Join German mezzo soprano Astrid Bohm and pianist Dr Lisa Engelbrecht for a free lunchtime concert featuring an expressive programme of opera and art song.

The programme includes:
Rossini - Cruda sorte from L’Italiana in Algeri
Wagner - Wesendonck Lieder
Brahms - including Von ewiger Liebe & Mainacht
R. Strauss - Morgen & Zueignung
Léhar - Meine Lippen, sie küssen so heiß from Giuditta

Biographies

Astrid Bohm studied vocal pedagogy and completed postgraduate studies to become a concert singer. She then studied opera singing at the Karlsruhe University of Music with Professor Marga Schiml, graduating with a Master's degree in Opera in the summer of 2011. Since then, she has collaborated with Artur Korn and Sonya Pancratova. She lives in Mannheim. Numerous masterclasses, including those with Teresa Berganza, Marjana Lipovcek, Julia Varady, Ingeborg Danz and Artur Korn, rounded off her training. She is equally at home in concert and opera, having sung major roles such as Hänsel, Orlando, Oberon, the Drummer, and the alto parts in all the oratorios from Bach to Rossini. She is also comfortable with contemporary music. Her repertoire is further expanded by numerous songs. She has a great passion for chamber music and Baroque music. She was a prize winner at various international competitions, including first prize at the 9th International Singing Competition “Bell'Arte” (Belgium) in 2017 and the operetta prize at the International Singing Competition “Vox Artis” in Sibiu (Romania). In March 2021, she was awarded second prize at the 1st International Opera Singing Competition “Boris Martinovic”.

Dr Lisa Engelbrecht is a Vocal Coach/Répétiteur at Opera UCT under the directorship of Prof Jeremy Silver. Lisa, apart from coaching singing students and lecturing in Lyric Diction (German) at UCT, performs regularly as a vocal accompanist in South Africa and abroad. She is a member of the teaching faculty at the International Lyric Academy summer programme in Vicenza, Italy and is a guest vocal coach at the both the Royal Academy and Royal Colleges of Music, London.  Lisa has also worked as coach/répétiteur for the Grange Festival in Hampshire and has regularly coached and played for productions of Cape Town Opera where she was vocal coach/répétiteur on numerous operatic productions before moving on to work at the University of Cape Town. Similarly, before being appointed as a permanent member of staff at SACM she coached and accompanied rehearsals for many productions as well as accompanied numerous auditions and concerts. She has also been instrumental in putting together fundraising concerts with students and alumni of Opera UCT both locally and in London and regularly puts together concerts with students for various Classical music festivals around the country. Her educational background includes post graduate study at the Royal College of Music, London (P.G Dip in Advanced Performance Répétiteur), University of Illinois (MMus in Vocal Accompaniment) and UCT (DMus in Collaborative Performance and Thesis) with apprenticeships at San Francisco Opera (Merola program) and Glimmerglass Opera (New York). She has also worked as vocal coach/accompanist for the Jeunes Voix de Rhìn (Opera National du Rhin), and British Youth Opera. Lisa also trained as a soprano with Emma Renzi and uses that training to add further insight to her vocal coaching skills. Lisa performs regularly with her students in Mauritius where under the auspices of the Société Musicale she also conducts Masterclasses with singers on the island.  Lisa, as pianist and soprano is also part of a classical vocal duo “The Opera Angels” with British mezzo soprano, Lindsay Thomson, established in 2019.