Janina Schweitzer
Profile
Voice type
Mezzosoprano
Nationalité
Germany
Website
Current Studies
Master Specialized Music Performance Opera, Swiss Opera Studio, Bern Academy of the Arts
Vocal coach
Tanja Ariane Baumgartner
Former musical studies
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2022–2024: Voice | Music Theatre (Master of Music), Cynthia Jacoby-Deventer, Folkwang University of the Arts, Essen, Germany
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2019–2022: Voice | Music Theatre (Bachelor of Music), Cynthia Jacoby-Deventer and Prof. KS Wolfgang Millgramm, Folkwang University of the Arts, Essen, Germany
CV
Performed operas:
- 2024: Leading role in Fan, Freedom Collective, Davor Vincze, Staatstheater Darmstadt, Germany
- 2023/2024: Daphne in Daphne's Garden, Erling Wold, Landestheater der burgenländischen Autor:innen, Klagenfurt Ensemble, various venues, Austria
- 2019: Hippolyta, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Benjamin Britten, Folkwang University of the Arts, Essen, Germany
- 2018: Un pâtre, L'enfant et les Sortilèges, Maurice Ravel, Folkwang University of the Arts, Essen, Germany
Most important projects/concerts:
- 2023: 54 Hours Performances, curated by Marina Abramović, solo performance Aspiration, Folkwang Museum, Essen, Germany
Masterclasses :
- 2023: Lotte Lehmann Academy, Perleberg, lecturers: Gaston Rivero, Graciela Araya, Sören Schuhmacher, Doriana Tchakarova, Nate Raskin, Nina Kühner, Angelo Raciti and many more.
- 2022: Masterclass with Gabriele Lechner, Baden near Vienna, Austria
Interview: Three questions for Janina Schweitzer
Why are you studying opera?
The human voice opens up almost unlimited possibilities for expressing emotions and interpreting musical and thematic ideas. In opera, it becomes an essential component of a Gesamtkunstwerk, which creates an experience that is incomparable to any other art form by appealing to all the senses simultaneously. Opera serves as the last bastion against the fast pace of the modern entertainment industry and is able to create an emotional intensity that is unrivalled. I want to give people such intense experiences by using the most natural and direct form of expression for me: my singing.
What was your first encounter with opera?
Although I once attended a children's opera as a child, my real aha moment came at the age of 18 when I bought my first opera tickets myself. Together with my boyfriend at the time, I went to see Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer. Although we had favourable seats high up in the second tier of the large Düsseldorf opera house, the singers' voices came through to us effortlessly. I was deeply impressed by the fact that the human voice is capable of such top performances and it strengthened my desire to train as a singer.
Which is your favourite opera and why?
I adore Wagner and am full of admiration for the Ring cycle, which not only offers grandiose music, but is also a brilliantly thought-out parable about striving for power, greed and decadence. These themes are still highly topical today and offer numerous exciting interpretative approaches, which means that the cycle has aged very well in contrast to some other musically wonderful works. If, on the other hand, I want to let myself go emotionally, I like to turn to Verdi's Otello.
