“Simone Schwark sang with all her heart and with bell-like clarity, giving full attention to her public.”
Soprano Simone Schwark specializes mainly in Early Music and has worked with conductors Gabriel Garrido, Florian Heyerick, Andreas Küppers, Andrew Parrott, Michael Schneider, Christoph Siebert, Carlos Spierer, Winfried Toll and Michael A. Willens. She has performed at the Göttingen Handel Festival, Genève été, the Ludwigsburg Castle Festival, the Weilburg Castle Concerts, and other venues. She has been engaged by the Giessen State Theatre as Barbara in Telemann’s Emma and Eginhard, and as Eurilla in Haydn’s Orlando Paladino. At the Wiesbaden State Theatre’s May Festival, she has taken on the roles of Drusilla in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea, Venus in John Blow’s Masque Venus and Adonis, and Oriana in Handel’s Amadigi di Gaula. Simone Schwark is also in demand as an ensemble singer and has appeared with the Johann Rosenmüller Ensemble and the Bachstiftung of St. Gallen. Solo CD recordings include collaborations with the Johann Rosenmüller Ensemble (in Telemann cantatas, music of the Reformation, and the St. John oratorio by Daniel Bollius) as well as Graupner cantatas with Florian Heyerick.
Simone Schwark grew up in Freiburg and studied music pedagogy, vocal pedagogy, and art song and opera singing in Freiburg, Stuttgart, and Frankfurt. Her teachers include Beata Heuer-Christen, Carole Meyer-Bruetting, and Thomas Heyer. She has also participated in masterclasses at the International Bach Academy as well as with Dunja Vejzovic, Klesie Kelly, Renée Morloc, and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. She has also received vital artistic guidance from Sibylla Rubens. From 2015 to 2018, Simone Schwark taught singing at the Justus Liebig University in Giessen. She also performs the art song repertoire with pianist Anna Naretto, especially focusing on German lieder along with Spanish and French works. She also works closely with harpsichordist Jürgen Banholzer, and the present recording is their first duo CD.
