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The French mezzo-soprano, Sophie Koch, was born in Versailles. Her family is from Alsace-Lorraine, and her great-grandfather was German. She became interested in music at an early age. She started playing the piano at the age of 7, studied it for 15 years and also sang in a choir. She began performing in operas at age 11. After obtaining the baccalaureate, she prepared for a DEUG in literature, communication and language sciences, then hypokhâgne. Following her failure at the audition to join the Sorbonne choir, and her meeting with Christa Ludwig, she became motivated to sing. At the age of 21, she entered Jane Berbié's class at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, from which she earned a First Prize diploma. She also won 1st prize at the Dutch International Vocal Competition in´s-Hertogenbosch in 1994 and was awarded the Christel-Goltz Prize by the Semperoper in Dresden in 2001. Her mastery of the Italian and English languages is precious to her, although she sings mainly in French and German.
In the 1997-1998 season, Michel Glotz arranged an audition for Sophie Koch at the Royal Opera House of Covent Garden in London, where she made her operatic debut as Rosina in Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia and as Dorabella in W.A. Mozart's Così fan tutte, which brought her international recognition. She made her debut at the Wiener Staatsoper as Cherubino in W.A. Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, and was immediately offered the title role Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss at the Wiener Staatsoper in 1999, which became her signature role. She performed another trousers role by Strauss, the Composer in his Ariadne auf Naxos at the Semperoper in Dresden under the Direction of Sir Colin Davis where she had her greatest success. This was followed by apprearance at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich as Zerlina in W.A. Mozart's Don Giovanni and Orfeo.
After Munich, Berlin, Milan, Vienna and London, Sophie Koch has appeared at the Paris Opera for Der Ring des Nibelungen and King Arthur. She regularly appears on the major stages of the world: Toulouse, Brussels, Madrid, Berlin, Zurich, Geneva, the Salzburg Festival and of course London, Dresden, Vienna and Chicago. In 2014, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut in a new production of Werther. She performed at the Teatro Real in Madrid, La Scala in Milan, the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, and the Salzburg Festival, where she made her debut as Zerlina in 2000. In 2010, the Paris Opera invited her to perform Charlotte in Massenet's Werther alongside Jonas Kaufmann in the title role. In concert performances of Bellini's Norma at the Nice Opera and Salle Pleyel in Paris in December 2011, she appeared as Adalgisa alongside Edita Gruberová in the title role.
After having imposed her W.A. Mozart and her Strauss over the major European stages, Sophie Koch now adds the French and German repertoire. In addition to performing in the complete Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, her engagements include Venus in Tanhäuser and Mère Marie in Francis Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmélites at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, der Rosenkavalier at the Wiener Staatsoper, and the Salzburg Festival. She appeared as Venus in Tannhäuser at the Opéra Bastille in 2011. She was also Fricka there in Das Rheingold and Die Walküre, and Waltraute in Götterdämmerung. She performed the title role of Gluck's Alceste in 2013, conducted by Marc Minkowski, alongside Yann Beuron and Roberto Alagna. She made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City in the 2014 season, again as Charlotte alongside Jonas Kaufmann.
Sophie Koch has also given many concerts and recitals at the Salzburg; Edinburgh, Aix and Verbier Festivals, at the Brahmssaal/Wiener Musikverein, in Paris, London, Frankfurt, Berlin, Luxembourg, Brussels and Madrid.
Sophie Koch's first recordings were dedicated to Lieder by Wolf and Schubert and French Melodies (Le Chant du Monde). Then she has recorded Peer Gynt ( Eon), Manon and the world Premiere of Laurent Petitgirard’s opera Elefant Man (EMI). She has also recorded Wellesz’ and Bloch‘s Lieder (Delta/Capriccio), some exerpts of Ariane à Naxos under the direction of Antonio Pappano (Virgin), Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 under Kent Nagano, a Robert Schumann recital (Myrten) with Nelson Goerner and some Lieder of Strauss with Philippe Entremont (Cascavelle). She recorded French orchestral works: Le Poème de l’amour et de la mer from Chausson, Ravel’s Shéhérazade and Berlioz’s Cantate d’Herminie. A CD (DDG Records) has recently been released of Sophie Koch performing in Werther at Covent Garden, under the direction of Sir Antonio Pappano. In DVD, she can be seen alongside Renée Fleming in Der Rosenkavalier (Decca) and Ariadne auf Naxos (DGG) live from Baden-Baden Festival and in Werther with Jonas Kaufmann (Decca) from the Paris Opera.
She is currently married and has a daughter. |
