Hendrickje Van Kerckhove
Soprano

Season 2005/2006 has been the international breakthrough for Belgian soprano Hendrickje Van Kerckhove, with her debut at Bavarian State Opera as Natalia-Medusa in Arnaldo De Felice’s opera “Medusa”, Oscarin “Ballo in Maschera” and eventually Voce dal Cielo in “Don Carlo” led by Maestro Zubin Mehta, who invited her to sing Blondchen in Tel-Aviv. A role for which the Liceu in Barcelona has now also invited her.

Besides, she  recently appeared in “Die Lustige Witwe” (Valencienne) and “Rheingold” (Woglinde) at the Flemish Opera. In “Entführung” (Blondchen) and “Monsieur Choufleuri” (Ernestine) at the Brussels Monnaie Theater. Future engagements include “Werther” (Sophie) at la Monnaie and“Dialogues des Carmélites” (Soeur Constance) and “La Sonnambula” (Lisa) at Flemish Opera.

Hendrickje studied with Bernadette Degelin at the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp and fulfilled her vocal education with Susan Roper. She followed masterclasses with Rudolph Jansen, Claude Coppens and Robert Alderson. Eventually she post-graduaded at the Flemish Opera Studio and was coached by José Van Dam at the Queen Elisabeth Musical College.

As a studiant she became the winner of Young-Talent-Awards as Young Tenuto (1996) and Axion Classics (1998). With characters such as “Silandra” in ‘Orontea’ /Cesti, “Serpina” in ‘La serva Padrona’/Pergolesi, “Elle” in ‘La voix humaine’”/ Poulenc and engagements followed by engagements at Flemish Opera in “L’amour des trois oranges”, “Arianne et Barbe-Bleue” , “Najade” Hendrickje Van Kerchove made her debut as an opera singer.

Her international career started when the “Royal Theater la Monnaie” offered her to sing “Kristin” in the world-creation of Philippe Boesman’s opera “Julie” that was revived at the “Wiener Festwochen” and “Le Festival d’Aix-en-Provence”. In Düsseldorf (altstadtherbst Kulturfestival) she took part in the staged production of “Kain” by Scarlatti and “Jephtha” by Haendel. In the mean time Hendrickje Van Kerckhove has worked together with conductors such as M. Barbacini, E.  Mazzola, Ph. Herreweghe, Kazushi Ono, Zubin Mehta, M. Soustrot, M. Tilkin, P. Cao, P. Fournillier, I. Törzs, E. Spanjaard... a.o.

Equally at home with baroque, classical, romantic and contemporary practice, Hendrickje has meanwhile considerably enlarged her repertoire She took part in a number of oratoria, as the ‘Te Deum’ by Charpentier, the ‘Matthew-Passion’ by Telemann, the ‘Gloria’ by Vivaldi as well as Mozart’s and Fauré’s “Requiem”. She sang with the Belgian baroque Ensembles Il Fondamento and Anima. Furthermore she was invited by the Flemish Radio Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Flanders. With the “Limburg Symphonic Orchestra” she sang Mozart’s c minor Mass at Brussels Palais des Beaux Arts. In France she performed a series of Saint-John’s passions with the renowned Choir Arsys Bourgogne. With Ph. Herreweghe and his Kooracademie she performed Brahms‘ “Ein deutsches Requiem”.

Particularly gifted for the “Lied” repertoire, she got lavish praise for her outstanding recital performances at Bozar, Concertgebouw Brugge, Flemish Opera, Brussels La Monnaie (accompanied by Kazushi Ono) and at the “Philippe-Herreweghe-Festival.

May 2007

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