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The German contralto/mezzo-soprano, Ute Weitkämper, received her first vocal training from Louise Rijs and Marlies Buchmann at the Kirchenmusikschule St. Gregorius-Haus in Aachen. She completed her vocal studies at the Hochschule für Künste Bremen in the early music department with Professor Harry van der Kamp. She received further important impulses for her artistic development in courses and ensemble projects with Kurt Widmer, Manfred Cordes, Detlef Bratschke, Hille Perl and Stephen Stubbs, among others. The church music studies that preceded her vocal training made her a sought-after ensemble and choir singer and interpreter of church music.
Ute Weitkämper works as a soloist and choir singer in various professional ensembles. For many years she has been a member of the Balthasar-Neumann-Chor (Director: Thomas Hengelbrock), with which she sings concerts in the major concert halls of Europe. With the vocal ensemble Cantus Neuss (Director: Joachim Neugart), she goes on concert tours to the other side of the world. In recent years she has performed with numerous professional choirs and ensembles, including the NDR-Chor (Director: Philipp Ahmann), Kammerchor Stuttgart (Director: Frieder Bernius), Nederlands Kamerkoor (Director: Peter Dijkstra), Chor der Hamburger Staatsoper, Vokalensemble Weser-Renaissance, Chorus Musicus Köln (Director: Christoph Spering), Schola Heidelberg (Director: Walter Nußbaum), Vokalensemble Albis Cantores Hamburg (Director: Michael Reudenbach), and Vokalensemble M Aachen. She has worked together with well-known conductors such as Thomas Hengelbrock, Christoph Spering, Philipp Ahmann, Klaas Stok, Pablo Heras-Casado, Ivor Bolton and Frieder Bernius. Concert tours have taken her to other European countries, the USA and Australia. She was lucky enough to be able to sing along with the opening of the Elbphilharmonie in January 2017 in the NDR-Chor conducted by Thomas Hengelbrock, and she can be heard as solo alto in concerts and church services.
Ute Weitkämper's preferred repertoire includes the oratorios and cantatas by J.S. Bach and his contemporaries. She has a long-standing collaboration with the concert organist and harpsichordist Roman Reichel, whose focus is on solo works of early music. She also regularly deals with the interpretation of new music. As a singer, closeness to the audience, the most authentic possible interpretation of the music and the communication of musical contexts are important to her. She has already conceptualized numerous lecture concerts and performed them as contralto. She uses her experience as a singer and church musician as the musical director of KlangRäume e.V. Hamburg-Altona (since 2010). The three musical groups of the non-profit association - ChorAltona, Kleines Kantatenorchester Altona and Capella Peregrina - organize numerous concerts, church services and other listening opportunities in and around Hamburg. The solo vocal ensemble Capella Peregrina is known beyond the borders of Hamburg for its sensitive interpretations of sacred vocal music. She currently lives in Hamburg.
Ute Weitkämper has participated in numerous CD and radio recordings (including for Carus, Deutschlandfunk, NDR, WDR and SWR), |
