Photo copyright Matthias Creutziger
Ellen Rissinger
American Vocal Coach/Accompanist on the music staff of the Semperoper in Dresden, Germany
Founder of The Diction Police
GVAI: Live Online talk and Q&A
Elles shares her insights about how to build a career in Germany, how to work at an opera house and how to improve your language skills
Ellen Rissinger is an American Vocal Coach/Accompanist on the music staff of the Semperoper in Dresden, Germany. She came to European attention in December of 2008, when she accompanied a performance of Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk for the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf on one hour's notice. She has worked in both the United States (with Opera Company of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh Opera, Kentucky Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Baltimore Opera among others) and in many houses in Germany (Semperoper, Oper Frankfurt, Deutsche Oper am Rhein among others), and gives master classes with several of the summer music programs in Europe, including: University of Miami's summer program in Salzburg, Austria; IPAI in Kiefersfelden, Germany; AIMS in Graz, Austria; as well as at several universities in the US, including The Hartt School, Carnegie Mellon University, Boston Conservatory, Oklahoma City University, Murray State and the Boston NATS Chapter among others. Ellen is fluent in German and English, is conversant in Italian, French, Spanish and Modern Greek, and continues to work on her conversational ability in Russian.
Semper Oper Dresden, Germany