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The German soprano and singing teacher, Helena Bickel, studied concert and opera singing in the class of Professor Dorothea Wirtz at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg, where she obtained her Bachelor of Music degree in February 2016. Numerous master-classes and academies in song with Anne Le Bozec, Axel Bauni and Jan Philip Schulze, among others, enriched her education. She is currently being coached by the world renowned singing teacher Margreet Honig in Amsterdam. She has been a successful candidate in multiple singing competitions at home and abroad. In 2015 she was a finalist in the Paula Salomon-Lindberg competition “Das Lied” in Berlin and in 2017 in the George Enescu International competition of Vocal Art in Paris.
Helena Bickel is a much sought-after soloist and has built up a broad concert repertoire in recent years. She has performed the solo parts in many of the standard oratorio works, among them: Carl Heinrich Graun's Der Tod Jesu, J.S. Bach's Matthäus-Passion BWV 244, Johannes-Passion BWV 245 and Weihnachts-Oratorium BWV 248; George Frideric Handel's Messiah, W.A. Mozart's Requiem, Felix Mendelssohn's Elijah (conducted by Christian Drengk, June 2018) and Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle (conducted by Manuel Nonnenmann, March 2018). Recent highlights are W.A. Mozart's Exsultate, Jubilate conducted by Edward Caswell and a children’s concert with the Freiburger Barockorchester conducted by René Jacobs. She has also worked with conductors Martin Schmeding, Hans-Michael Beuerle, Jörg Straube, Frank Markowitsch, Christian Drengk and Hannes Reich.
Helena Bickel a also has a broad contemporary music repertoire. A highlight was the world premiere of the Lieder cycle Weltfrieden und so by composer Clemens K. Thomas. She was scheduled to perform at the 100-year anniversary of the Donaueschinger Music Days in 2021, but unfortunately the event was cancelled due to COVID-19. In March she performed the world premiere of a new work by Manfred Schreier as well as works by Gerard Bunk in St Reinoldi in Dortmund, Germany.
As part of the regular cast of The Young Opera Company Freiburg and the Institute for Musical Theatre Freiburg, Helena Bickel sang the following operatic roles: Mrs. Jaffet in Benjamin Britten's Noye’s Fludde, Komár in Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen, Sandrina in W.A. Mozart's La finta giardiniera and Julia in E. Künneke's operetta Der Vetter aus Dingsda. In August 2019, she performed several opera scenes at the Amsterdam Canal Festival Amsterdam as part of the Performing Opera programme.
For the past several years Helena Bickel has worked in partnership with film composer Matthias Weber. In the 2019 Austrian documentary Wem erzählen? she performed a movement from the Mauthausen Cantata by Mikis Theodorakis. |
