Maria Gessler Soprano

The swiss soprano Maria Gessler started her vocal studies with Regina Jakobi, then continued at the academy of music with Verena Schweizer in her native town Basel/Switzerland. At the same time she studied barock music performances with René Jacobs at Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. She was a scholarship holder at "OperAvenir" (diploma) at the Basel theatre and twice won prices at the Migros award. Her master classes were led by Edith Mathis, Anna Reynolds, Brigitte Fassbaender and Margreet Honig.

After various engagements already during her time of studies, e.g. as Despina|Cosi fan Tutte in Biel and as Frau Fluth|Lustige Weiber von Windsor at the opera of Fribourg, Gessler started her first regular engagement at the theatre Freiberg in Saxony. There she participated in numerous productions as protagonist, e.g. as Marie|Verkaufte Braut (Smetana), Hanna Glawari|Lustige Witwe (Lehar) and Tatjana|Eugen Onegin (Tschaikowski) which she performed as well in Wuppertal.

In 2001 and 2003 she gave a guest performance at Tiroler Festspiele Erl where she sang Ortlinde|Walküre, Gutrune and 3. Norn|Götterdämmerung.

Since the season 2003/04 Maria Gessler has been a member of the theatre Plauen-Zwickau/Germany where she performed, among others, Gräfin|Figaro, Nedda|Bajazzo, Gräfin Mariza, Mimi|La Bohème and Marschallin|Rosenkavalier. As Marschallin she was guest at the theatre of Eisenach.

In July 2009 she sang Eva|Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at Tiroler Festspiele Erl directed by Gustav Kuhn. Later on Maria Gessler was guest in Darmstadt where she sang various parts: 1. Dame|Die Zauberflöte, Liù|Turandot, Eva and Rosalinde|Die Fledermaus. Furthermore since 2009 she performed at theatre Plauen-Zwickau the roles Lisa|Das Land des Lächelns, Diana|Orphee aux enfers, and the title role of Genoveva.

Forthcoming projects for 2011-12 season include for example her debut as Tosca at Plauen-Zwickau's theatre, and a couple of concerts in the Swiss region.

Apart from oratories, such as "Matthäus Passion" of Bach, "Schöpfung" of Haydn, "Deutsches Requiem" of Brahms and "Stabat Mater" of Rossini, Gessler often performs musical-literate programs in Germany and abroad, e.g. about Alma Mahler, Lou Andreas Salomé or "Wilhelm Meister" of Goethe.