Kobie van Rensburg
Biography
Kobie van Rensburg started his vocal studies while studying for graduate and post-graduate degrees in Law and International Politics, obtaining both cum laude, at the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education. He made his professional debut at the early age of twenty, singing Belmonte in Mozart’s „Entführung aus dem Serail” for the Roodepoort City Opera in 1991. It was soon followed by engagements as Fenton (Falstaff) in Durban, Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni) and Ferrando (Cosi fan tutte) in Capetown. After winning several competitions and prizes as well as the Concert-section of the 1994 UNISA International Singing competition, he left for Munich to further his vocal studies under Prof. Hanno Blaschke.
He makes regular guest appearances at several European opera houses including the Berlin State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, The Stuttgart State Opera, the Théâtre du Champs-Elysées in Paris, the Thèâtre du Capitole in Toulouse, the Operá National du Rhin in Strasbourg, Teatro Saõ Carlos in Lissabon, as well as opera houses in Madrid, Montpellier, Basel, Luzern, Karlsruhe, Graz etc. His expanding operatic repertoire already covers a wide spectrum of more than 30 leading roles, including the Early Operas of Monteverdi (Orfeo in L’Orfeo and Nerone in L’Incoronazione di Poppea), the Baroque operas of Händel (Acis in Acis & Galatea, Bajazete in Tamerlano, Jupiter in Semele, Giuliano in Rodrigo etc.), the famous Mozartian tenor roles (Idomeneo in Idomeneo, Tito in La clemenza di Tito, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Belfiore in La finta giardiniera, Ferrando in Cosi fan tutte etc.), Fenton in Verdi’s Falstaff, Der Junge Seemann in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde and several comic operas and operettas (Chateauneuff in Lorzing`s Zar & Zimmerman and Alfred in Die Fledermaus by Strauß etc.). In 2009 Kobie van Rensburg debuted Loge, his first Wagnerian role in Seattle, USA.
Although his concert repertoire ranges from music of the Renaissance to World Premieres of modern pieces, he specializes in music of the Baroque era. He is a frequent guest at such renowned festivals as the Salzburg Festival, the Schwetzingen Festival, the Karlsruhe Händel Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival, the Halle Händel Festival, the Innsbruck Early Music Festival, the Luzern International Music Festival etc.. Recitals and concert appearances have taken him all over Europe and as far a field as the USA, Cairo and Buenos Aires (Teatro Colon). He has performed with most of the leading orchestras in Europe and such famous conductors and specialist ensembles as René Jacobs & Concerto Vocale, the Akademie für Alte Musik, Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the English Baroque Soloists & Monteverdi Choir, Ivor Bolton & the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Thomas Hengelbrock & The Balthasar Neumann Ensemble, Christopher Hogwood & the Acadamy of Ancient Music and Christophe Rousset & Les Talens Lyriques.
In June 2002 he scored a tremendous success with the world premiere of his own Baroque Pasticcio Opera “Ein Theater nach der Mode”. Having devised a new plot, he wrote the libretto together with Peer Boysen, and created a new opera to music by Händel and other baroque composers as a commissioned work for Munich’s Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz. The piece has been so popular with the public that it has already experienced its second revival in September 2003 and remained in the repertoire of the Gärtnerplatz Theatre for many years. “Ein Theater nach der Mode” has also been recorded by the Bavarian Public Television, directed for the screen by Brian Large. It was a logic consequence from his success in Munich to extend his skills in this field and so 2007 his debut as producer (singing also the title role) was made in Halle with Orfeo. In autumn 2009 Kobie van Rensburg produced Händels oratorio: „Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno„ in Passau – the collaboration was of such success that the artist will produce a series of Monteverdi operas there in the future of which the first just premiered in December 2010: „l´Incoronatione di Poppea“.
The success of his debut solo CD recording with the Berlin Lautten Compagney, entitled “Händel’s Beard” with famous Handelian tenor arias composed for John Beard, was followed by the release of their second recital CD, featuring music by Dowland, Lawes & Purcell, entitled: “Songs of an English Cavalier”. Kobie van Rensburg also recently recorded a much praised complete recording of Monteverdi’s Madrigali Guerierri et Amorosi and an acclaimed world premiere recording of Scarlatti’s Griselda with René Jacobs, both released by Harmonia Mundi.
Further engagements include a very successful debut in the title role of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo at the Stuttgart State Opera in a production by Joachim Schlömer, conducted by Jean Claude Malgoire, the role of Quint in Britten’s Turn of the Screw with Sir Jeffrey Tate in Geneva, the title role in Ferrandini’s Catone in Utica for the 250th anniversary of Munich’s Cuvilliers Theatre (soon to be released on CD), the title role in a staged version of Händel’s Belshazar in Brussels with René Jacobs and a very successful production of Idomeneo at Munich’s Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz. He has also been appointed as Associate Professor at the Northwest University of South Africa.
Recent Highlights in Kobie van Rensburgs calendar included Copenhagen (Alceste), Munich state opera (La Calisto), Bordeaux (Don Giovanni and Idomeneo), Geneva (Nerone), Madrid (Idomeneo and Il Trionfo Del Tempo E Del Disinganno), Tourcoing (Il ritorno d´Ulysse), Paris (La clemenza di Tito), Zaragoza (Rodrigo), Milan (Alcina), Strassbourg (Idomeneo) as well as New York, the Metropolitan Opera as Grimualdo in Händel’s Rodelinda and Idomeneo (title role). In 2010 he returned to the Met, New York, where Armida and Rodelinda (2011) are scheduled.
Zuletzt aktualisiert am 08. Jun. 2011