Elisabeth von Magnus

Elisabeth von Magnus was born in Vienna. After studying the recorder at the Academy of Music in Vienna she founded the „Ensemble Récréation” and was a recorder soloist in the Concentus Musicus Wien. She began a course in drama at the Mozarteum Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Salzburg and also studied singing with Hertha Töpper at the Munich Academy of Music where she attended the opera school. Elisabeth von Magnus also attended Paul Schilhawsky classes in lied interpretation in Salzburg and worked freelance for ORF Austrian Radio as an announcer and as presenter of her own series. She has worked for many years with her husband Simon Schouten, conductor and former singer, on perfecting her vocal technique.

Since making her opera debut as Polly in Benjamin Britten’s version of The Beggars Opera at the Marstalltheater in Munich Elisabeth von Magnus has performed in most European countries as well as in the USA and in Japan.

She has made guest appearances in major European opera houses, concert halls and festivals.

After making her American debut in a performance of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Elisabeth von Magnus frequently toured the USA with various programmes. She worked with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Dennis Russell Davies, Adam Fischer, Daniel Harding, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Thomas Hengelbrock, Philippe Herreweghe, Michael Hofstetter, Sir Neville Marriner, Simon Schouten, Bruno Weil, Jaap van Zweden and others.

Together with Ton Koopman and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Choir Elisabeth von Magnus performed the great oratorios by Bach in major music centres of Europe, Japan and the USA. On the basis of her training as an actress she also performs in cross-over programmes and gives recitations.

Elisabeth von Magnus works with several chamber music ensembles. She performs regularly as a duo with pianist Jacob Bogaart and together with him has elaborated a large, wide-ranging repertoire of programmes on a variety of themes (baroque, classic, romantic to Alban Berg and Kurt Weill etc.). Major solo programmes including music by George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter and Kurt Weill form a new focus of her work. Her actual Show TONIGHT KURT WEILL, is documented on CD by Preiser Records.

Her recording of the Seven Romances by Dimitri Shostakovich based on poems by Alexander Blok (in the original language) with the Storioni Trio Amsterdam and her CD of Haydn’s English songs and his cantata Arianna were both highly acclaimed by the press and public. Together with her accompanist Jacob Bogaart, Elisabeth von Magnus has for several years now been preoccupied with the artistic riches of Dutch composers. The result of this work will soon be issued on CD.

The artist’s extensive recordings, include The Gypsy Baron by Johann Strauss, Joseph Haydn’s Stabat Mater and almost all sacred works, all oratorios and many cantatas by J. S. Bach as well as almost all Mozart’s well-known choral and orchestral works. Television recordings further document her broad musical spectrum.