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The Dutch tenor, Olivier Kemler, is studying at the Prins Claus Conservatorium in Groningen (since December 2022), where he is a fourth-year bachelor's student with teachers Hanneke de Wit and Paul Triepels. He began his singing career at the age of 7 with the Roder Jongenskoor in Groningen (since 2010). Until the age of 15, he sang as a boy soprano, after which he further developed his tenor voice after breaking his voice. He spent the second half of his third year at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln (since April 2025) as part of an Erasmus exchange with the German tenor Professor Gideon Poppe. In 2024, he won both the 1st Prize and the Audience Award at the regional finals of the Prinses Christina Concours and sang in the Nederlandse Nationale Semifinals. Last summer, he was the youngest participant to reach the finals of the Cesti Alte Musik Singing Competition in Innsbruck, which focused on Baroque opera.
Olivier Kemler is regularly invited to sing tenor arias in, among others, J.S. Bach's Matthäus-Passion BWV 244 and George Frideric Handel's Messiah. In December 2025, he will also be heard in J.S. Bach's Mass in B minor BWV 232. On the opera stage, he performed the role of Aeneas in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, in collaboration with the Luthers Bach Ensemble. He also sang the roles of Oronte in G.F. Handel's Alcina and Monostatos in W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. In the summer of 2026, he will sing the role of Kolja in Bob Zimmerman's opera of the same name, with a libretto by Arthur Japin. The musical direction is in the hands of conductor Roel Vogel and the direction is by Jeroen Cardozo.
Besides singing, Olivier Kemler has a great passion for rowing, and he also plays squash and football. He currently lives in Groningen. |
