelssohn, she gave a recital with Hilko Dumno at the Frankfurt's Goethe-Haus. In 2011, she sang Gabriel Fauré's Requiem conducted by Winfried Toll. She works with Purcell Choir & Orfeo Orchestra (Director (György Vashegyi). She currently lives in Wuppertal, Germany. |