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The South African soprano, Mimi Coertse, studied in Johannesburg and in Vienna.
Mimi Coertse made her debut with the on tour in Naples in 1955. She then sang in Basle and at the Teatro San Carlo in Nables. In 1957 she became a member of the Vienna State Opera from 1956 and remained on its roster until 1978. She was a guest to the Royal Opera House and Covent Garden in London, the Glyndebourne Festival, Cogne, Rome, Brussels, and other major European music centres.
Mimi Coertse sang the soprano part in J.S. Bach's Matthäus-Passion (BWV 244) at Fritz Wunderlich's first appearance at Vienna in 1958, when he did the tenor arias with Julius Patzak singing the Evangelist. In 1958, Coertse and Fritz Wunderlich again worked together at the Aix-en-Provence festival in Die Zauberflöte. In 1965, she sang Konstanze in Werner Düggelin's controversial production of Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Vienna State Opera which also featured Fritz Wunderlich as Belmonte.
After 1978, Mimi Coertse continued to perform in South Africa. In recent years she has devoted her time to exposing young South African singers to the great but sadly neglected art of Lieder singing which can be artistically even more demanding than opera singing. |
