Dutch contralto Ingeborg Bröcheler, holding degrees in both Criminology and Public Administration, worked as a policy advisor for the Dutch government for several years before moving into the world of opera in 2014. She studied Drama at the Amsterdam School of Arts, got her musical education at Schumann Academy, and continued studying with Elène Golgevit (CNSM) in Paris. Currently she is coached by Marion van den Akker and Perrin Manzer Allen (Berlin). In 2024 she started her studies ‘orchestral conducting’ at Bourdon Conducting Academy.
Ever since Ingeborg decided to follow her singing vocation, she appeared as ‘third witch’ in the world premiere of Louis Andriessen’s last opera ("Grotesk") Theatre of the World, stage direction by Pierre Audi, under baton of Reinbert de Leeuw, with both the L.A. Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall (USA) and the Asko Schönberg Ensemble at Royal Theatre Carré Amsterdam. She was part of the Dutch National Opera talent program and talent cover for ‘Polinesso’ in Händel’s Ariodante conducted by Andrea Marcon with Concerto Köln. She sang ‘Bradamante’ in Händel’s Alcina with Kenneth Montgomery. Ingeborg sang one of the lead roles, ‘ALTO’, in a prize winning Opera Forward Production ‘Before: Present’: a unique collaboration of Amsterdam Dance Event and DNO, staged by Sjaron Minailo. She appeared as ‘Présidente de Tourvel’ in the Vivaldi/Moretto production of Opera2Day, based on the epistolary novel ‘Liaisons Dangereuses’ by Choderlos de Laclos, with the Netherlands Bach Society. This production was retaken in Switserland, where she sang one of the other leads, ‘Vicomte de Valmont’, under baton of Facundo Agudin (TOBS, CH & LI). She covered ‘Aunty’ in Britten’s Peter Grimes and was asked to embody title role in Händel’s Giulio Cesare at the Blackwater Valley Opera Festival 2024 (IR) with Nicolas McGegan and the Irish Baroque Orchestra, in direction of Tom Creed. She sung over 60 performances of 3rd Lady/The Magic Flute (3e Amazone/Mozarts Zauberflöte: The Next Generation) in direction of Theu Boermans. Season 26/27 she will appear as 'Angela Green' in Jonathan Dove's latest opera 'Uprising', a coproduction of Opera Zuid, Dutch National Opera and Het Geluid Maastricht, under baton of Manoj Kamps.
Ingeborg is frequently asked to sing divers concert repertoire, both in the Netherlands and internationally, from early composers like Bach and Händel, via Mahler and Dvořák, to the (relatively) modern ones like Britten and Martin, Louis Andriessen and John Adams. She made her triple Concertgebouw Amsterdam debut in 2018 as alto solo in Bach’s St. John Passion, Bach's St. Matthew Passion as well as Händel's Messiah (Dutch Händel Society), reappearing in this venue several times after. That year, too, she made her debut at Château de Versailles (FR) and BOZAR Brussels (BE) with A Nocte Temporis. Ingeborg sang with Residentie Orkest under baton of Gabriella Teychenné, made her debut with Orchestre National de Lille (FR) with Jan Willem de Vriend, sang Rückert Lieder Mahler in arrangement for wind ensemble, has performed Brahms unparalleled Rhapsody for alto multiple times, and sang Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder in the Henze’s orchestration. She holds a special place in her heart for both Frank Martin’s ‘Sechs Monologe aus Jedermann’, premiered at DNO in a staged version by Klaus Bertisch, and Britten’s ‘A charm of lullabies’, premiered in Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ.
ITHACA
By C.P. Cavafy
Translated by T.C. Theoharis
From: 'Before time could change them'
As you set out toward Ithaca,
hope the way is long,
full of reversals, full of knowing.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
angry Poseidon you should not fear,
never will you find such things on your way
if thought stays lofty, if refined
emotion touches your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
savage Poseidon you will not meet,
if you do not carry them with you in your soul,
if your soul does not raise them up before you.
Hope the way is long.
May there be many summer mornings when,
with what pleasure, with what joy,
you shall enter first-seen harbors;
may you stop at Phoenician bazaars
and acquire the fine things sold there,
nacre and coral, amber and ebony,
and sensual perfumes, every kind there is,
as much as you can abundant sensual perfumes;
may you go to many Egyptian cities
to learn and learn again from those educated.
Keep Ithaca always in your mind.
Arriving there is what has been ordained for you.
But do not hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts many years;
and you dock an old man on the island,
rich with all that you've gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaca to give you wealth.
Ithaca gave you the beautiful journey.
Without her you would not have set out.
She has nothing more to give you.
And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not fooled you.
Having become so wise, with so much experience,
you will have understood, by then, what these Ithacas mean.
i: www.ingeborgbrocheler.com
e: info@ingeborgbrocheler.com
KVK: 60395664
Amsterdam based