Franziska Gottwald

Franziska Gottwald received her first vocal training from Eugen Rabine, followed by studies at the conservatories in Saarbrücken, Hannover and Weimar. She began her career a guest soloist at the Staatsoper Hannover in Lower Saxony and sang as a permanent member of the Deutsche Nationaltheater Weimar. Further engagements brought her to Brunswick and Bielefeld, to the Komische Oper Berlin, to the Handelfestpiele in Göttingen and to the Teatro La Fenice in Venice. In 2002 she won the International Bach Competition in Leipzig and in 2006 she was nominated by the yearbook of the magazine Opera World for the award as best young female singer of the year. As a concert singer much in demand, the mezzo-soprano has appeared at important musical venues such as the Concertgeouw, Amsterdam, Gasteig Munich, the Philharmonie, Berlin, in Athens, Vienna, Naples, Milan, Bilbao and Paris, as well as at important festivals, including the Rheingau Musik Festival, the Semana de Religiosa in Cuenca, the Herrenchiemsee Festival, the Bachwoche in Ansbach, and the Folle Journée in Nantes. She has worked with the leading interpreters of early music, such as Vittorio Ghielmi, Reinhard Goebel, Konrad Junghänel, Ton Koopman, Andrea Marcon and ensembles including the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Musica Antiqua Köln, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and the RIAS Kammerchor. Numerous radio and CD productions document her musical versatility.