DEIRDRÉ BLIGNAUT, soprano
After being a full time translator for seven years, Deirdré Blignaut started her freelance career in music in 1995.
She studied singing with Prof. Werner Nel until 2000, and worked with Mimi Coertse as a member of the Black Tie Ensemble. She is currently studying voice with Eugenie Chopin and did repertoire studies with the late Anna Bender. She completed her Performers Licentiate cum laude in 2002 and was invited to participate in the UNISA International Bursary Competition.
Ms. Blignaut performs in concert and oratorio, amongst others Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate, Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s St John’s Passion, Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 2 and Schubert Lieder. During 2005 she sang in Mozart’s Requiem and Coronation Mass.
She also directs and performs in works at national arts festivals such as the KKNK-commissioned production Op die Krovlak (De Villiers song cycle), Passie (Dvorak song cycle) and Niel van der Watt’s song cycle Klipwerk (based on poems by N.P. van Wyk Louw). In 2003 she performed in a dramatised song cycle by Gerrit Jordaan called Ingrid Jonker: Op die Voetpad. She received a Kanna award for her Op die Krovlak and was also awarded a De Kat nomination as best newcomer.
She made her debut with Pro Musica Opera in 2006 singing the First Lady in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte.
Her concert portrayal of the nymph Eurilla in the South African première (2007) of Vivaldi’s Baroque work Serenata Mio cor, povero cor earned her well-deserved media appraisal.
In addition to freelancing she teaches voice and lectures Voice Methodology.
