The principal cast … had no weak links. Foremost among them was Idunnu Münch in the title role, her muscular mezzo lending undeserved stature to an unsympathetic despot. Opera, November 2022
Idunnu Münch made her debuts at The Royal Opera, at Leeds Opera Festival (title role in Handel’s Silla) and Grange Park Opera in 2022. 2018 saw the mezzo-soprano’s first engagement at English National Opera in London. She has since returned to the ENO for several productions as a Harewood Artist and is singing in new productions in Heggie’s It’s a Wonderful Life, Tesori’s Blue and Wagner’s Das Rheingold during the 2022/23 season.
Idunnu Münch made her Salzburg Festival debut in 2013 and returned for a new production of Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier in 2014. Her debuts followed at Verbier Festival in 2017 (Strauss’ Elektra and Salome) and at the BBC Proms in 2019. The German mezzo-soprano performed Smaragd in Zandonai’s Francesca da Rimini at Opéra national du rhin and Teatro alla Scala in Milan during the 2017/18 season, and made her Komische Oper Berlin debut as Nimbavati in Handel’s Poros in 2019. At Longborough Festival Opera, she has sung Dorabella in Mozart’s Così fan tutte in 2021 and returned as Mercedes in Bizet’s Carmen in 2022.
Idunnu Münch made her London debut as Dido in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas in 2018. The mezzo-soprano was a member of Stuttgart Opera Studio from 2015 to 2017, performing Cherubino in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Olga in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and Mary in Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer. She has worked with directors including Anthony Almeida, Tatjana Gürbaca, Richard Jones, Daniel Kramer, Harry Kupfer, Henry Mason, David Pountney, Emma Rice, James Robinson, Kirill Serebrenikov and Jossie Wieler.
Idunnu Münch’s concert repertoire includes cantatas by Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Händel’s The Messiah, Haydn, Knezek and Mozart as well as Haydn’s Arianna a Naxos. She has performed with BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, Camerata Salzburg, Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, Münchner Philharmoniker, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich, and Wiener Philharmoniker and has sung under the baton of conductors including Ivor Bolton, Sylvain Cambreling, Charles Dutoit, Sian Edwards, Antony Hermus, Fabio Luisi, Antonello Manacorda, Yutaka Sado, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Ulf Schirmer, and Franz Welser-Möst. Also a dedicated recitalist, she made her Wigmore Hall debut in 2021.
This biography is for information only and should not be reproduced. © Artistainternational, December 2022.
Handel: Rinaldo
Rinaldo: “Or la tromba…”
Recording 2021
Wagner: Wesendonck-Lieder: Schmerzen
Recording 2021
