Within just a few years, Swiss soprano Regula Mühlemann has established herself as one of the leading sopranos of her generation. Equally at home on the operatic and concert stages, she is acclaimed by audiences and critics alike for her exceptionally beautiful timbre and sensitive performances, most recently at the 2022 Salzburg Festival: “Regula Mühlemann outstanding as a radiant Pamina” (The Telegraph).
Within just a few years, Swiss soprano Regula Mühlemann has established herself as one of the leading sopranos of her generation. Equally at home on the operatic and concert stages, she is acclaimed by audiences and critics alike for her exceptionally beautiful timbre and sensitive performances, most recently at the 2022 Salzburg Festival: “Regula Mühlemann outstanding as a radiant Pamina” (The Telegraph).
Performances in the 2023/24 season begin at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, where she graces the stage as Pamina in Cédric Klapisch’s new production of The Magic Flute under the musical direction of François-Xavier Roth. She joins Theater Basel for a revival of Rigoletto, in which she will perform the role of Gilda. The Vienna Staatsoper welcomes her back as Adele in a revival of Die Fledermaus, and with the Opera de Monte Carlo Opera she will be heard in a role debut as Marie in La fille du Régiment. Her musical journey extends to enthralling concerts across various renowned venues, such as New York’s Carnegie Hall (in her recital debut), London’s Wigmore Hall, and Dublin’s RIAM Concert Hall. Mühlemann is heard as the soprano soloist in Carmina Burana with the Orchestre National de France in at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, a concert being broadcast live on France Musique radio and available for unlimited streaming on francemusique.fr. In Monte Carlo she is heard in Brahms’ Requiem, while Bern’s Stadttheater and the Kultur- und Kongresszentrum Luzern become settings for her Strauss Lieder. The grandeur of the Abbaye de Fontevraud, Nantes, and Angers resonate with her voice in concerts alongside the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire. With the Grafenegg Sommernachtsgala, Mühlemann is heard in concert with tenor Pene Pati, accordionist Martynas Levickis, and the Tonkünstler Orchestra of Lower Austria, led by Marta Gardolinska. This concert is set to be broadcast live on TV ORF III and available for streaming on Fidelio. In Copenhagen’s DR Konserthuset, she collaborates with Rolando Villazón and Chamber music ensembles Plattform K+K Vienna 2024. She further joins the Staatskapelle Dresden and Christian Thielemann for Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 “Symphony of a Thousand”.
An unequivocal highlight of Regula Mühlemann’s 2023/2024 season is receiving the prestigious Opus Klassik award in the “Vocal Solo” category for her 2022 released CD “Fairy Tales” in collaboration with CHAARTS Chamber Artists under Sony Classical Label. She is honored to add her second Opus Klassik accolade to her collection.
In the previous season, she took on the role of Euridice in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, conducted by Thomas Hengelbrock at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. She also joined Hengelbrock, along with the Balthasar Neumann Choir and Orchestra, in Hamburg and Dortmund where they presented the same title in concert performances at the Konzerthaus Dortmund and the Great Hall of the Elbphilharmonie. Following her Paris engagement, she returned to Theater Basel, marking her role debut as Gilda in Rigoletto. Additionally, she made her house debut at the Hamburg State Opera, portraying Donna Fiorilla in Rossini’s Il turco in Italia.
Her presence on the concert stage has been equally captivating. Touring with CHAARTS Chamber Artists, she performed across Switzerland, Austria, and Germany, presenting the program from her new CD “Fairy Tales”. The Swiss soprano enchanted audiences with the program of her latest CD “Songs from Home” in Switzerland and at the Vienna Konzerthaus. She embarked on tours with the Basel Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Umberto Benedetti Michelangeli, and showcased a curated Mozart repertoire in Vienna Konzerthaus’s “Great Voices” cycle. This included mesmerizing arias from roles such as Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Constance (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), and Zaïde. Her musical journey continued with captivating concerts and recitals at prominent venues such as the Berlin Philharmonie, Alte Oper Frankfurt/Main, Casino Bern, Freiburg Münster, and Madrid. She enchanted audiences in Liechtenstein and graced the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg. Collaborating with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and conducted by Jonathan Nott, she delivered two Christmas concerts in Lausanne and Geneva. She also showcased her talent by singing Mater gloriosa in Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 at the Teatro alla Scala under the baton of Riccardo Chailly and at the Royal Albert Hall in London, conducted by Vasily Petrenko. Additionally, her melodious voice resonated at the Omaggio a Palladio Festival in Vicenza, where she performed Haydn’s The Creation under the musical direction of Sir András Schiff.
In February 2020 Regula Mühlemann made her house and role debut at the Vienna State Opera as Adina in Otto Schenk’s legendary production of Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore. In past seasons, the young soprano sang Juliette (Roméo et Juliette) at Theatre Lucerne, as well as the role of Echo (Ariadne auf Naxos) at the Teatro alla Scala in Milano, with Franz Welser-Möst conducting. She gave guest performances as Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel) at the Teatro Regio in Turin, sang Blonde (Die Entführung aus dem Serail) with Teatro San Carlo in Naples and Rosina in Mozart’s La finta semplice at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. She also sang Serpetta in Hans Neuenfels’ new production of La finta giardiniera at the State Opera Berlin, Isolier in Rossini’s Le comte Ory opposite Ceclia Bartoli at the Theater an der Wien as well as Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro) with the Grand Théâtre de Genève (2018) and the Zurich Opera in 2019. In summer 2021 she took over very short notice the role of Bellezza in Händel’s oratorio Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno, alsongside Cecilia Bartoli with enormous success at the Salzburg Festival. She has also performed several opera roles in concert: Most recently as Susanna in semi-concert performances during the Salzburg Mozart Week under the direction of Sir András Schiff. Before that as Elisa in Il re pastore (Mozart) with “Les Arts Florissants” under the musical direction of William Christie with concerts in Paris, Barcelona, Vienna and with the Lucerne Festival. As part of the Yehudi Menuhin Festival in Gstaad, she sang Zerlina (Don Giovanni). Furthermore, she sang Marzelline in Beethoven’s Fidelio at the Théatre des Champs-Elysées Paris as well as concert performances of Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, opposite Joyce di Donato and with Rolando Villazón in the title role. The concerts have been recorded and released by Deutsche Grammophon as part of their Mozart Cycle with Yannick Nézet-Séguin. She has also sung Papagena (Die Zauberflöte) and Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro for them as part of this Series.
Regula Mühlemann can be seen in several films: in the feature film “Hunter’s Bride”, based on Weber’s Der Freischütz and in the film adaption of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice. She also can be seen in Bernhard Weber’s documentary “The sound of the voice” from 2018.
On the concert stage, Regula Mühlemann has performed amongst others Mozart’s Great Mass in c-Minor, Lobgesang by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots (Mozart) she performed under the baton of Alessandro De Marchi with the Münchner Rundfunkorchester in 2017. Regula Mühlemann was invited to perform Mahler‘s Symphony NO. 4 with the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden under the baton of Mariss Jansons with the Easter Festival Salzburg in 2019. Regula Mühlemann has been working with renowned conductors such as Franz Welser-Möst, Valery Gergiev, Nello Santi, Sir Simon Rattle, Daniel Harding, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Pablo Heras-Casado, Ivor Bolton, Pinchas Steinberg and Gianandrea Noseda and has been a guest of the most prestigious concert halls in Europa. Her US debut was a tour with the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart and Hans-Christoph Rademann in 2017, performing Bach‘s Passions as well as his Mass in h-minor. That same year, she made her debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Manfred Honeck (Exsultate, jubilate) and sang Haydn’s The Seasons under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin in Philadelphia. Other highlights are performing Messiah with the Kammerorchester Basel, The Creation (Haydn) under Ádám Fischer at Budapest’s MÜPA, Schumann’s The Paradise and the Peri with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under the direction of Daniele Gatti.
Regula Mühlemann is an exclusive recording artist of Sony Classical. Her debut album Mozart Arias (2016) was not only highly acclaimed by critics, but also awarded with the Deutsche Schallplattenkritik (Bestenliste). Her second album Cleopatra (2017) was also very well received („how captivating beautiful does the voice alloyed with gold and silver [sound]”, „the recitals stands out, sweepingly said, due to the musical sequence of pictures as well as the encounter with a vocal and technical giftedness” Jürgen Kesting/Fono Forum). In 2018, Regula Mühlemann was awarded with the OPUS Klassik as „Newcomer of the Year“. In autumn 2019 her third solo album Songs from home was released with a selection of wonderful songs by Schubert and Swiss composers. In 2020, the fourth solo album Mozart II was released, also with the Basel Chamber Orchestra and Umberto Benedetti Michelangeli, for which she was awarded the OPUS Klassik for Solo Recording Voice (Opera) in 2021. For her fifth album Fairy Tales (release on October 7th, 2022), she worked out a special concept with a musical selection of “magical” pieces that take the listener into the world of fairies, elves and nymphs.
Regula Mühlemann was born in Lucerne and studied at the Conservatory of Lucerne with Prof. Barbara Locher. Her first experiences of the opera stage took place at the Lucerne Theatre and afterwards engagements took her to the Teatro La Fenice in Venice (Despina in Così fan tutte), and then in summer 2012 she made her debut at the Salzburg Festival in von Winter’s opera Das Labyrinth. Regula Mühlemann has received numerous awards and prizes and in 2015, she was Finalist of the “Cardiff Singer of the World Competition”.
© CSAM, August 2023
