Julia Oesch's various activities are based on her international career as an opera and concert singer and on her teaching and coaching assignments.
The German mezzo-soprano has appeared in leading theaters, such as the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, state opera houses in Hannover, Wiesbaden, Frankfurt, Karlsruhe, Stuttgart, in Italy at La Fenice in Venice, Palermo, Naples, Cagliari, Verona, Trieste, Rome, Catania, at the Opéra du Rhin Strasbourg, at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris (France), at the Spanish Teatro de la Maestranza in Sevilla, at the Opernhaus Zürich (Switzerland), in Lisbon (Portugal) at the Teatro São Carlos, in Thailand at the opera house in Bangkok. Acclaimed music festivals have invited Ms. Oesch as an opera and concert singer, i.e. the Kammeroper Schloß Rheinsberg (Germany), the Tanglewood Music Center in the USA, the Ravinia Festival near Chicago (USA), the Tiroler Festspiele in Erl, the Richard Wagner Festival in Wels, the Wiener Festwochen and the Salzburger Festspiele (all in Austria), as well as the French Festival in Aix-en-Provence.
Artistic key aspects
In her opera repertoire her engagements cover the works by Richard Wagner, i.e. the roles of her Fach in the Ring des Nibelungen: Erda (Rheingold & Siegfried), Floßhilde (Rheingold), Fricka (Rheingold & Walküre), Rossweisse, Schwertleite, Siegrune (Walküre), 1. Norne, Waltraute (Götterdämmerung); Parsifal (Kundry); Der fliegende Holländer (Mary). Futhermore her roles include Orfeo from Orfeo & Euridice, Mozart's 3. Dame from Die Zauberflöte or Margret from Berg's Wozzek.
Concert and church music continue to be important aspects in Julia Oesch’s performing career. Her repertoire in oratorio includes Elias by Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, the Messa da Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi, Bach’s Christmas-Oratorio, the Johannes-Passion, the B-Minor Mass and the Matthäus-Passion, Händel’s Messiah, the Missa in C and the Requiem by Mozart and various masses by Haydn, Beethoven and Bruckner. The Choral Fantasy, the Symphony No. 9 by Ludwig van Beethoven, the Alto-Rhapsody by Johannes Brahms, Gustav Mahler's Symphony No.8 (Contralto II/ Maria Aegyptiaca) and Das Lied von der Erde and Six Songs op.13 by Alexander von Zemlinsky are the symphonic compositions in her repertoire.
In Ludwig van Beethoven's anniversary year 2020 she performs the C-Major Mass in Darmstadt.
Training
Julia Oesch's musical studies began with playing the violin. While studying at the Frankfurt Conservatory she also received voice lessons from Karin Geber-Brandt who is still advising her vocally. In 1992 Julia Oesch continued to study voice at the Musikhochschule Detmold with Ingeborg Ruß. In the summer of 1994 she was a scholarship recipient at the Tanglewood Music Center. There she met and worked with Phyllis Curtin and Seiji Ozawa. She earned her Master of Music Diploma at Boston University in 1997, studying with Phyllis Curtin.
Projects -- Coaching -- Violin
Currently she tours with the Duo MezzoPiano which she founded in 2019, together with the pianist Lena Wüst. The programs are semi-staged and the thrilling performances are described as" finest hours".
Together with the pianist Jens Barnieck she performs mainly American compositions with the Duo Songways, since both artists studied and lived in the USA.
Coaching and teaching become more important for her. Meanwhile she maintains her own studio for voice and violin. At the Nationaltheater Mannheim she has taught opera chorus members. From 2015 - 2017 she had a teaching position at the Musikhochschule Lübeck. She loves to work with young students and to prepare them for their professional careers. She had been a vocal coach at the WDR radio station Chorakademie in Dortmund. Recently she works as a vocal coach at the renowned Domsingschule Limburg/Hassia.
In 2015/16 she was a participant and violinist of the New Year's tour through China with the Berlin Film Orchestra, under the baton of Maestra Christiane Silber. She regularly plays in regional orchestras with performances of i.e. the mass The Armed Man by Karl Jenkins or the Symphony No.2 by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy.
Recordings/DVDs
Julia Oesch’ discography encloses the complete edition of Richard Wagner's Ring des Nibelungen (Arte Nova label): Das Rheingold: Erda; Die Walküre: Fricka; Siegfried: Erda; Götterdämmerung: 1. Norne. Furthermore she recorded Verdi's La Traviata (Annina), Die tote Stadt (Lucienne) by Erich W. Korngold (DVD) and Die ägyptische Helena (Elfe) by Richard Strauss. In 2014 she published a CD, with best ofs the Duo Songways and the title Never too Late to Love!
Julia lives in Rhineland-Palatinate/ Germany.
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