The soprano Gudrun Sidonie Otto was born in 1979 in Rostock, Germany. From 1986 to 1998 she studied voice, violin, piano and conducting at the Robert-Schumann-Conservatory in Zwickau, at the music school Chemnitz and at the Carl Maria von Weber Academy of Music in Dresden. From 1998 to 2004, she studied voice at the Franz Liszt Academy of music in Weimar with Helga Bante, Mario Hoff and with Mira Zakai in Israel. She furthered her vocal and dramatic studies in lessons with Klesie Kelly, Richarda Merbeth, Renate Biskub, Sylvia Greenberg (opera), Dorothee Mields and Inga Virör (baroque voice), Margit Legler and Reinhold Kubik (baroque gesture/style), W. Kammerlander, Julian Pike (Lied) and Ingrid Figur. At present, she has lessons from Stefan Haselhoff.

In 2004, whilst still a student she sang Iris in Pastorelle by Telemann (stage premiere) alongside Jochen Kowalski, on a scholarship at the Komische Oper Berlin.

In 2004-2006, she was a member of the Landesbühnen Sachsen solo ensemble where she was engaged to sing Zerlina, Gretel, Ännchen, Lauretta, Stasi, Anna (Musical), Pamina (Children's Magic Flute), Sorge (Scenes from Faust) and Iduna (Feuerwerk) and participated in concerts (Briefchristl/Vogelhändler) and revues. She returned to the Landsbühnen Sachsen in 2007-08 as a guest soprano singing Adele in Die Fledermaus and Serpetta in Die Magd als Herrin.

As a guest soloist as well she sang roles including Adele and Olympia (Tales of Hoffmann) at the Hanover State Opera and Blonde (Die Entführung aus dem Serail) at the Würzburg Theatre. With roles such as Undine Undine (Lorzing), Ännchen Der Freischütz and Gretel Hansel and Gretel, she guested at the Théâtre de Picardie, France, at the Theatre Plauen-Zwickau, at the Landestheater Eisenach-Rudolstadt and at the Annaberg Theatre. She sang the part of Undine at the Staatstheater Am Gärtnerplatz in Munich. At the Handel Festival of Halle 2008, Gudrun Sidonie appeard with great success as Dido in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, she sang Hermia in Purcell’s Fairy Queen and the Blaue Fee in Respighi’s Dornröschen at the Konzerthaus Berlin and returned to this venue as Popentochter (Shostakovitch) in 2010. In 2008, she guested as Fortuna/Allegrezza in Giovanni Legrenzi’s Il Giustino at the Grand Théâtre de la Ville Luxembourg in a copresentation with the Schwetzinger Festspiele 2007. At the Halle Opera House she guested as Blonde in 2007-08 and 2008-09, a role she also took over at short notice at the Nuremberg Opera. She sang the title role in the German première of HK Gruber’s opera Gloria v. Jaxtberg in Berlin, appeared at the International Herrenchiemsee Festspiele 2010 and 2011 as Papagena The Magic Flute under the baton of Enoch zu Guttenberg, and sang the role of Dalinda in Handel’s opera Ariodante, staged by Kobie, van Rensburg in Munich, Villach and Winterthur. In 2013, Gudrun Sidonie will repeat Papagena in a revival of the International Herrenchiemsee Festspiele’s Magic Flute production at the Prinzregententheater in Munich.

In 2007 Gudrun Sidonie was a prize winner (contemporary music) of the Schloss Rheinsberg international singing competition. In the 2008-09 Season, she received a scholarship from the German-Austrian Vössen-Foundation.

In addition to her work as an opera-singer, the young soprano is very active in the field of Ancient Music. Gudrun Sidonie has sung at festivals such as the Schleswig-Holstein-Musikfestival, Halle Handel Festival, Musikfestspiele Potsdam Sanssouci, Telemannfestspiele Magdeburg, Dresdner Musikfestspiele, Europäisches Musikfest Stuttgart, Güldener Herbst Thüringen, Tage Alter Musik Regensburg, at the Bach Festivals of Hamburg, Thüringen and Stuttgart and at the Oregon-Bach-Festival. At these festivals, she has worked with renowned conductors such as Rolf Beck, Gabriel Feltz, Robin Gritton, Peter Gülke, Sir Neville Marriner and Helmut Rilling, and has been involved in various radio and tv recordings.

In 2009, a Messiah tour under Thomas Hengelbrock led her to Gent and Basle and to venues such as Alte Oper Frankfurt, Vienna Konzerthaus, Festspielhaus Baden Baden and Beethoven Fest Bonn, followed by tours with Bach’s B minor mass in 2010 and works by Bach and Zelenka in 2011.

Since 2010, she frequently appears with Bach cantatas at the Vienna Konzerthaus under Luca Pianca, and in the Bach Nights at the Gewandhaus Leipzig. At the Internationale Herrenchiemsee Festspiele 2010 the young soprano sang Bach solo cantats under Enoch zu Guttenberg. In 2011, she made her debut in Salzburg in Bach’s B minor mass under Ivor Bolton, appeared in Schumann’s Missa Sacra at the Monaco Spring Festival under Thomas Hengelbrock, and in F. Hiller’s oratorio ‘Die Zerstörung Jerusalems’ at the Gewandhaus Leipzig under G. Meyer (CD production, broadcast by DR Kultur, MDR, NDR). In May 2012, Gudrun Sidonie started her collaboration with The Hague Baroque Orchestra/The New Dutch Academy under Simon Murphy singing solo arias by Mozart. This recital was transmitted live by the Netherlands Public Broadcasting.

Concert engagements in 2012-13 include: the first performance of reconstructed ‘Köthner Geburtstagskantaten’ (J.S. Bach) under A. F. Grychtolik at the Köthner Bachfesttage (CD production for rondo/Deutschland Radio Kultur); works by Bach and Vivaldi with the Ensemble Virtuosi Saxoniae under Ludwig Güttler at the Frauenkirches Dresden; Bach’s Magnificat with the Berner Kammerchor; and the first performance of reconstructed ‘Köthner Trauermusiken’ under A. F. Grychtolik at the Bachfest Schaffhausen 2013 (CD production).

Gudrun Sidonie also works in close collaboration with Cantus Cölln, Salzburger Hofmusik, Ensemble Amarcord and Cantus Thuringia. The cpo lable recently released the CD “Triumph, Ihr Christen seid erfreut”- Easter cantatas by Handel and Zachow- with her and Cantus Thuringia. Scenic lied recitals are a special interest of Gudrun Sidonie's which she perfects with the pianoforte player Wolfgang Brunner. A CD with Mendelssohn-Lieder was released in 2009 by the Haenssler-Profil lable. In 2011, her solo CD „Sweet Bird“ with the organist Andeas Liebig was released by Sagenhapter/NDR Kultur.

Last Update October 2012