Chen Reiss, opera soprano

CELEBRITY CONCERT 

“WOMEN'S LIFE AND LOVE”

Piano accompanist: Marc Verter

ROBERT SCHUMANN:  From Myrten, Op 25 - Widmung, Die Lotosblume

CLARA SCHUMANN:  Sie liebten sich beide, Liebst du um Schönheit

CLARA SCHUMANN:  No 1 in A minor, from Drei Romanzen for piano, Op 21

ROBERT SCHUMANN:  Frauenliebe und Leben ("Women's Love and Life") - 8 poems

** Interval **

FANNY HENSEL (née MENDELSSOHN):  Die Mainacht, Dämmerung senkte sich von Oben, Die frühe Gräber, Das Gondellied

FELIX MENDELSSOHN:  Rondo Capriccioso, Op 14, for piano solo

FANNY HENSEL:  “Hero und Leander” (dramatic scene)

We are delighted to welcome the international operatic soprano Chen Reiss, who has sung leading roles with the major opera houses, including Covent Garden, Vienna, and La Scala Milan, and many famous orchestras under the direction of Zubin Mehta, Antonio Pappano and Gustavo Dudammel among numerous others.

Chen has established a highly-acclaimed and distinctive career, enchanting audiences with “one of the most perfect Strauss voices one could wish for” (Classical Source), “a voice of silver brightness and clarity” (Bachtrack) with “immaculately produced and enticing tone matched by superb musicianship” (Opera News, USA).

Chen came to prominence as a member of the ensemble of the Bavarian State Opera under the music directorship of Zubin Mehta and was subsequently resident artist at the Vienna State Opera. She has also performed at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Teatro alla Scala, Semperoper Dresden, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Netherlands Opera, Wiener Festwochen, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Opera Company of Philadelphia and the Israeli Opera, in leading roles ranging from Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Ilia (Idomeneo), and the title role in Janacek’s The Cunning Little Vixen, to Gilda (Rigoletto), Adina (L’elisir d’amore), Aennchen (Der Freischutz), Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier) and Zdenka (Arabella). Her repertoire also encompasses the title role in Cavalli’s La Calisto (Teatro alla Scala, Milan), Ginevra (Ariodante) (Royal Opera House Covent Garden), Mozart’s Zaide (Teatro dell’Opera di Roma), Donna Anna and Contessa (Le nozze di Figaro), Anne Trulove (The Rakes’s Progress), Liu (Turandot), Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus) and the title role in Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea.

In the 2023-24 season Chen will be Artist in Residence with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, performing a range of repertoire from Mozart and Lehar to Richard Strauss and Korngold. She also will be the featured soloist in the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra’s Christmas Day concert, rejoining conductor Klaus Mäkelä to sing music by Fanny Hensel and Felix Mendelssohn. The season will see her performing for the first time with the Welsh National Opera Orchestra and the Orchestra National du Capitole de Toulouse, and making return visits to the Munich Philharmonic, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, the Lucerne Symphony, the Gulbenkian Orchestra of Lisbon and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, collaborating with conductors including Lahav Shani, Tarmo Peltokoski, Alain Altinoglu, Hannu Lintu and Mikko Frank. She makes her debut in Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Wiener Akademie and also Le Cercle d'Harmonie at the Festival de Paques in Aix en Provence, sings Bach Cantatas at Vienna’s Musikverein, and brings her programme of Fanny Hensel and Felix Mendelssohn to the George Enescu Festival in Bucharest.

On the concert stage in recent seasons, Chen gave her first performances of Strauss’s Four Last Songs, Mahler’s Das Klagende Lied, at the Leipzig Gewandhaus Mahler Festival, Bruckner’s Mass in F minor and Dvorak’s Stabat Mater, and appeared in signature repertoire including Mahler’s Second and Fourth symphonies with the Munich Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Zubin Mehta, and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra under Lahav Shani, Beethoven’s 9th symphony with the Israel Philharmonic, and Mozart’s Requiem with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin and Christoph Eschenbach. She toured Mahler’s Symphony No.4 with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony to the Colmar, Gstaad and Grafenegg Festivals, sang Berg’s Sieben fruhe lieder with the SWR Symphonieorchester Stuttgart under Vasily Petrenko, and Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate with the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington DC under the baton of Simone Young. She debuted with the Berlin Radio Symphony under Vladimir Jurowski (Haydn Die Jahreszeiten), the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Antonio Pappano (Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem), the Berlin Philharmonic under Semyon Bychkov (Mahler Symphony No.4) and the Filarmonica della Scala (Mozart arias with Zubin Mehta). With the Vienna Philharmonic she was the guest soloist at a gala concert for the 30th anniversary celebrations of Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, and with the Orchestre National de France she took part in the 2019 Bastille Day ‘Concert de Paris’, televised live from Paris’s iconic Eiffel Tower. In December 2014 Chen Reiss was invited to sing for Pope Francis during the Christmas Mass, which was broadcast worldwide. Accompanied by the Berlin Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle, she sang the soundtrack to Tom Tykwer’s film “Perfume: the Story of a Murderer”.

Chen is also in demand as a teacher and regularly gives masterclasses. In 2022 she founded Sourire Music, dedicated to supporting and promoting young musicians, and in 2023 the Holistic Voice Academy – a special training programme for singers.

Recent recordings include Mahler’s Fourth Symphony with the Czech Philharmonic and Semyon Bychkov (Pentatone), Schreker’s ‘Vom ewigen leben’ with Christoph Eschenbach and the Konzerthausorchester Berlin (for Deutsche Grammophon), a disc of orchestral lieder and scenas of Fanny Hensel and Felix Mendelssohn in Munich, and 'Immortal Beloved', a recording of Beethoven arias and scenas with the Academy of Ancient Music for Onyx Classics. She has recorded a wide range of recital repertoire, as well as roles in complete recordings of Die Fledermaus (Capriccio), Don Giovanni and Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem (Helicon) and Lehar‘s Das Fürstenkind (CPO), and DVD releases of Fauré’s Requiem with Orchestre de Paris conducted by Paavo Järvi, and Mahler’s Symphony No 2 with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Forthcoming releases include Mendelssohn’s ‘Lobgesang’ with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich and Paavo Jarvi.

Visit her website for more information. 

SAMPLE RECORDING

Click here for a sample recording (YouTube)

REVIEWS

“One of the most perfect Strauss voices one could wish for” Classical Source

“a voice of silver brightness and clarity” Bachtrack

“immaculately produced and enticing tone matched by superb musicianship” Opera News

"After hearing Chen Reiss in the [Fauré] "Requiem", delivering tones so pure and clear they alone constituted a spiritual experience, it is easy to understand why she was summoned to the Vatican 2 years ago to sing during the Christmas Mass." www.lasplash.com

MARC VERTER

Marc Verter is a pianist, song accompanist and vocal coach. He is currently on staff as a vocal coach at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, the Mediterranean Opera Studio and Festival in Sicily, an accompanist for the Jette Parker Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House and a visiting coach overseas. Alongside his performing work Marc is a highly sought-after vocal coach and repetiteur. Previous opera engagements have included Aix en Provence festival, Opera pa Skeret programme in Sweden, the Dartington festival in the UK and the double bill for Opera Pegasus in 2023. He has performed at music festivals in North America, Europe and other countries and played for such internationally-renowned singers as Nelly Miricioiu, Yvonne Kenny, Jonathan Lemalu, Kate Royal, Sarah Walker, Mark Glanville, Sharon Rostorff Zamir and Chen Reiss. He is a regular coach at several voice and opera summer programmes in the UK and Europe and runs the annual Cratoule singing programme in southern France. He has curated a salon concert series recreating the glamour of 19th century European musical soirees, which went on tour in London and the UK. Recordings include a recital with soprano Ilona Domnich (Quartz), Robert Franz lieder (MPR), piano pieces by Tamara Konstantin (Naxos) and songs by holocaust survivor and reemerging composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg with bass-baritone Mark Glanville (Challenge – release expected 2024). For more information please visit www.marcverter.com and www.lesalonmusical.co.uk