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The Canadian-Dutch soprano, teacher, and enthousiast, Karin Timmerman, followed her passion for singing by beginning her studies in classical vocal performance at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Canada, where she obtained her Bachelor of Music degree in Classical Voice Performance (2010-2014). In 2017, she received the Grada van Beek-Donner Scholarship, a full music scholarship for the 2017-2018 academic year, and moved to the Netherlands, and began her master’s studies at Codarts Conservatory Rotterdam, where she studied with Dutch baritone, Henk Neven. In July 2019, she graduated cum laude from Codarts with her Master of Classical Voice. She has performed Cleopatra with the Codarts Opera Production of George Frideric Handel's Giulio Cesare as well as the role of Fiordiligi in Codarts’ 2018 production of W.A. Mozart's Così fan tutte. In the summer of 2017 she sang Eurilla in the Mozarteum’s production of Haydn’s opera Orlando Paladino in Salzburg, Austria.
Alongside her studies, Karin Timmerman has also participated in various competitions. In the Kiwanis Fraser Valley International Music Festival (Canada) she won first prize for a song cycle and second prize for operatic solo along with the James R. Ontko Provincial Delegate Award Classical Voice – Senior Class and Davaughn Studio Awards. She also won first place in the NATS Vancouver Chapter Songfest Intermediate Division Three. In April 2018 she was a finalist in the Prix d’Harmonie Competition in Rotterdam where she won the “Publieks prijs” (Audience Prize). In March 2020 she was a semi-finalist in the International Student LiedDuo competition. She has had the opportunity to to study and/or perform in master-classes with great pedagogues and performers such as: Martyn van den Hoek, Margreet Honig, Frans Huijts, Rhoslyn Jones, David Jones, Melanie Krueger, Charlotte Margiono, Alison Nystrom, Marcel Reijans, Charlotte Riedijk, Bernard Turgeon, Gail Suderman.
During her master’s studies at Codarts Rotterdam, Karin Timmerman had the opportunity to conduct research where she explored and developed her skills as an interdisciplinary performer. She researched and experimented with the integration of classical voice and contemporary dance, creating an original vocal-dance performance of Ravel’s Shéhérazade. This included intensive contemporary dance training, original choreography, and the development of an interdisciplinary performance practice. The outcome of this research was presented to the public in June of 2019.
Based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, Karin Timmerman has an active performing career ranging from opera roles, to recital, concert and oratorio with a “brilliant” voice that “charms” and “sparkles on stage”*. During the COVID-19 pandemic she was one of three artists in Nicole Jordan’s documentary art film Lockdown Baby. In this film about pregnant performers during the COVID-19 lockdown, she created a performance that combined the disciplines of poetry, dancing and singing. Lockdown Baby has since been selected as a Semi-Finalist in New York International Women Festival, Exceptional Merit Award for Documentary at WRPN Women’s International Film Festival and has won Best Women Empowerment Short Award at Florida Short Film Festival. She is creator and co-founder of SOMA ensemble, a collaborative interdisciplinary collective that works to bring music and movement together. She performed with SOMA ensemble throughout the 2022-2023 season. In 2023-2024 season she also be performed as soloist in a number of projects including the W.A. Mozart's Coronation Mass and Vespers with HKKR and as Dafne in G.F. Handel's Apollo e Dafne with Apollo Ensemble. Alongside her stage performance, she has an extensive concert and lieder repertoire ranging from: J.S. Bach's Matthäus-Passion BWV 244, G.F. Handel's Messiah, W.A. Mozart's Coronation Mass, works by Debussy, Benjamin Britten, Alban Berg, Arnold Schoenberg to Ravel’s Shéhérazade.
*Nancy Hermiston, Kiwanis Fraser Valley International Music Festival, 2016 |
