|
The Dutch contralto, Helena Rasker, graduated with the highest distinction from the Royal Conservatory of Music in The Hague, the Netherlands (1986-1994). She continued her studies at the Tanglewood Music center in the USA and at present works with Margreet Honig in Amsterdam.
Helena Rasker has sung with opera companies, orchestras and ensembles including the Netherlands Opera, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Europa Galante, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Bamberger Symphoniker, ASKO/Schoenberg Ensemble, SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg and the Chamber Orchestras of Geneva and Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne. She has worked with conductors such as Marc Minkowski, Fabio Biondi, Michel Corboz, Christian Zacharias, Oliver Knussen, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Marc Albrecht, Reinbert de Leeuw, Jaap van Zweden, Pascal Rophé, Hartmut Haenchen, Paolo Carignani and Jonathan Stockhammer.
Helena Rasker's repertoire spans from Baroque to contemporary, and from chamber music to oratorio and opera. She performs works such as the grand oratoria of J.S. Bach, George Frideric Handel, W.A. Mozart, Haydn, Felix Mendelssohn, Maurice Duruflé and Arthur Honegger, song cycles and symphonies of Gustav Mahler, Dmitri Shostakovich, Frank Martin, Wagner and Stockhausen, and chamber music of Johannes Brahms, Ravel, Arnold Schoenberg, Sciarrino, Sofia Gubaidulina, Rob Zuidam and Luigi Nono.
Her opera repertoire includes roles in Moses und Aron by A. Schoenberg, Rêves d'un Marco Polo by Claude Vivier, Zauberflöte by W.A. Mozart, Elektra by Strauss, Guillaume Tell by Rossini and Die Walküre by Wagner. She created leading roles in the world premieres of Thyeste by Van Vlijmen, After Life by Michel van der Aa, Adam In Ballingschap by Rob Zuidam, Legende by Wagemans, Waiting for Miss Monroe by Robin de Raaff, Laïka by Martijn Padding and the chamber opera Troparion by Rob Zuidam, written especially for her.
Helena Raskers performed as soloist at festivals including the Salzburger Festspiele, Holland Festival, Festival d'Automne à Paris, Festival de la Chaise-Dieu, Festival Misteria Paschalia Krakow and the Melbourne Festival. She participated in radio-, CD-, DVD- and television-recordings throughout Europe. |
