Henriette Schellenberg

Schellenberg, Henriette

Henriette (Cornies) Schellenberg. Soprano, b Backnang, Germany 9 Aug 1947; Reifeprüfung (Nordwestdeutsche Musikakademie) 1975. After moving to Canada as a child, Schellenberg studied in Winnipeg with Sylvia MacDonald and Robert Irwin and in Detmold, Germany at the Nordwestdeutsche Musikakademie 1970-5 with Theodore Lindenbaum and Gunter Weissenborn. A concert and oratorio singer, Schellenberg made her professional debut in 1979 singing Mozart's Requiem with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and her US debut in 1988 singing Bach's Magnificat with the Boston SO. In 1989 she toured the Far East with the Boston SO singing Mahler's Second Symphony. She has been soloist for conductor and Bach specialist Helmuth Rilling on several occasions, including a 1989 Stuttgart performance of Bach's Christmas Oratorio, a 1990 tour featuring Bach's Mass in B Minor, and a 1991 performance of Mozart's Thamos: King of Egypt with the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. She has sung with leading orchestras in Canada and the USA, and also at the Bethlehem Bach Festival, the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart, the 1989 International Choral Festival, the Tanglewood Festival, and the Würzburg Bach Festival. Her 20th-century repertoire includes Ives' Celestial Country, Poulenc's Gloria, Vaughan Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem, and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Requiem.

Schellenberg's recordings include Wachet Auf! (1989, Dorian DOR-90127 CD) with the Bach Choir of Bethlehem conducted by Greg Funfgeld, Beethoven's Mass in C (1990, Telarc, CD-80248) with the Atlanta SO conducted by Robert Shaw, and Bach Magnificat (1990 Music Masters 7059-2-C) conducted by Blanche Moyse.

Schellenberg is distinguished by the clarity and flexibility of her voice, her technical assurance and the ease with which she moves through her range. She has been praised for the warmth of her interpretation of oratorio and for her ability to project the intimacy of the art song repertoire, particularly German Lied.