Annika Kaschenz is a young German mezzo soprano with a growing international reputation.  Her passionate and sensitive interpretations - and the warm timbre of her voice - have attracted media attention at important concert halls and theatres in Europe and North America.

Besides opera, her repertoire includes chamber, modern and popular music. She particularly enjoys performing in smaller venues offering an intimate atmosphere and closer audience contact.

In 2008 made her debut in Puccini’s La Rondine at the La Fenice Theatre in Venice. She worked with the conductors Myung-Whun Chung, Eliahu Inbal, Carlo Rizzi, Carlo Montanaro, Luciano Acocella e Roger Epple; with the stage directors Graham Vick, Robert Carsen, Eimuntas Nekrosius and Damiano Michieletto.

At the La Fenice Theater of Venice she sang the rolesof Stephano in Romeo and Juliette by C. Gounod, Feodor in Boris Godunov by M. Mussorgsky and Flora in La Traviata by G. Verdi. At the Opera House in Leipzig she was Suzy and Lolette in La Rondine by G. Puccini.

Whilst still studying she performed in many concerts in major concert-halls in Boston, Tallahassee, Daytona Beach, Detroit, Iowa City, Essen, Dresden, Frankfurt, Heidelberg, Copenhagen, Aarhus, Rotterdam, Milan, Lugano, London, Cambridge, Norwich, Edinburgh and Leicester.

She took part in a concert devoted to Erik Satie in the Essen Philharmonic Hall and perfromed with the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra of Prague in Italy.

Born in Cottbus in Germany, Annika displayed musical talent from an early age, and after taking piano and singing lessons in her home town conservatory won several youth competitions in Germany.

But it was being chosen to perform in concert with the Cottbus Staatstheater Symphonic Orchestra – an experience she found “captivating” – that made her decide to become a professional singer.

She trained at the Carl-Maria von Weber University of Music in Dresden. During that time she sang in first world performances in the Zwinger Saal in Dresden, was a soloist in British concerts with the Kings Lynn Festival Choir and the Cambridge Chorale and performed the “Te Deum” by G. Bizet and the “Mess of St. Cecily” by C. Gounod whilst on tour in the UK.

In 2005, after moving to Italy, she graduated with top marks from the R. Franci conservatory in Sienna, and was awarded a three-year scholarship by the Ursula Ströher Foundation in Basel.

In her constant bid to develop her vocal and expressive skills, Annika has attended  master-classes with KS Brigitte Fassbaender, Jennifer Chamandy, Alain Billard and Susan Davenny-Wyner.