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The German baritone, Joel Urch, was a member of Chorakademie am Konzerthaus Dortmund (September 2009-September 2010). From 2011, he studied singing at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, where he obtained his Bachelor of arts degree in Singing/Opera (2014) and his Master of Arts degree in Singing/Opera (2018). His teachers there were Marcus Creed, Michael Hampe, Michael Gees, Ulrich Eisenlohr, Igor Folwill, Christoph Prégardien, and Henner Leyhe. He is a scholarship holder of the Richard-Wagner-Stiftung,Ortsverband Dortmund. Together with the pianist Lorenzo Soules, he was a prize-winner at the Lions-Club Liedwettbewerbes in 2015. He is always on the lookout for artistic optimization, be it in master-classes with Roger Vignoles and Christoph Prégardien in Lieder singing, with Marcus Creed in the interaction between orchestra and soloist, or on a technical level in private lessons.
Joel Urch's heart beats especially for J.S. Bach and Baroque music, but definitely also the music of the 19th century. In this context, he is very pleased to work with the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, Neuen Philharmonie Westfalen, Bochumer Symphoniker, Philharmonischen Orchester Hagen and the Studioorchester Duisburg in his busy concert schedule.
He also draws attention to himself at the premieres of contemporary works. This also includes three works by Camille von Lunen: Über das Hören (Freiburg and Köln, 2016), Ein Geschenk für die Fee (Kölner Philharmonie, 2017) & Songs of the British Isles (Leverkusen, 2018). What fascinates him about contemporary music is what is unprecedented, unique and the range of almost unlimited possibilities for experimentation.
Due to his desire to present the artistic physically, he is drawn to the opera stage again and again. After many years of activity in the Literaturoper Köln, where he participated in the world premieres of Amerika (Franz Kafka) and L'Argent (Emil Zola) and gained initial experience in university-internal opera productions (Ernst Krenek: Das geheime Königreich, Benjamin Britten: A Midsummer Nights Dream and W.A. Mozart: Die Zauberflöte, 2018), it took him to the Theater Hagen in the 2017-2018 season with the children's opera Kannst du Pfeifen, Johanna? by Gordon Kampe in the role of Ulf and in the current season as Munchkin Mann, teapot and gatekeeper in the opera Der Zauberer von Oz by Anno Schreier at the Theater Aachen. He has also worked at Aalto-Musiktheater Essen (2011-2017) and Opernwerkstatt Am Rhein (from 2016). He is always breaking new ground in his program selection. For example, he played in 4 Neue Testamente at the Opernwerkstatt am Rhein in 2017, which was staged by 4 directors with disabilities and feels great pleasure in designing new Lied programs. |
