- Voice
Born in Germany, Hedwig Fassbender studied piano in Köln and singing with Ernst Haefliger in Munich.
She is a member of the troupe of the Theater of Freiburg, then of Basel. From 1987, she performed, as a guest, in numerous European operas: Berlin, Düsseldorf, Barcelona, Prague, Milan, Vienna, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Paris, Lyon, Trieste, Geneva, in the lyric mezzo soprano repertoire. From 1997, she moved towards a more dramatic repertoire, and sang Judit, Baba the turk, Carmen, Fricka, Mère Marie, Mescalina etc. In 2001, she successfully debuted Isolde in Saarbrücken and now sings some soprano and "Zwischenfach" roles: Kundry, Herodias, and especially Kostelnička/Jenufa.
Hedwig Fassbender recorded Isolde (Tristan et Isolde) under the direction of Leif Segerstam (Naxos).
She gives more than 100 concerts of melodies and Lied and records, among others, Lieder by Richard Strauss, Othmar Schoeck, Luciano Berio. Hedwig Fassbender creates “Lied und Lyrik” at the Goethehaus in Frankfurt in collaboration with Hilko Dumno and Mathias Hermann. There have been seven cycles of this concert series.
She is Professor of singing at the Frankfurt Conservatory from 1999 to 2017. Among her students are Ruzan Mantashyan, Sebastian Kohlhepp, Kateryna Kasper, Gurgen Baveyan, Katharina Magiera, Björn Bürger, Stine Marie Fischer, Marie Seidler, Esther Dierkes, Julian Habermann…
In 2014, she created "exzellenz labor oper" which is a training course for young singers and vocal leaders. To date, more than 100 young musicians have taken this course and received “the finishing touch”. In 2018 she completed this format with “exzellenz labor lied” which took place at the Villecroze academy in 2018.
Hedwig Fassbender works regularly in opera studios at the Zurich Opera, Paris National Opera, Theater Basel, Oper Frankfurt, Staatsoper Berlin and Teatr Wielki in Warsaw.
Since 2017, she has been a certified systemic coach; she works with artists for the development of their careers, as well as for the preparation of teaching positions in higher education.
She teaches at the Villecroze Musical Academy in 2015, 2018 and 2025.
Photo : © Matthias Baus