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The Dutch mezzo-soprano, Xenia Meijer, studied at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague where she graduated 'cum laude' in 1992, and was awarded with the Nicolai-Prize 1992 for her interpretation of works by Rossini.
Xenia Meijer is a regular member of Al Ayre Español and la Sfera Armoniosa, with whom she recorded numerous CD’s. Various CD’s with Al Aye Español were awarded, among others with the Diapason d’Or.
In the opera world Xenia Meijer is also very successful; in the past years she sang important roles with Opera Factory, The Nationale Reisopera, Opera aan het Spui, Opera Zuid, the Grand Theatre de Genève, Teatro de Palma de Mallorca and the Komische Oper Berlin. The staged production of Dido and Aeneas with Opera aan het Spui, in which she sang the part of Dido, was filmed for the Dutch television and has been broadcasted many times. For many years she sang the parts of Despina in W.A. Mozart’s Così fan tutte as well as Zerlina in W.A. Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Komische Oper Berlin in the famous stagings of Harry Kupfer, conducted by Yakov Kreizberg. In 1999 she was invited by the Danish Radio to sing the title-role in Georges Bizet’s Carmen. In 2001 she performed the part of Proserpina in Orfeo by Monteverdi in a successful staging by Erik Vos in the Carré theatre in Amsterdam.
Xenia Meijer worked with many world-famous conductors such as: Michel Corboz, Iván Fischer and Adam Fischer, Vladimir Spivakov, Viktor Libermann, Kenneth Montgomery, Jaap van Zweden and Baroque specialists such as Ton Koopman, Jos van Immerseel, Paul McCreesh and Nicholas Kok.
In 1996 Xenia Meijer was awarded with the prestigious Philip Morris Finest Selection 1996 Classical Music as the first, and so far only vocalist. This prize gave her the opportunity to record a solo-CD with operatic aria’s together with the Neues Berliner Kammerorchester conducted by Jac van Steen. This CD was nominated for the Edison Award in 1998. In this same year she was invited by the Concertgebouw Amsterdam to make the “Rising Stars” recital tour, that brought her to the important concert halls of Europe: Cité de la Musique in Paris, The Musikverein in Vienna, The Symphony Hall Birmingham, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Konserthus Stockholm, Athens, Cologne and Frankfurt.
Being a specialist in the field of early Spanish and Latin American music, Xenia Meijer has been invited to sing at the Chiquitos Festival 2004 and 2006 in Bolivia together with Musica Temprana, one of the most remarkable ensembles to interpret unedited Latin American music.
Her staged interpretation of Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire at the Holland Festival Early Music 2004 was received with great enthousiasm by both press and audience. The press praised her refined dramatism, and her rendering being as dramatic as it was poetic, showing all kinds of expression. In november 2004 Xenia Meijer sang the solo-part in El Amor Brujo by Manuel de Falla with the Dutch Radio Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Juan Pons. In the spring of 2005 she interpreted the part of Baba the Turk in The Rake’s Progress by Igor Stravinsky in Winterthur (Switzerland).
In 2007-2008 season Xenia Meijer made a remarkable impression in a staged recital production called De Kus (The Kiss) in which she showed not only her classical vocal abilities, but also sang pop- and fadosongs. In the season 2008-2009 she is invited to sing the part of Ottavia in Monteverdi’s Incoronazione di Poppea with the Italian ensemble La Venexiana (Director: Claudio Cavina), one of this moments leading groups to perform Monteverdi, at first on tour (Paris, Milan, Regensburg etc.) and then to record the whole opera for GLOSSA.
Xenia Meijer is also an acclaimed voice teacher. Among her pupils and/or singers who have attended her master-classes: Emilio Aguilar (Tenor), Viola Blache (Soprano), Iris Bouman (Mezzo-soprano), Daniëlla Buijck (Mezzo-soprano/Contralto), Lucía Caihuela (Soprano), Lucie Chartin (Soprano), Jasper Dijkstra (Tenor), Emma Fekete (Soprano), David van Laar (Counter-tenor), Wolfgang Lange (Conductor), Enide Lebrocquy (Soprano), Gabriëlle Nijhuis (Mezzo-soprano/Contralto), Sophia Patsi (Mezzo-soprano), Petra Stoute (Soprano), Hansje van Welbergen (Soprano), Rianne Wilbers (Soprano). |
