About the artist
award-winning mezzo-soprano
Career
German mezzo-soprano Maria Hegele is a graduate of the Royal College of Music’s International Opera Studio, where she studied under the tutelage of Dinah Harris and Veronica Vesey-Campbell. Prior to this, she studied with Barbara Bonney at the Mozarteum University Salzburg, graduating with a Bachelors and a Masters degree. She is a Samling Young Artist, a Britten-Pears Young Artist, Heidelberger Frühling Scholar and Imogen Cooper Music Trust Scholar.
From 2022 until 2024 Maria Hegele was a member of the newly founded opera studio at Volksoper Wien where she sang roles such as Hänsel, Sandmännchen/Hänsel und Gretel, Zweite Dame/Die Zauberflöte, Orlofsky/Die Fledermaus, Dorabella/Cosi fan tutte. Tisbe/La Cenerentola, Flora/La Traviata, Ede/Die Dreigroschenoper and several parts in Les mamelles de Tiresias.
On stage
At the same time she gave several house and role debuts: at the Bregenzer Festspiele as The Black Leader and Dollmaker in the world premiere of Éna Brennan’s Hold Your Breath, at the Gluck Festspiele in Nürnberg as Annio in Gluck’s La Clemenza di Tito and at the Staatsoper Berlin as Frasquita/Carmen, conducted by Bertrand de Billy, Giovanna/Rigoletto, Slave/Salome, conducted by François-Xavier Roth, and 2nd Handmaid of Dirce/Médée.
During her time at the Mozarteum and at the RCM, Maria performed roles such as Eduige/Rodelinda, Tolomeo/Tolomeo, Hélène/La Belle Hélène and Nerone/L’incoronazione di Poppea, Conception/L’heure espagnol, Lisetta/Il mondo della luna, Hermia/A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Niklausse/Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Mercédès/Carmen and Cherubino/Le nozze di Figaro. She also appeared in the world premiere of Thomas Adès The Exterminating Angel at the 2016 Salzburg Festival, conducted by the composer.
In concert
Her concert repertoire ranges from Vivaldi and Pergolesi to the oratorios of JS Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn and Schumann, which she has performed at venues such as Gasteig and Herkulessaal in Munich and Müpa in Budpaest.
Maria Hegele is a passionate recitalist and has participated in masterclasses with Brigitte Fassbaender, Sir Thomas Allen, Dame Sarah Connolly, Jonathan Dove, Julius Drake, James Baillieu, Joseph Middleton, Dame Ann Murray, Wolfgang Holzmair and Mark Padmore.
In 2020, she recorded a programme of songs by pianist Paul-Willot Förster, alongside works by Samuel Barber, Kurt Weill and Aaron Copland for the SWR. In 2022 she was invited to perform Schubert’s cycle Die Schöne Müllerin at Snape Maltings and to take part in the 50th anniversary Gala concert of the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme.
Awards
Awards include 1st prize in the 2022 August-Everding Competition, 1st prize in the 2022 Hidalgo Liedpreis, 1st prize at the 2018 Claude Debussy Chamber Music Competition, the 3rd prize in the Lies Askonas Competition in 2021 and the 4th prize and award for best sacred aria in the 2022 Mozart Singing Competition. She was a finalist in the 2023 Cesti Competition in Innsbruck.
The season 2024/25 includes Maria Hegele’s return to Volksoper Wien as Prinz Orlofsky/Die Fledermaus, 2. Dame/Die Zauberflöte and Mercedes/Carmen. Furthermore she will perform in the New Years concert of the Kammerphilharmonie Bodensee and give recitals in Germany and Austria.
Maria Hegele is grateful for the support of the Walter und Charlotte Hamel Stiftung Hannover and Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben.
