Henrike Legner
Interview
Where do I come from?
Moers (a little town close to Düsseldorf)
Why do I sing?
When I sing, I can let myself go completely, enter into a world, where I forget everything around me. Simply, because the music is so powerful.
And what do I like apart from singing?
Dance (especially ballet and contemporary), playing the piano, reading, writing, board games, outdoor activities.
My own personal musical highlight?
When I was 17 years old I sang the Cantata ”Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen“ by Bach with the Shrewsbury Chamber Orchestra in Wigmore Hall, London.
My motto?
Stay humble, work hard, be kind.
Biography
Henrike Legner is a German soprano living in Munich, where she studies at the Theaterakademie August Everding and in the vocal class of KS Prof. Christiane Iven.
Since 2021 Henrike has performed in the following productions of the Theaterakademie: „Ariodante“ by Händel (Ginevra), „Die Gänsemagd“ by Iris ter Shiphorst (Die Kammerjungfrau) and „Il Giasone“ by Cavalli (Sole and Alinde).
Henrike completed the first three years of her undergraduate studies at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London, and in 2016 won the Collingwood Finalist Prize at the Kathleen Ferrier Society Bursary for Young Singers. After an Erasmus exchange, she stayed in Padua, Italy, and graduated with distinction from the Conservatorio di Musica Cesare Pollini in 2019.
She also participated in masterclasses with Emma Kirkby, KS Angelika Kirchschlager, KS Brigitte Fassbaender and Joan Patenaude-Yarnel and others.
Henrike has been generously supported by the arteMusica Foundation and the Richard Wagner Scholarship Foundation Munich (2023).
Her other interests include ballet and modern dance. She is also fluent in German, English and Italian.
As a soloist, Henrike has performed with orchestras such as the Niederrheinisches Kammerorchester, Ensemble des WDR Funkhausorchesters, Burgate Singers and Sinfonia, and others. Her concert repertoire includes Exsultate jubilate (Mozart), Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen (Bach), Messiah (Handel), St. John Passion (Bach), Nulla in mundo pax sincera (Vivaldi), Gloria (Handel) and Stabat mater(Szymanowski).
Henrike is also interested in art song and for this received important inspiration at the Udo Reinemann International Masterclass for Duos at La Monnaie in Brussels.
In March 2023, she will perform the role of Nerea in „Achill unter den Mädchen“ by Wolfgang-Andreas Schultz with the Münchner Rundfunkorchester at the Prinzregententheater at the Theaterakademie, and in June she will give a song recital (with works by Strauss, Debussy, Schubert and Mendelssohn) at the Herzogsburg in Dingolfing with the pianist Gerold Huber.
Media
„Guitare“ WD 79 by Georges Bizet
Henrike Legner (soprano) & Hiroko Utsumi (piano)
Live recording – August 2023