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The German soprano, Bhawani Moennsad, grew up as the daughter of Indian parents bilingual in German. Classical music of both cultures shaped her early: as a child she learned from her father in addition to reading and writing in Indian languages also yoga and classical sitar. Her mother led her to listen to German chamber music works. She received piano lessons at an early age from the pianist and music lover Gröschel Ernst, then singing studies with Monique Herreman at the Meistersinger-Konservatorium Nürnberg, followed by master-classes with Julia Hamari (Opera) and Wilfried Jochens (Early Music). She deepened her vocal training after her studies at the international bass singer Jan-Hendrik Rootering and KS Irmgard Boaz in Dresden.
Bhawani Moennsad now works as freelance in different musical areas and projects. Her repertoire includes opera roles for mezzo-soprano (Carmen, Cherubino, Dorabella, Hänsel, and Prince Orlofsky), alto parts of the great oratorios and classical Lieder - she regularly prepares jointly with the Ukrainian pianist Tatyana Shapiro Lieder recitals on various musical topics. For many years, she is a sought-after alto in concerts, where she wins her audiences with her warm voice and through high musical expressiveness.
In 2002 Bhawani Moennsad was engaged as a guest at the Frankfurt Opera; 2004 followed by an engagement as Flora in Verdi's La Traviata at the Opera Festival Heidenheim. Since her move to Berlin in 2006, she has appeared repeatedly at the Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt and at the Philharmonie. Zubin Mehta engaged her for the opening concert of 2008 at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale in Florence.
Bhawani Moennsad is dedicated to projects of contemporary music: she has worked regularly with selected chamber ensembles, sang at the Film Festival Nuremberg Celanzyklus by the English composer Michael Nyman and in premieres such as Vom Großen und Ganzen (Zels/Schidlowsky) or Siehe, ich mache alles neu (Torp). In 2006 she was engaged in Berlin for a performance of the work Das Buch mit Sieben Siegeln by Franz Schmidt; 2008 followed at the Chormusiktage Kassel with the contemporary works The Bible of Spirituals by H.W. Zimmermann and Misa Tango by L. Bacalov. She has a close collaboration with the composer Hans Kraus-Hübner. On the occasion of the conferment of the International Human Rights Award in 2005, she premiered his composition Rhapsody Cantabile - a work for orchestra and mezzo-soprano - with the Bayerischen Kammerorchester.
Bhawani Moennsad has worked with the Bavarian Radio and Television; in 2008 under the baton of Zubin Mehta for the Italian radio. |
