Lucie Hilscherová - mezzo-soprano

Czech mezzo-soprano Lucie Hilscherová is an acclaimed interpreter of both operatic and concert repertoire.

She graduated in solo singing (under the guidance of Romana Feiferlíková), psychology and music education at the Pedagogical Faculty of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen. As part of the Erasmus project, she completed a study stay at Technische Universität Chemnitz, where she studied singing under Ursula Schönhals. She repeatedly participated in Bachakademie Stuttgart, led by Helmuth Rilling. She improved her artistic skills in master classes by Helen Donath, Hedwig Fassbender, Gabriela Beňačková, Zlatica Livorová and Dagmar Peck. She is currently a student of the doctoral programme in Music Theory and Pedagogy at the Faculty of Education of Charles University in Prague.

In 2006 she was awarded the Pilsner Orpheus Award for her representation of the city of Pilsen in the field of music. In 2008 she won the song category at the International Singing Competition Antonín Dvořák in Karlovy Vary and also won the Czech Radio Prague Prize, the Josef Herzl Prize, the Editio Bärenreiter Publishing House Prize, the J. K. Tyl Theatre Prize in Pilsen and the Miroslav Panský Prize – Sharon Chmel Resch Scholarship.In 2019, she won 3rd place in the concert category at the Cantilena Bayreuth singing competition and in 2012 she won 3rd place at the Musica Sacra competition in Rome. The final gala concert from the Basilica SS. XII Apostoli was broadcast by Vatican Radio and Television.

She has appeared as a guest soloist at the National Theatre in Prague, the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre in Ostrava, the J. K. Tyl Theatre in Pilsen, the Silesian Theatre in Opava, the State Theatre in Košice, and the Mannheim National Theatre, where she has performed roles such as Quickly (Verdi: Falstaff), Emilie (Verdi: Otello), Marcellina (Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro), Marta (Tchaikovsky: Iolanta), Nanny (Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov), Mother Mary (Poulenc: Dialogues of the Carmelites), Frau Reich (Nicolai: The Merry Wives of Windsor), and Klemenzia (Hindemith: Sancta Susanna). She has also interpreted many mezzo-soprano and alto roles of Czech opera, such as Witch (Dvořák: Rusalka), Panna Róza (Smetana: The Secret), Háta (Smetana: The Bartered Bride) or Martinka (Smetana: The Kiss).

One of her notable international achievements was portraying the role of Háta in Smetana's The Bartered Bride in Tokyo (2010) and London (2011). A concert performance of the opera at Barbican Hall with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Jiří Bělohlávek, was recorded by Harmonia Mundi.

As a sought-after concert singer, she realizes a wide musical spectrum, ranging from baroque to contemporary music. Her extensive repertoire includes Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 and Missa solemnis, Rossini's Stabat Mater, Mahler's Symphony No. 2, Symphony No. 3, and The song of the Earth, Dvořák's Stabat Mater and Requiem, Verdi's Requiem, Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky, and Janáček's Glagolitic Mass.

She has collaborated with renowned orchestras such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Bach-Collegium Stuttgart, Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR, Czech Philharmonic, Prague Philharmonia, Prague Symphony Orchestra FOK, Collegium 1704, and Brno Philharmonic.

She has performed under distinguished conductors, including Jiří Bělohlávek, Semyon Bychkov, Christoph Eschenbach, Cornelius Meister, Tomáš Netopil, Kazushi Ono, Libor Pešek, David Porcelijn, Simon Rattle, Helmuth Rilling, Dennis Russell Davies, Leoš Svárovský, Alexander Vedernikov, and Petr Vronský.

She has appeared in prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall (New York), Suntory Hall (Tokyo), Elbphilharmonie (Hamburg), Musikverein (Vienna), and Barbican Hall (London) and at major festivals, including the Edinburgh International Festival, Musikfest Stuttgart, Beethovenfest Bonn, Grafenegg Musik-Sommer, Prague Spring, Smetana's Litomyšl and St. Wenceslas Music Festival.

Update: January 2025
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