Anke Höppner
Soprano
Anke Höppner was born Germany and studied with Professor Renate Faltin at the Hanns-Eisler Conservatorium in Berlin. She won the first prize in the Hanns-Eisler Liederwettbewerb (the award for the best vocal graduate in the German Democratic Republic) and, in 1993, the Bayreuth Stipendium. In 2001, she won the Helpmann Award for best female operatic performance.
An early association with Komische Oper, Berlin led to principal roles in Les Brigandes, Die Zauberflöte, Orfeo ed Euridice, Cenerentola and Der Freischütz. Anke then began to take larger roles in many German theatres – the title role in Jenufa, Abigaile in Nabucco, Lisa in Pique Dame, Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana, Charlotte in Werther, Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro and Jane Seymour in Anna Bolena for the Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landestheater; Mrs Grose in The Turn of the Screw for both Neue Opernbühne Berlin and the Otono Festival in Madrid – she also appeared as Brautjungfer in Der Freischütz for the Staatsoper in Berlin.
Upon moving to Australia in the 1990s, Anke was quickly offered engagements by Opera Australia. For the national company, she has sung the title roles in Iphigénie en Tauride, Jenufa, Madama Butterfly and The Gypsy Princess, Mimi in La bohème, Lucretia Janz in Batavia, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, The Foreign Princess in Rusalka and Emilia Marty in The Makropulos Secret.
For State Opera South Australia, Anke performed the title role in Madama Butterfly and Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana. She sang Lucretia Janz for the Perth International Arts Festival and the Melbourne International Arts Festival and the role of Procne in The Love of the Nightingale for Victorian Opera and Opera Queensland.
Concert engagements have included Liederabende with songs of Schubert, Schumann, Strauss and Dvorak in the London Opera Festival, the Komische Oper Berlin, the Melbourne International Music Festival and Barossa Music Festival; Brahms’ Deutsches Requiem with the Schleswig-Holsteinisches Sinfonieorchester, Mozart’s Requiem with the Berliner Philharmonie, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with the Neubrandenburger Philharmonieorchester and the Schleswig-Holsteinisches Sinfonieorchester, Marie in Berg’s Wozzeck with the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Halle and Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 with the Tasmanian and Queensland Symphony Orchestras.
In recent seasons, Anke Höppner has sung the title roles in Turandot for Opera Australia and Tosca for West Australian Opera; Minnie in La fanciulla del West for West Australian Opera and Opera Australia, Leonore in Fidelio for Opera Queensland and Opera Australia, The Witch in Hansel and Gretel for State Opera of South Australia; she also repeated her portrayal as Procne in Sydney and appeared as Gerhilde and 3rd Norn in Opera Australia’s Der Ring des Nibelungen in Melbourne. In 2014, Anke returned to Perth as Tosca.