Biography

Swedish mezzo-soprano Charlotte Hellekant’s upcoming highlights include the world premiere of Philippe Boesmans’s Au Monde, based on the play by Joël Pommerat, with La Monnaie, and performances of Toshio Hosokawa’s The Raven with Ensemble Lucilin in Paris. In concert she sings Mendelssohn’s Die erste Walpurgisnacht with the Munich Philharmonic, and joins the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra for Chausson’s Poèmedel'amouretdela mer.

Last season, Ms. Hellekant sang Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Vienna Symphony and the Danish National Symphony, Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the NDR Symphony, a program of Handel arias with the Academy of Ancient Music on tour in the UK and Europe, as well as the world premiere of the theater piece In the garden of dreams with Da Camera Houston(in co-operation with Houston Grand Opera), which features Schoenberg’s Das Buch der hängenden Gärten. Her recent operatic appearances include the roles of Charlotte in Werther with Deutsche Oper Berlin, the title role of Carmen with Royal Swedish Opera, Ino in Handel’s Semele at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Marguérite in Berlioz’s La damnation de Faust at the Salzburg Festival, Cornelia in Handel’s Giulio Cesare for the Zurich Opera, and Judith in Bartók’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle at the Bergen Festival. She made her San Francisco Symphony debut in 1992.

Ms. Hellekant appears on numerous recordings including Mahler’sSymphony No. 2 with Herbert Blomstedt and the San Francisco Symphony (Decca), Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre with Esa-Pekka Salonen (Sony), Handel’s Giulio Cesare and Messiah with Les Musiciens du Louvre (Deutsche Grammophon), Grieg’s Peer Gynt with Paavo Järvi (Virgin Classics), Nystroem’s Sinfonia del Mare and Songs by the Sea with Evgeny Svetlanov and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Musica Sveciae), and a collection of Nystroem songs recorded with Anders Kilström for Daphne records.

(October 2013)