Sibylla Rubens

Sibylla Rubens studied singing (concert and opera) at the Staatliche Musikhochschule in Trossingen and at the Hochschule für Musik in Frankfurt/Main. She participated in numerous master classes, held by Edith Mathis and Elsa Cavelti, among others, and was a student in Irwin Gage’s class for lied interpretation in Zurich. As a committed teacher who encourages young singers Sibylla Rubens herself also gives master-classes for instance as part of festivals in Rostock, Straubing and Tübingen, and besides her concert engagements is much in demand as a private teacher and consultant for many international professional singers. Sibylla Rubens was active on the board of directors of the Leipzig Bach Society for ten years and from 2014 to 2016 directed the oratorio class at the Leopold Mozart Centre of the University of Augsburg. She regularly serves as a jury member in international singing competitions, most recently at the International Bach Competition in 2016 in Leipzig.

The moving timbre of her voice, her natural charisma and the sensitive sense of perfection that she applies to her extensive repertoire make German soprano Sibylla Rubens a much sought-after artist in Germany and abroad. Particular highlights from past years include her performances with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Philippe Herreweghe (Fauré Requiem) at New York's Carnegie Hall (Bach St. Matthew Passion), with the Munich Philharmonic under Christian Thielemann (Schumann Requiem and Mahler Eighth Symphony) and in Montreal with Kent Nagano (Bach Christmas Oratorio and Mass in B minor). She went on a European tour with the Budapest Festival Orchestra under Ivan Fischer (Mozart: Vesperae solennes) and in spring 2016 on a tour of Asia with the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester and the Thomanerchor Leipzig conducted by Gotthold Schwarz; Bach’s St. Matthew Passion was performed. Recently she has also given guest performances on the concert stages of Baden-Baden, Barcelona, Dresden, Leipzig, Milano, Madrid, Mulhouse and Saarbrücken. The soprano has also appeared on concert stages in Baden-Baden, Barcelona, Dresden, Leipzig, Milan, Madrid, Mulhouse and Saarbrücken. Other conductors with whom she has worked include Helmuth Rilling, Jun Märkl, Hartmut Haenchen, Manfred Honeck, Roger Norrington, Herbert Blomstedt, Michael Gielen, Marc Albrecht, Marek Janowski and Riccardo Chailly.

Sibylla Rubens particularly enjoys lieder recitals. Previously accompanied by Irwin Gage and now by various pianists, including Justus Zeyen, Ulrich Eisenlohr, Götz Payer, Tobias Krampen, Matthias Veit, Daniel Heide, Markus Kreul and Anthony Spiri, she has been a guest performer not only at the Mozartfest Augsburg, the Ludwigsburg Schlossfestspiele and the Heidelberger Frühling but also in Barcelona, Amsterdam, Nuremberg, Stuttgart or Cologne. As part of the Liedwoche at Schloss Elmau, she sings selected songs by Schumann alongside Christian Gerhaher, Wiebke Lehmkuhl, Martin Mitterrutzner and accompanied by Gerold Huber.

More than 100 CD-recordings for various labels including hänssler, Carus and harmonia mundi testify to her artistic versatility. Oehms Classics published the first complete recording worldwide of Humperdinck Songs and also Mendelssohns’s Lobgesang with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken-Kaiserslautern and the Bavarian Radio Chorus under the baton of Christoph Poppen. Her latest recordings include Bach Cantatas with the Windsbach Boys Choir as well as Lorenz Christoph Mizler: Die moralischen Oden together with Klaus Mertens and most recently on CD and DVD J.S. Bach’s Cantatas BWV 198, BWV 98, BWV 92 and the Solo-cantata BWV 51 Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen with the J. S. Bach Foundation St. Gallen conducted by Rudolf Lutz und Schubert’ s Mass in A flat major in the special edition Michael Gielen, Edition Volume 1, SWR>>music. In the spring of 2021, Christian Gerhaher's large-scale complete recording of all Schumann songs will be released by Sony, all accompanied by Gerold Huber - a co-production with the Bayerischer Rundfunk as well as the Heidelberger Liedzentrum, in which Sibylla Rubens is, among other things, the duo partner in Schumann's Liebesfrühling op. 37.