Simone Kermes

The Leipzig-born Simone Kermes is one of the most sought after sopranos internationally for dramatic coloratura roles. Her remarkable vocal range predestines her particularly for the virtuoso works of baroque masters such as Handel and Vivaldi but also for Mozart's, Haydn`s and Beethoven`s sopranos and concert arias.

Simone Kermes was born in Leipzig and studied under Helga Forner at the "Felix-Mendelssohn Bartholdy" University of Music and Theatre in her home town.

She graduated and completed two postgraduate studies, all with distinction.

She won first prize in the Felix-Mendelssohn Bartholdy Competition in Berlin and was the Bach prize winner in 1996 of the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition in Leipzig.

She already took part in active concert performances during her studies and gained her first stage experience. Guest performances at operas world-wide were to follow in New York, Paris, States Opera Houses in Germany, Lisbon Copenhagen; as Konstanze, Fiordiligi, Donna Anna, Giunia, Rosalinde, Lucia, Gilda, Ann Truelove, Alcina and Laodice.

Concert engagements took her throughout Europe, the USA and Japan.

She gave solo concerts and song recitals in the Carnegie Hall New York, the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatorium, the Tchaikovsky Hall Moscow, the Palace of Music Barcelona and the Church of our Lady Dresden.

She is a welcome guest at numerous international festivals and with many orchestras and works with conductors like Riccardo Chailly, Lorin Maazel, Teodor Currentzis, Mikhail Pletnev, Leopold Hager, Raphael Frühbeck de Burgos, Steven Sloane, Reinhard Goebel, Jean Christoph Spinosi, Christopher Hogwood, Thomas Hengelbrock, Andreas Stoehr, Stefan Soltesz und Christoph Matthias Mueller.

She has recorded numerous CDs which include works from Vivaldi to Humperdinck in addition to many radio and TV broadcasts. She received numerous international awards for her solo-albums like the Echo Prize, the annual German Record Critic`Award , the Midem Award, the Choc le monde de la Musique, the Diapason`Or,the BBC music choise and the Gramophone- Disc of the month.