The young
German Soprano Kerstin Randall , born Kerstin Podehl, attracted
attention at an early age when, as a student at the Music Conservatory of the
then East Berlin, she was awarded second prize at the International Antonin
Dvorak Vocal Competition in Karlovy Vary, Chekoslovakia. In the same year she
was admitted to the Opera Studio of the world renowned Komische Oper of Berlin
where she was trained in the revered theater traditions of Walter Felsenstein.
As a member of the Opera Studio she was cast on the main stage of the Komische
Oper in such roles as Barbarina in Mozart's
Le Nozze di Figaro, Amor in Gluck's Orpheus
ed Euridice, and Fleurette in Walter Felsenstein's last
existing production of Offenbach's rollicking comedy Ritter Blaubart. As Fleurette, Ms. Randall appeared on tour with the
Komische Oper on such international stages as the Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo, and
the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London. Ms. Randall has also appeared as
a guest artist in numerous European theaters. Before the fall of the
"Berlin Wall" she was invited to sing the role of Iseut in Swiss composer Frank Martin's Le Vin Herbé at the International Musical
Theater Festival in Bregenz, Austria. After her success in this role, she was
reinvited the following year to sing the part of Euridice in Gluck's Orpheus ed Euridice in a highly successful
production which also played in Budapest, Hungary. Later, she repeated this
role with the Städtische Theater in Erfurt, Germany. Other guest
appearances include Marzelline in
Beethoven's Fidelio at the
Staatstheater Schwerin, Titania in Benjamin
Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream
at the Opernhaus Leipzig and as Lauretta in
Puccini's Gianni Schicchi in Freiberg.
After successes as Die Rote Nachbarin in Udo Zimmermann's Die wundersame Schustersfrau and Zeitel in Fiddler on the Roof with the Städtische Theater in Chemnitz Ms. Randall was engaged as a member of the Chemnitz's ensemble. Since the 1992 reopening of the rennovated theater she has shown her enormous flexibility in a long list of opera, operetta and musical roles including Musetta in La Boheme, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Susanna in Marriage of Figaro, the First Lady in Magic Flute, Baronness in Wildschütz, Lisa in Countess Mariza, Bronislawa in Bettelstudent, Franziska Cagliari in Wiener Blut, Kurfürstin in Vogelhändler and Maria in West Side Story.
Last season she added Frau Fluth in The Merry Wives of Windsor to her ever growing repertoire. In the coming season she will be taking part in Chemnitz's new production of Der Ring des Nibelungen as she sings Wellegunde in Reingold and Helmwiege in Walküre. Ms. Randall is also at home on the concert stage. Most recently she was seen with the Leipziger orchestra Musica Juventa in Mozart's Exultate Jubilate, a piece which she has sung with numerous other German orchestras. In December last year she was heard in Berlin in Bach's Weihnachts-Oratorium. Other appearances include Bach's Johannes-Passion with the Philharmonie in Jena, and Dvorak's Stabat Mater with the Vogtland Philharmonie.
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