BIOGRAPHy
The German-Georgian soprano Elisabeth Freyhoff is a promising and versatile artist in the fields of opera, art song and concert performance.
She gained her first opera experiences as a guest artist with the Kammeroper München; followed – and in many respects complemented – by a wide-ranging master’s degree in ‘Opera Singing/Musical Theatre’ at the Theaterakademie August Everding and a position as a member of the international opera studio at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, where she appeared in roles such as Anna (Nabucco), Barbarina (Le nozze di Figaro) and Clorinda (La Cenerentola).
Next year, Elisabeth will return as a guest to the Deutsche Oper am Rhein as well as the Theatre Münster, and will also make her debut in Cologne – initially as Soprano 1 in C. Saint-Saëns’ ‘Oratorio de Noël’ at the Kölner Philharmonie under the baton of Christoph Poppen, and subsequently as the ‘Hotel Owner’ in a world premiere by the Kinderoper Köln of ‘Grand Hôtel der Gefühle’ (Katja Fischer/Natalija Stanković & Samuel Hogarth).
Further concert engagements in the coming season will lead the young soprano to perform J. Brahms’s “Requiem” with the Collegium Musicum Bruneck, conducted by Clau Scherrer, at the Brixner Dom, and F. Mendelssohn’s “Elijah” with the Münchener Bach-Chor, conducted by its principal conductor Howard Arman, at the Isarphilharmonie in Munich.
Behind the Scenes
General & Academic Matters
Elisabeth Freyhoff was born in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, and at the age of five moved to Kehl am Rhein with her family, where, due to its proximity to the French city of Strasbourg, she enjoyed a bilingual school education.
During her school years, Elisabeth had the privilege of pursuing a wide variety of interests:
She took ballet lessons for almost a decade, learnt to play the guitar, was a member in several choirs, was politically active as a member of her hometown’s Youth Council, served as pupil representative, and attended a number of acting workshops as well as her school’s literature and theatre course, where she gained many insights into the acting methods of Stanislavski and Meisner.
Elisabeth was first introduced to ‘classical’ singing at the age of 13, when she had her first singing lessons with Claudia Ullmann at the municipal music school.
At the age of 16, she was accepted as a junior student at the Freiburg Academy for the Promotion of Gifted Students, which enabled her to attend various courses at the Freiburg University of Music and to join Prof. Angela Nick’s singing class.
After completing her schooling, the soprano went on to study for a Bachelor’s and two Master’s degrees at the Munich University of Music and Performing Arts, where – along with further vocal coaching from Sabine Lahm and KS Prof. Julie Kaufmann – she studied under KS Prof. Christiane Iven for six years.
She started her first Master’s degree in ‘Concert Singing’, but after one year decided to switch to the Master’s programme in ‘Musical Theatre/Opera Singing’ at the Theaterakademie August Everding – a course better suited to her career path – accompanied in her second year by a transfer to Prof. Lars Woldt’s singing class.
From 2026 to 2027, Elisabeth will be a Mascarade Opera Affiliate Artist at Mascarade Opera Firenze; in addition to her engagements, she will be devoting herself this year in particular to deepening her knowledge of the Italian school of singing.
On Stage
Performances & Honors
Elisabeth gained her first stage experience back in 2016, playing the role of Lisbeth in the musical theatre ‘Das kalte Herz’ (by Annette Müller), in a production by the Musikschule Offenburg/Ortenau featuring the Offenburg Youth Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Rolf Schilli.
During her studies at the HMT Munich, she went on to perform roles in the ‘Musiktheater im Reaktor’ and the ‘Opernbus’ programmes, including Atom I in ‘liminal space’ – a collaboration with the Munich Biennale – Serpetta in W. A. Mozart’s ‘La finta giardiniera’, Pamina in W. A. Mozart’s ‘Die Zauberflöte’, an unnamed role in P. Korobkova’s ‘s p u r e n’ – another collaboration with the Munich Biennale – and as Baronin Freimann in A. Lortzing’s ‘Der Wildschütz’.
Throughout this timeframe, the soprano was also a frequent guest at the Kammeroper München , where she sang roles such as Stars Otis & Queen Elizabeth I in ‘Das Gespenst von Canterville’ (Dominik Wilgenbus & Johanna Soller) in 2019, Caroline in D. Cimarosa’s ‘Die heimliche Ehe’ (Dominik Wilgenbus & Johanna Soller) in 2020, and Susanna in W. A. Mozart’s ‘Figaros Hochzeit’ (Maximilian Berling & Johanna Soller), for which she was praised by the press for her “hymnal timbre” (Egberth Tholl/SZ) and for being “charming, witty [and] powerful-voiced” (Anna Schürmer/Münchner Merkur).
She subsequently appeared in productions by the Theaterakademie August Everding as the Second Girl in W.-A. Schultz’s ’Achill unter den Mädchen’ (Franziska Severin) with the Munich Radio Orchestra conducted by Olivier Tardy at the Prinzregententheater, as Juditha in a heavily revised version of A. Vivaldi’s ’Juditha triumphans’ (Alexander Nerlich) with the Accademia di Monaco, conducted by Joachim Tschiedel; and in the exceptionally demanding role of Gwen in the contemporary chamber opera ‘4.48Psychose’ (Balázs Kovalik) by P. Venables, with the Ensemble für aktuelle Musik der/gelbe/Klang, conducted by Maria Fitzgerald.
In December 2023, Elisabeth made a guest appearance as a young artist with the CAMPUS project of the MusikTheater an der Wien in a production at their chamber opera house, singing the role of Serpetta in W. A. Mozart’s ‘La finta giardiniera’ with the La Folia Baroque Orchestra (Anika Rutkofsky & Clemens Flick).
During this time, she was accepted into the international opera studio at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, where, in her first season, she portrayed Anna in G. Verdi’s ‘Nabucco’ (Ilaria Lanzino & Vitali Alekseenok), a Girl in A. Zemlinsky’s ‘Der Kreidekreis’ (David Bösch & Hendrik Vestmann), the Taumännchen in E. Humperdinck’s ‘Hänsel und Gretel’ (Andreas Meyer-Hanno & Katharina Müllner), the 1st Witch in H. Purcell’s ‘Dido and Aeneas’ (Jule Langeder & Killian Farrell), the Fox and the Owner of Toyland in the world premiere of M. Schötz and M. Meinhold’s ‘Pinocchio’ (Patrick Chestnut), and the 2nd Nymph in A. Dvořák’s ‘Rusalka’ (Vasily Barkhatov & Harry Ogg).
In her second season, these roles were complemented by Chava in J. Bock’s ‘Anatevka’ (Felix Seiler & Christoph Stöcker), Barbarina in W. A. Mozart’s ‘Le nozze di Figaro’ (Michael Hampe & Vitali Alekseenok) and Clorinda in G. Rossini’s ‘La Cenerentola’ (Jean-Pierre Ponnelle & Mino Marani).
Beyond the DOR, Elisabeth also enjoyed a number of successes, particularly during her second season. For instance, during the Tage Alter Musik festival in Herne, she stepped in as Dori for a concert performance of A. Salieri’s ‘La Grotta di Trofonio’ with the Hofkapelle München under Rüdiger Lotter – a role she mastered in merely four days – and in April 2026 made her role and house debut at the Theater Münster as Helena in B. Britten’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’.
At the age of just 18, the soprano’s concert engagements already took her to perform with renowned orchestras such as the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and the Bremer Philharmoniker.
She has also made appearances at various festivals, including ‘MelosLogos’ (Weimar), the ‘International Kalamata Music Days’ (Kalamata, Greece), the Ohefest (Niederaleich) and HICSUM (Herlufsholm, Denmark), and has given concerts and solo recitals at the ‘Château de Pourtalès’ (Strasbourg), the ‘Mozart Wohnhaus’ (Salzburg), the ‘Philharmonie am Gasteig’ (Munich) and the ‘Glocke’ (Bremen).
The young artist’s work in Lied performance brings her together not only with emerging artists such as Tony Sintow-Behrens and Anna Gebhardt, but also, and in particular, with the outstanding Gerold Huber, with whom she has already given several international recitals.
In the coming season, Elisabeth will return to the Deutsche Oper am Rhein as Maisie in J. Reynolds’ ‘Die Mitternachtstür’ (Mizgîn Bilmen & Patrick Chestnut).
She will also make another appearance at the Theater Münster, this time debuting as Cherubino in W. A. Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro (Clara Kalus & Golo Berg).
Another debut in the coming season will be Freyhoff’s portrayal of the Hotel owner in Lidia Branković’s ‘Das Grand Hotel der Gefühle’ at the Kinderoper in Cologne, with an orchestral arrangement by Heribert Feckler and a libretto by Brigitta Gillessen (Katja Fischer/Natalija Stanković & Samuel Hogarth).
Concert engagements for the coming season include ‘Ein deutsches Requiem’ by J. Brahms with the Collegium Musicum Bruneck (Georg Egger) and the Streicherakademie Bozen under the musical direction of Clau Scherrer at Brixen Cathedral, C. Saint-Saëns’s ‘Oratorio de Noël’ at the Cologne Philharmonie with the Kartäuserkantorei Köln (Paul Krämer) and the Cologne Chamber Orchestra under Christoph Poppen, and F. Mendelssohn’s ‘Elijah’ with the Munich Bach Choir and the Munich Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Howard Arman.