Ivonne Fuchs

Biography

The German-Swedish singer Ivonne Fuchs has within only a few years made a name for herself as an internationally acclaimed opera and concert singer.

Season 2022/23 includes Marcellina (Le Nozze di Figaro) at Malmö Opera House, Strauss´"Vier letzte Lieder" in Leipzig and Ivonne´s debut as Kundry at Goetheanum in Dornach / Switzerland spring 2023.

In Season 2021/22 Ivonne returned to the Royal Opera House Stockholm where she performed "Mormor", "Blomstergumman" and "Rövarkärringen" in the Opera "The Snow Queen", sung in swedish.

Season 2019-2021 included Siegrune in Wagner’s Die Walküre at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples and Brigitta in E.W. Korngold’s Die tote Stadt at the National Opera in Helsinki. Ivonne is also to participate in the new production of Charlotte Engelkes, Lohengrin Dreams, performing at Norrlandsoperan in Umeå, Dansens Hus in Stockholm and Radialsystem Berlin.

In the season of 2016/17, Ivonne Fuchs guested as Marcellina (Le nozze di Figaro) and Bertha (Il barbiere di Siviglia) at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm.

In 2014, Ivonne could be seen as both Serse and Amastre in Handel’s Serse at Artipelag in Stockholm, under the lead of Jean-Christophe Spinosi. During the summer of 2015, she returned as Amastre at the Versailles Opera, and in the following spring she performed the same role in a series of Serse concerts in Madrid, Barcelona and Moscow, together with Ensemble Matheus. 

During 2011/12, Ivonne could be seen as Suzuki in Puccini's Madame Butterfly at Folkoperan in Stockholm, and as Waltraute in Die Walküre at Berliner Festtage. She was also engaged as cover for Waltraute in Wagner's Götterdämmerung at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 2011/12/13. Since then she has appeared as Federica in Verdi's Luisa Miller at Malmö Opera and returned to Berlin and Milan as Waltraute in Die Walküre. Waltraute she also sang at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in London, all under the baton of Daniel Barenboim.

Ivonne made her opera debut in the summer of 2009, at the Drottningholm Court Theatre in Stockholm, in the title role of Handel's Ariodante. Her international debut came in 2010 with Waltraute in Wagner's Die Walküre at Teatro alla Scala in Milan and Staatsoper in Berlin, under the baton of Daniel Barenboim. In the same season, 2010/11, she also sang Fricka and Grimgerde in Das Rheingold and Die Walküre at Wermland Opera in Sweden.

Ivonne Fuchs’ broad repertoire includes roles such as Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier), The composer (Ariadne auf Naxos), Brangäne (Tristan und Isolde), Ortrud (Lohengrin), Leonore (Fidelio) and Sieglinde (Die Walküre).

During her studies, Ivonne was awarded several scholarships and prizes, amongst others from Deutsche Wagner-Gesellschaft, The Royal Swedish Academy of Music and Drottningholm Court Theatre (2012 and 2015). In 2012, she was chosen for the prestigious Birgit Nilsson Scholarship. In the spring of 2016, she won the Grant Award of the Gerda Lissner International Wagner Competition in New York.

Her extensive concert schedule has brought Ivonne Fuchs to Japan, USA and almost every important concert stage in Europe. She has worked with conductors such as Daniel Harding, Manfred Honeck, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Helmuth Rilling, Philippe Herreweghe, Frans Brüggen, Paul Mc Creesh, Lars Ulrik Mortensen, Daniel Reuss, Peter Dijkstra, Stefan Parkman, Gary Cooper and Hans-Christoph Rademann. She is just as sought-after for her interpretation of the great works of J.S. Bach and G.F. Handel as for her romantic repertoire featuring Brahms' Alt-Rhapsodie, Verdi’s Requiem, Mendelssohn’s Elias and Gustav Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde.

Ivonne Fuchs has participated in several first performances of Sven-David Sandström's sacred works, including his Passion Ordet (The Word) under the lead of Manfred Honeck in Stockholm and Copenhagen, Messiah in the Swedish cities of Uppsala and Gävle, and Matthäuspassion at the Berliner Philharmonie under the lead of Stefan Parkman. In the spring of 2018, she could be heard in Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with Philharmonic Orchestra Tampere under Santtu Matias Rouvali and Alma Mahler’s Lieder für Orchester with The Swedish Wind Ensemble under Catherine Winnes.

The diversity of Ivonne Fuch’s artistry has been documented in several recordings. In 2011, Harmonia Mundi France published Johann Ludwig Bach’s Trauermusik with Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin under the lead of Hans-Christoph Rademann. In 2015, Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde was recorded and released by Capriccio/Deutschland Funk. During 2016, Ivonne was recognized for her recording of Benjamin Britten’s Songs for Voice & Guitar, published by Proprius Sweden. In 2017, DaCapo Records published an LP version of Niels W. Gade’s oratorio Erlkönigs Tochter with Concerto Copenhagen under the lead of Lars Ulrik Mortensen. 

Ivonne Fuchs is a passionate “Lied” singer  and often collaborates with pianist Anna Christensson. Together, the duo has won first prize in the Swedish Chamber Music Society's competition “Ordet & Tonen” and performed at several renowned chamber music festivals throughout Sweden and Germany. Following a number of celebrated performances of Franz Schubert’s Winterreise, the idea of collaborating with musician and composer Svante Henryson was born. Supported by the Swedish Arts Council, Henryson set to music 24 poems from the suite Frånvarons speglar (Mirrors of Absence) by Syrian poet Faraj Bayrakdar. The song cycle was created especially for Ivonne Fuchs and Anna Christensson and was first performed in September 2017 at Ulriksdals Slottsteater Confidencen in Stockholm. In June 2018, Fuchs and Christensson were invited to perform at Akademie der Schönen Künste, where their first performance of the cycle in German (Spiegel der Abwesenheit) was recorded by Bayrischer Rundfunk. In the autumn of 2019, Daphne Records Sweden will release a CD recording of the song cycle in Swedish.

In april 2023 NAXOS released her new album "Tränen von gestern Abend" with songs of Weill, Jennefelt & Korngold. 

Ivonne received her education at Hochschule für Musik Detmold, the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and the University of Opera in Stockholm, where she finished her master's degree in early 2010. For many years, Ivonne tock regulary private lessons for Christa Ludwig. She workes with Daniel Sarge in Vienna and currently get coached by Erika Sunnegårdh in Stockholm.

© Ivonne Fuchs Stockholm 2024