Sibylla Rubens

 Sibylla Rubens (Soprano).Born: Germany.

The German soprano, Sibylla Rubens, studied concert and opera singing at the Staatliche Musikhochschule in Trossingen and at the Hochschule für Musik in Frankfurt/Main. She rounded off her training by taking part in numerous master-classes, amongst others with Edith Mathis, Irvin Cage (master-class on Lied Interpretation in Zürich) and others. Since 1992 she studied with Prof. Elsa Cavelti in Basle.

The moving timbre of her voice, her natural charisma and the superb musical instincts she applies to her extensive repertoire made Sibylla Rubens a much sought-after artist in Germany and abroad. Her debut at the Deutsche Symphonieorchester Berlin with Felix Mendelssohn's Lobgesang under Vladimir Ashkenazy was so successful that she immediately was re-invited for concerts of Schumann’s Faust-Szenen conducted by Marek Janowski. Of the countless concerts from the past, the highlights are her performances with the Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam under Philippe Herreweghe (amongst others the Fauré Requiem), with Hartmut Haenchen (Johannes Brahms’ Deutsches Requiem and J.S. Bach's Magnificat BWV 243), Heinrich Schiff (Gustav Mahler's Symphony N° 4 and Beethoven’s Symphonie N° 9 in Vienna), Heinz Holliger (Mozart arias) and performances with the Rundfunksinfonieorchester Berlin under Jeffrey Tate, to name but a few.

For many years Sibylla Rubens has closely collaborated with the Stuttgart Bach Academy Helmuth Rilling with whom she go on concert tours to Italy in autumn and spring of 2007-2008 season (St. Johns-Passion BWV 245). Various recordings for Hänssler Classic developed from this collaboration, amongst them numerous Bach Cantatas, the Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248) and the Mass in B Minor (BWV 232) and the Schubert/Denisov Lazarus. She regularly goes on tour with Philippe Herreweghe and his Collegium Vocale Gent (recently she took part in his new recording of St Matthew Passion (BWV 244), alternatively with the Windsbacher Knabenchor. Her international engagements of the recent past include J.S. Bach's St. Mathew-Passion (BWV 244) at the Carnegie Hall in New York, at the RTVE- Orchestra in Madrid and at the RAI in Turin.

Projects with conductors like Herbert Blomstedt, Michael Gielen, Leopold Hager, René Jacobs, Marek Janowski, Ton Koopman, Fabio Luisi, Roger Norrington, Jonathan Nott, Peter Schreier, and brought her to the Canadian Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, La Chapelle Royale, Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, Arnold Schoenberg Chor, RIAS-Kammerchor Berlin, in the Vienna Musikverein, Camerata Academica Salzburg, Zürcher Tonhalle-Orchester as well as to SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden & Freiburg, Bayerischer Rundfunk Symphonieorchester, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Dresdner Philharmonie, Bamberger Symphoniker and SWR Radiosinfonieorchester in Stuttgart.

Sibylla Rubens is also as a lied singer very successful. She had her first recital with Irwin Gage at the Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele in 1999, an extremely harmonious collaboration which has been continued with recitals in Barcelona Amsterdam and Nuremberg. Equally successful were her performances of Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch together with Thomas Quasthoff and Justus Zeyen, which could be heard among other festivals at the Schubertiade in Schwarzenberg. The varied soprano repertoire has taken Sibylla Rubens to concerts and festivals at home and abroad. She has given concerts in Berlin, Frankfurt, Würzburg and Zürich and toured Italy, France, England, Poland and Scandinavia. She has also appeared in the Schleswig-Holstein music festival and the European music festival in Stuttgart. In 2007-2008 season she is to give recitals at the Rheingau Musik Festival, in Basel and in Tübingen.

Highlights to date include F. Mendelssohn’s Elias with the NDR Symphony Orchestra, Fauré’s Requiem with the Concertgebouworkest Amsterdam (Philippe Herreweghe), J. Brahms' Deutsche Requiem with the Netherlands Philharmonic in Amsterdam (Hartmut Haenchen), a tour of Händel’s Messiah with the Windsbacher Knabenchor and an extensive European tour with the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra (Canada). In opera she has sung the roles of Pamina (Magic Flute) at the Stuttgart State Opera and Marcellina (Figaro).

Recent engagements include Bach's Magnificat (BWV 243) (Hartmut Haenchen), G. Mahler's 4th Symphony with the Strasbourg Philharmonic and a tour of Mozart’s arias with the Chapelle Royale led by Philippe Herreweghe. In addition Sibylla Rubens sang Haydn’s Nelson-Messe and Schnittke’s Requiem with Hartmut Haenchen in Amsterdam. She also worked closely together with the Gächinger Kantorei (Helmuth Rilling) on various concerts and recordings and continued her regular appearances with the Windsbacher Knabenchor.

Amongst other concerts in the season of 2007-2008 Sibylla Rubens will sing Haydn´s Paukenmesse with the MDR Sinfonieorchester under Jun Märkl, Beethoven's Egmont with the Württembergisches Kammerorchester, various concerts with F. Mendelssohn's Lobgesang and J. Brahms' Requiem in Madrid, Barcelona and Oviedo, as well as Schumann´s Requiem at the Münchner Philharmoniker under Christian Thielemann baton. Further invitations to Montreal (Christmas Oratorio BWV 248)) from Kent Nagano and to the Oregon Bach Festival in Eugene/USA will follow.

Sibylla Rubens has participated in numerous orchestra recordings for hänssler, Erato and Harmonia Mundi. Next to other engagement she was asked to sing in both award winning of the Bach-Passions under Philippe Herreweghe. Remakable as well is her recording of the Denisov-adaption of Schubert's Lazarus with Hänssler. With the same label she released a Lied recording with compositions by Mozart/Schubert and Anselm Hüttenbrenner (with Irwin Gage as an accompanist). Ton Koopman dared a reconstruction of the J.S. Bach's Markus-Passion (BWV 247) and asked Sibylla Rubens to sing in his Solo-quartet. Her most recent CD's are the Mozart Requiem under Christian Thielemann with the Deutsche Grammophon and Schumann Lieder and Songs op. 27 with Naxos. The world-wide first complete recording of Humperdinck-Lieder will be released by Oehms-Classics in autumn 2007.