NEXT PERFORMANCES

NEWS

I am Viola, a passionate ensemble singer, soloist and performer, based in Amsterdam and Leipzig.

My musicianship is driven by the desire for connection. I’m influenced by human relations, and by constantly crossing paths with artistic creators from diverse backgrounds.

My main focus is interpretation of early and contemporary music. I’m fascinated by history and concepts of the future, trying to explore how these two relate to the present time.

Having grown up in Leipzig, in the supportive environment of a musical family, I feel connected to the German church music tradition. My background led me to study historical singing in my home town, and later opened up the opportunity of collaborating with such ensembles as Collegium Vocale Gent (Philippe Herreweghe) and Vox Luminis (Lionel Meunier). Along the way, I have enjoyed learning from singers such as Dorothee Mields, Emma Kirkby, and Peter Kooij.

At the age of twelve I started singing with my closest childhood friends. We have continued with our shared passion, and today our group, Sjaella, is a well-known female vocal ensemble.

Sjaella has shown me how musical experiences can be created by bringing together individual personalities. Performing in a group means exploring, playing, and struggling together. Independently, but depending on each other.

My desire to expand my musical horizons led me to study Italian and the art of Bel Canto in Florence. Later I did my master’s in Amsterdam with Xenia Meijer, where I explored the field of interdisciplinary performance and improvisation.

I perform the music that I seem to gravitate to. Currently, that happens to be: renaissance polyphony, English lute songs, early Italian arias of the Seconda Pratica, German protestant music, early and later oratory, Baroque opera, American songs of the 21st century, contemporary music, and my own improvised music. Another of my artistic aims is to work with composers, and to interpret and develop new compositions.

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Sjaella is a female vocal ensemble with a broad repertoire encompassing contemporary compositions, early music, folk songs, and vocal jazz. One of the group’s main aims is to collaborate closely with composers and arrangers to promote further development of the female vocal repertoire. Sjaella has performed many concerts across Germany and worldwide, it has released five albums, and won several major vocal competitions.