Sophie Harmsen

Sophie Harmsen has become internationally successful both in the concert hall and on the operatic stage, delivering beautifully crafted, emotionally intelligent performances in a diverse range of repertoire.

An avid traveller, her career has brought her to experience some of the world’s most beautiful venues, such as the Teatro Colon, Palau de la Musica, Teatro Real, Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Konzerthaus Wien, Philharmonie de Paris, Shanghai Grand Theatre and the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg.

Sophie regularly performs with orchestras such as the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, SWR Symphonieorchester, Deutsches Symphonie Orchester, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest, Orchestre National de Paris, musicAeterna, Konzerthausorchester Berlin Düsseldorfer Symphoniker NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester and the Freiburger Barockorchester.

She has worked with conductors including Jeremie Rhorer, Thomas Hengelbrock, Ádám Fischer, Iván Fischer, Teodor Currentzis, Vaclav Luks, Jos van Veldhoven, Andreas Spering, Daniel Harding, Constantinos Carydis, Kent Nagano, Markus Stenz, Philippe Herreweghe, Frieder Bernius, René Jacobs and Pablo Heras-Casado.

Many of her CD recordings have received awards, for example Bruckner’s Missa Solemnis with the RIAS Kammerchor (Diapason d’Or) and the complete recording of J.S. Bach’s Luther Kantaten with Christoph Spering (Echo 2017).

Sophie’s career began at Cape Town Opera with roles including Hermia (Britten, A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Graf Orlowsky (Strauss, Die Fledermaus), and Cherubino (Mozart, Le nozze di Figaro). She has since sung Annio (Mozart, La Clemenza di Tito) at the Teatro Real Madrid, Dorabella (Mozart, Cosi fan tutte) at the Opéra de Dijon and the Opéra de Luxembourg, Stephano (Gounod, Romeo et Juliette) at the Tiroler Landestheater in Innsbruck, Argene (Myslivecek, L’Olimpiade) at the opera houses Prague, Caen and Theater an der Wien. In this time she has worked with directors such as Robert Wilson, Ursel and Karl-Ernst Herrmann, William Kentridge and Andreas Dresen.

Recent concert highlights include Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder, Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde as well as the Ruckert Lieder̈ckert Lieder, Dvorak’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, and Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. Sophie is a frequent performer at international festivals including the Salzburger Festspiele, Mozartwoche Salzburg, Schleswig-Holstein Musikfestival, Rheingau Musikfestival, International Händelfestspiele Göttingen and Halle and the Bachfest Leipzig.

This season she looks forward to her debut as Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier in the Felsenreitschule in Salzburg, a return to the Hamburgische Staatsoper and Ballett John Neumeier for Bach’s B Minor Mass, a tour of Bach’s Weihnachtsoratorium with Christophe Rousset, her first Verdi Requiem with Antwerp Symphony Orchestra and Philippe Herreweghe, Mahlers Das Klagende Lied at the Mahler Festival Leipzig with the Gewandhausorchester and Dennis Russel Davies and Mendelssohn’s Walpurgisnacht with SWR Synfonieorchester under Pablo Heras-Casado.

Sophie Harmsen studied at the University of Cape Town and with Prof. Dr. Edith Wiens, has been mentored by Tobias Truniger for many years and now lives in Berlin with her family.

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