Scholarships
Foundation and funding
We are delighted to announce our scholarship winners for the 2022/23 season.
They are, we believe, three very interesting young artists:
Jenni Hietala, Soprano, Studio of the Vienna State Opera
Greta Doveri, Soprano, Accademia alla Scala, Milano
Le Bu, Bass-Baritone, Lindemann Sound Artists Program of the Metropolitan Opera, New York
Above all, I would like to thank the Hildegard Zadek Foundation for supporting my training at the Accademia di Perfezionamento per Cantanti Lirici del Teatro alla Scala. I am convinced that the scholarship provides a truly significant assistance, because it enables a young person like me to experience an environment of great artistic prestige and pursue the study and promotion of Italian Belcanto, which has been a musical highlight of my country for centuries.
My generation never experienced Hilde Zadek on stage, but we know her through her recordings and because of her biography. I am all the more pleased and honoured that the Hildegard Zadek Foundation has decided to support my training at the Vienna State Opera Studio with a scholarship established in honour of this great soprano. It is a wonderful gift to be able to learn and perform on the stage where she herself sang for many years.
It means a lot to me to be able to trace the footsteps of Hilde Zadek, who excelled as an artist in roles that I also hope to sing one day. Her long and by no means easy life is an inspiration to me. Hilde Zadek set us an example of what it means to be a great person as well as an artist.
I would like to thank the Hildegard Zadek Foundation from the bottom of my heart for their generosity.
I'm so honored to be chosen as the recipient of Hildegard Zadek scholarship this year. The Foundation’s generosity really means a lot to me and helps me so much during this transition from a student to a professional singer. Your acknowledgment really boosts my confidence to keep exploring my way into the opera world and in launching my career. The selfless dedication to this art form by the Hildegard Zadek Foundation will always be remembered by the young singers like me that have benefited from this generous award.
I was incredibly happy to win first prize in the International Hilde Zadek Singing Competition; it was motivating, inspiring and encouraging. I would like to thank the Hilde Zadek Foundation from the bottom of my heart for their great support for my musical and artistic development. Participating in the Opera Studio at the Vienna State Opera is a very important and valuable stage in my musical education. Here, I can learn and practice a wide range of skills: musical, vocal, stylistic, phonetic and scenic.
As part of the opera studio, I had numerous master classes and lessons with such wonderful musicians as Michael Kraus, Linda Watson, Daniela Fally, Adrian Eröd, Bo Skovhus, Camilla Nylond, Louise Alder, Helmut Deutsch.
During the last season, I appeared on the stage of the Vienna State Opera as Vertraute (Elektra, R. Strauss) and as Second Flower Girl (Parsifal, R. Wagner); at the Volksoper Wien, I performed as Queen of the Night (The Magic Flute, W.A. Mozart) and Morning Bird (Leyla and Medjnun, D. Glanert). I have also sung in various Opera Studio concerts.
I am so grateful that the Hildegard Zadek Foundation is sponsoring my place at the Opera Studio this season! I am working with great enthusiasm and hope to do justice to the confidence placed in me. I would be very happy if I could invite the members of the foundation to one of my performances.
Anna Nekhames
I had the great fortune to meet Hilde Zadek through my vocal professor Maria Venuti, when I was studying at the HfM Karlsruhe. We were able to work with her in our singing class on several occasions and benefitted from her incredible musicality and experience. Each of these encounters was of special value to me, shaped me and helped me to grow, both as an artist and as a person. Her top priority was always that a singer must sing from the heart in order to be able to convey emotions. This is something that accompanies me and that I aspire to every day in my professional life.
I am very proud to have been awarded a scholarship from the Hildegard-Zadek-Foundation in 2016! The financial support enabled me to travel and participate in many auditions and competitions. In addition, I won two special prizes at the Hilde Zadek Competition in Vienna in 2017, where I came to the attention of my current agent. She helped me to get my present engagement at the Stuttgart State Opera and to participate in the Young Singers Project at the 2018 Salzburg Festival, all of which, and more, probably wouldn't have happened without the HZF competition.
There is a moment I will never forget: my professor Maria Venuti and I were sitting in the classroom listening to a recording of Hilde Zadek ́s rendition of Marietta's song (from Korngold's Die tote Stadt). The recording moved us both to tears. Hilde Zadek was an incredible singer and artist, and a true inspiration to me.
Carina Schmieger
At the end of my studies at the Hochschule für Musik in Karlsruhe in the summer of 2018, I was one of the last to receive a scholarship from the Hildegard Zadek Foundation, personally awarded by Mrs. Zadek herself. The name Hildegard Zadek had been known to me for a long time. I first encountered her through my research into Menotti's The Consul, as I was preparing a scene for the final exam of my master's degree in vocal pedagogy in Basel. Hilde had sung the role of Magda Sorel in the Vienna premiere. As a student in Karlsruhe, I didn't know for some time who this lady was, who was always sitting in on our classes, until a fellow student told me. I wouldn't have dared to speak to her, and to be selected by her for a scholarship on the basis of an audition was and is therefore an even greater honour for me.
First and foremost, the scholarship enabled me to be more relaxed about planning trips that were important for my further development as a singer. After my studies, my path initially took me to the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where I performed for one season on a scholarship from the Manfred Strahscheer Foundation. As early as October 2018, I was able to make my debut as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, staged by Roland Schwab. This was followed, in June 2019, by the leading role in a world premiere (Delirio), penned by Lebanese composer Zad Moultaka and presented at the Tischlerei, the small house of the Deutsche Oper Berlin. In the following season (19/20), I was accepted into the solo ensemble. In addition to roles such as the First Lady in Mozart's TheMagic Flute, Berta in Rossini's Barber of Seville and Anna in Verdi's Nabucco, in February 2020, I was able to successfully make my debut as Konstanze in Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio. Further highlights for the coming season include Fiordiligi (Cosi fan tutte) and Leonore in Beethoven's Leonore (the early version of Fidelio) and further performances as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni.
I am very grateful to the Hildegard Zadek Foundation for its support at the beginning of my singing career; especially in the transitional phase from student to opera singer, the scholarship gave me the financial backing to meet essential professional expenses.
Flurina Stucki
My name is Kai Kluge. I am a 30-year old tenor and have been a member of the Stuttgart State Opera ensemble since the 2017/18 season. It was a great honor for me to meet Hildegard Zadek during my studies. I will never forget how intently and perceptively she listened, when I auditioned for a scholarship from your foundation. The scholarship was a great help to me at the time, as it gave me financial leeway and time to audition. For many singers, the transition from learning to performing is not easy. A few years ago, I found a recording of Hilde Zadek singing the aria "Dich, teure Halle" from Tannhäuser that moved and impressed me profoundly. It is not only my favorite recording of this aria, but much more besides.
Kai Kluge
Meeting Hilde Zadek was a very great and impressive experience. I had already heard the name in China, and when I got the opportunity to apply for a scholarship in 2018, I naturally seized it with immense gratitude. Being awarded a scholarship made me very happy. To meet such a great artist, who has invested so much in the future of young singers and provided them with help and encouragement, is something I will always remember.
With the scholarship, I could take time to work with répétiteurs and plan trips to introduce myself to theatres, without worrying about travel expenses. In 2018, I had a good guest contract at the Rossini Festival in Bad Wildbad.
Today, I hold a position as voice professor at Yangda University in Shandong, China. Our second child was born in Sept. 2019 in China. My connection with the Rossini Festival in Wildbad is very good, and there is a great interest in young Chinese singers. I am continuing to build my solo career in China and Germany.
Thank you very much for all the help I had through the scholarship.
Xu Xiang