Marelize Gerber

The young soprano Marelize Gerber, born in Cape Town, South Africa, already had her first violin lessons at the age of four years and later sang in the children’s choir of the Pretoria State Opera. After the successful completion of her Bachelor in Musicology at the University of South Africa, singing lessons with Mimi Coertse and opera studies at the Opera School of the Pretoria Technikon, she continued her singing lessons with Ruthilde Boesch in Vienna and concluded her Musicology Studies in June 2005 with a Masters Degree in Music. She perfected her studies through master courses with Mieke van der Sluis (Baroque Singing), Jesper Christensen (Schola Cantorum Basiliensis – Baroque Chamber Music), Peter van Heyghen (Baroque Opera), Sigrid T’Hooft (Baroque Gestures and Dance), Renate Holm (Bavarian State Opera), Bernd Weikl, Michael Halász (Conductor, Vienna State Opera) and Jorge Lavelli (Director, L’Opera Bastille Paris).

Within the framework of her extensive concert activity as a soloist, she traveled to the USA, China, Hong Kong, Syria, Slovenia, Italy, Germany, Namibia and Slovakia as well as Mexico where she sang Orff's Carmina Burana. Renowned venues became her second home: Wiener Musikverein, Wiener Konzerthaus, Vienna State Opera (Children's Opera), Vienna Chamber Opera, Theater Akzent, St Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, Basilika Altötting, Burgarena Finkenstein, Schloss Atzenbrugg, Slovenian Philharmonic Hall, Teatro de la Ciduad, Teatro Diana, Teatro Morelos, Teatro Isauro Martinez, Auditorio de la Rivera, Auditorio Tres Guerras, Auditorio J.O. Dominguez, Pretoria State Theatre, Roodepoort City Opera and the Namibia National Theatre.

She is a regular guest at international festivals such as the Trigonale International Festival for Early Music, the Festival Barocco di Viterbo, the Vienna Chamber Opera Baroque Festival, the Mozart Festival Baden, Vienna Mozart 2006, the Baroque Opera Festival in the Damtschach Castle, the International Händel Academy in Karlsruhe, the Vienna Summer Operetta Festival or the Oudtshoorn National Arts Festival.

Musical partners such as for example the Clemencic Consort, Concertino Amarilli, Musica Aeterna Bratislava, the Vienna Chamber Opera Baroque Orchestra, the Medelike Consort as well as the Baden City Theatre Orchestra, Savaria Symphony Orchestra, Pro Musica Orchestra, Vienna Residence Orchestra, Grazer Instrumentalisten, Capella Lutherana and the Viennese Schubertbund set the tone of her various musical activities as well as her cooperation with conductors such as René Clemencic, Bernhard Klebel, Peter van Heyghen, Lorenz Duftschmid, Ulli Nagy, Daniel Hoyem-Cavazza, Guillermo Garcia, Janko Kastelic, Paul Weigold, Georg Kugi, Francois-Pierre Descamps, Markus Landerer, Johannes Kobald, Christian Pollack, Riccardo Colima, Eduard Gert Felin, János Ács, Ulrich Höhs, Matthias Krampe, Michael Halász and Weiss Doubell.

However, opera remains her main focus and includes amongst others parts like Blondchen in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Adele in Die Fledermaus and Fiakermilli in Arabella. Since her debut as the Dew Fairy in Hänsel und Gretel she has already been seen and heard as, amongst others, Nerone in Handel's Agrippina, Dafne in Caldara's Dafne, Amor in Cavalli's Die Liebe des Apollon und der Daphne, Barsine in Keiser's Nebucadnezar, Mme Silberklang in Der Schauspieldirektor, Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro, Papagena in Die Zauberflöte, Anna in Nicolai's Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor, Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel, Genovieffa in Suor Angelica, Der Waldvogel in Siegfried, Ein junger Hirt in Tannhäuser, Felicetta in Rüdenauer's Arlecchino und Felicetta, Scholastika in Ipavec's Ad Missam in Agris, 1. Bürgerin in Hiller's Das Traumfresserchen, and lately as Lucia in Rota's I Due Timidi. She profits again and again from the intense collaboration with directors such as Peter Pawlik, Paul Flieder, Elisabeth Gabriel, Sigrid T' Hooft (Baroque Gestures and Dance), Helga Papouschek, Gabriela Sallagar, Mimi Coertse, Michael Rennison and Hans van Heerden as well as with choreographers such as Niels Badenhop (Baroque Gestures and Dance), Eva Reinthaller and Dragan Jerinkic.

Apart from the opera, the oratorio section is of artistic importance to the soprano. Thus she could recently often be heard in the church-musical works by Monteverdi, Viadana, Finetti, Bassani, Gratiani, Grandi, Pergolesi, Telemann, Vivaldi, JS Bach, Händel, Rolle, Mozart, Haydn, Czerny, Diabelli, Schubert, Fauré and Dvořák.

Future projects are apart from the title role in Zéphyre by J-P Rameau in Vienna and Clori in Clori, Tirsi e Fileno by GF Händel at the Baroque Opera Festival Damtschach, Carinthia, Austria, also a series of Bach Cantatas with the Prague Bach Orchestra in Frankfurt, Darmstadt, Kassel and Weimar, Schubertiade Lieder Evenings in Vienna, a CD Recording of baroque soprano cantatas with Concertino Amarilli, soprano cantatas by Händel, Vivaldi, Porpora, Mancini and Steffani with Concertino Amarilli in Vienna and in the Ca'Rezzonico in Venice and a concert with operetta arias, coloratura- and Viennese songs in Dubai (United Arab Emirates).

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PRESS REFERENCES

"Marelize Gerber's clear, versatile soprano with an extremely secure top range stood out unobtrusively from the ensemble sound...an inspired performance." Bernd Baier, Kärntner Tageszeitung, 6 July 2007

Soprano Cantatas, Trigonale Baroque Festival, Austria

"This time the soprano with the best quality belongs to Marelize Gerber … in the role of Nerone." Gerhard Kramer, Die Presse, 5 February 2007