Auf in den Urwald!
Gesang
Aaron Godfrey-Mayes
Tenor
Birthplace:
Mansfield, United Kingdom
Studies:
Mascarade Emerging Artist (2022-2023)
Mascarade Opera Studio (2021-2022)
Advanced Diploma, Royal Academy Opera
Master of Arts, Royal Academy of Music
Bachelor of Music, Royal Academy of Music
Master class:
Allan Clayton, Royal Academy of Music
Dennis O’Neill, Royal Academy of Music
Carmen Santoro, Mascarade Opera Studio
Ann Murray
Ian Partridge, Royal Academy of Music
Prizes:
1 st place, Royal Academy of Music Pavarotti Prize
3 rd place & Wil Keune Mozart Prize, Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition
1 st place, David Clover Festival of Singing Recital Prize
19 th century Italian opera prize, Mozart Singing Competition
Prize winner, Richard Lewis/Jean Shanks Award
1 st place, Nottinghamshire Masonic Music Association Bursary
Relation to the Hamburg State Opera:
Member of the International Opera Studio of the Hamburg State Opera since the season 2023/24
Important parts:
Don Ramiro (La Cenerentola), Ferrando (Così fan tutte), Flute (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Alì (Adina), Albert Herring (Albert Herring), Triquet (Eugene Onegin)
Stages:
Teatro La Fenice, Garsington Opera, Nevill Holt Opera, Königliches Kurtheater Bad Wildbad, et al.
Cooperation with directors:
Oliver Mears, Marie Lambert-Le Bihan, Noa Naamat, Douglas Boyd, Paul Curran, Federico Grazzini, Pedro Ribeiro, Jean-Romain Vesperini, et al.
Cooperation with conductors:
Philippe Herreweghe, Trevor Pinnock, Iain Ledingham, Luciano Acocella, Jonathan Santagada, Douglas Boyd, Sian Edwards, Peter Robinson, Matthew Scott Rogers, Nicholas Chalmers, Dionysis Grammenos, Tom Seligman, et al.
photo: Jörn Kipping
Klavier / Cembalo
Robert Jacob
Piano
Birthplace:
Oravita, Romania
Studies:
Piano at the Hochschule für Musik Nürnberg-Augsburg with Hanae Nakajima,
graduation with an artistic diploma
Reference to the State Opera:
Solo coach at the State Oper Hamburg (since 2019)
Career stages:
Solo coach at the State Opera Hamburg (since 2019), Director of studies at Meininger Staatstheater (since 2014), Harpsichordist and coach at the Kammeroper Munich (2006-2009), Solo coach at Meininger Staatstheater (2009), Coach for opera and ensemble at the Hochschule für Musik Nürnberg-Augsburg (2008), Lecturer for scenic classes at the Bayerische Theaterakademie “August Everding” (2006), Supervision of the opera productions during studies at the Hochschule für Musik Nürnberg-Augsburg (until 2005)
Cooperations:
Kent Nagano, Paolo Cararignani, Roberto Rizzi-Brignoli, Christoph Prick et al.
photo: privat
Violine
Hedda Steinhardt
1st Violin
Hedda Steinhardt, a native of Oldenburg, began playing the violin at the age of six. She started her education as a junior student of Maria Grevesmühl at the Bremen Music Academy, winning several competitions as a violinist and pianist. She then studied with Gerhard Peters and Susanne Rabenschlag (primarius of the Verdi Quartet) at the Cologne Music Academy, from which she graduated with distinction. She also received chamber music instruction from the Amadeus Quartet. Further musical impulses were provided by master courses with Isabelle van Keulen, Herman Krebbers and the Melos Quartet, among others. Hedda Steinhardt was concertmaster of the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie and a member of the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra and has been a member of the first violin section of the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra since 1995. In addition, she dedicates herself intensively to chamber music and gives regular concerts.
More about Hedda Steinhardt
photo: Claudia Höhne
Violoncello
Brigitte Maaß
Cello
Brigitte Maaß began playing the cello in 1972. From 1975 to 1983, Edwin Koch was her teacher; she then became a junior student of Arthur Troester at the Lübeck Music Academy. In 1984 she began studying with David Geringas, graduating in 1990. Since 1992 Brigitte Maaß has been a member of the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra. As part of her numerous chamber music activities, she actively promotes contemporary music.
More about Brigitte Maaß
photo: Claudia Höhne
Schlagzeug
Fabian Otten
Principal Percussion / Timpani
Fabian Otten was born in Westphalia in 1993 and received his first percussion lessons at the age of seven. In 2012 he began studying with Massimo Drechsler, Stephan Cürlis and Cornelia Monske at the Hamburg Academy of Music and Theatre. He completed an internship at the Philharmonic Orchestra of Southern Westphalia in 2014, becoming a member of that orchestra until 2016. He has also played with the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, including a performance as the featured marimba soloist in Messiaen’s “La transfiguration” at the Cologne Philharmonie. In addition to his orchestral work, he dedicates himself to solo marimba performances. Thus, he was among the finalists at the International Marimba Competition of the Percussive Arts Society in Italy, won the second prize at the International Competition “Marimba Festiva” in Bamberg and a special prize of the Bavarian Radio leading to a subsequent solo recital broadcast by radio. Through 2020, he completed his education in Berlin with Franz Schindlbeck and Rainer Seegers (both Berlin Philharmonic) as well as the percussion soloist Li Biao at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music. Since the summer semester 2023 he has a teaching position for marimba at the HMT Leipzig.
Since the 2017/18 season he has been a member of the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra.
photo: Claudia Höhne
