Katharina Rössner

The soprano and voice teacher Katharina Rössner studied voice at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna with Franz Lukasovsky as well as Lied and oratorio with Edith Mathis. She gained further artistic inspiration through masterclasses with distinguished musicians including Helena Łazarska, Graziella Sciutti and Walter Berry.

After completing her studies, she performed major roles in her Fach both as a member of a theatre ensemble and as a freelance singer, including Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte) and Sylva Varescu (Die Csárdásfürstin). Her singing career in opera, operetta and sacred music has taken her throughout Europe and the United States. In the USA she appeared in roles including Micaëla (Carmen) and Mrs. Nolan in The Medium with the New Orleans Opera Association under Robert Lyall. Choral and vocal ensemble work – particularly in opera, for example with the Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor – further complements her broad artistic activities.

Alongside her performing career, Rössner developed a strong interest in teaching, which she had already discovered during her studies. She therefore undertook doctoral studies in the United States, completing a Doctor of Musical Arts in Voice Science/Vocal Pedagogy at Louisiana State University in 2007. Her dissertation focused on the songs of the Austrian-American composer Erich Zeisl. During her time in Louisiana she worked as a teaching assistant and taught voice, French and German diction, and Basics of Singing.

Katharina Rössner is also committed to contemporary music. She has premiered numerous new works and several compositions have been written for her, including pieces by Alexander Wagendristel, Mark Engebretson, Heinz Reber and Christoph Cech. She has also recorded works by M. William Karlins for the Hungaroton label.

Her artistic work has been recognised with several awards, including first prize at the International Summer Academy competition, a prize from the Baton Rouge Opera Guild, and the International Robert Stolz Competition in Hamburg.

Following her return from the United States, Katharina Rössner was appointed lecturer in voice and vocal pedagogy at the University of the Arts Bremen. In 2012 she was appointed Professor of Voice and Vocal Pedagogy there. She is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing and the Bundesverband Deutscher Gesangspädagogen / European Voice Teachers Association and regularly participates in professional conferences and training programmes. She has also published articles in the journal VOX HUMANA.

Katharina Rössner has been Professor of Voice at the Mozarteum University Salzburg since 2017.