“Isabel Pfefferkorn came to my attention several years ago as a highly gifted Lieder singer. In her interpretations, she can draw on a spectrum of color that is impressive, and all the more so considering her youthful age.”
– KS Angelika Kirchschlager
Isabel Pfefferkorn is characterized by her stylistic range and intuitive musicality. Highlights of the current and last season include her Lied tour through the USA and Canada, where she performed Schubert’s Winterreise and an original composition together with Hanna Bachmann, her debut with Mahler’s III Symphony and the Musikkollegium Winterthur, and her debut at the Konserthuset Stockholm with
a contemporary composition by Charles Uzor and the Kammarensemble N conducted by Christian Karlsen. She also made her debut at the Schubertiade Hohenems and with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich (Debussy) under Matthias Pintscher. She has also performed early music and jazz with Edin Karamazov, the multi-instrumentalist who made his breakthrough with STING, at the guitar festival AmBach (AUT) and performed the solo alto part in J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio in the Cathedral of St. Gallen (CH).
Isabel was born in Vorarlberg/Austria and received violin, cello, piano and singing lessons as a child. Previous teachers were Edeltraud Dünser, Dora Kutschi (Vorarlberg State Conservatory) and Roswitha Müller (Zurich Conservatory). After being a student in the remedial class for musically gifted students at the Landeskonservatorium Feldkirch, Isabel completed her studies with Lina Maria Åkerlund at the Zurich University of the Arts, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Music in 2014 and a Master of Arts in Music Performance (Concert) with distinction in 2016. Isabel was then a student at the “School of Excellence” with her current mentor Margreet Honig.
In 2016 Isabel reached the finals of the International Schumann Competition in Zwickau as the youngest and is a prize winner of various competitions as well as a member of various foundations. She was also awarded the scholarship of the Vorarlberg Wagner Association.
Master classes with Thomas Hampson, Robert Holl, Kurt Widmer, Noemi Nadelmann, Silvana Bazzoni-Bartoli, Sascha Wienhausen, Monika Ballwein, Christa Ludwig, Flavio Ferri-Benedetti, Malin Hartelius, Wessela Zlateva, Angelika Kirchschlager, Helmut Deutsch and Margreet Honig complete Isabel’s education.
The singer performs compositions of all epochs in various formations at home and abroad. Her repertoire ranges from ancient to contemporary music, while she also performs as a pop and jazz singer. In 2017, she made her solo debut at the Vienna Konzerthaus with Pierre Boulez’ contemporary work “Le marteau sans maître”. Isabel works closely with contemporary composers such as Dimitri Terzakis, Charles Uzor and Laurie Altman, resulting in several CD recordings.
A very special need for her is to express herself in song. In addition to her USA/Canada tour, she has recently been a guest at international festivals such as the Schubertiade, Grachtenfestival Amsterdam, Vaduz Classic, Arsonore, Meiringer Musikfestwochen, Musikfestival Bern, Kyburgiade, Kultur.Sommer.Semmering, Festival Musique Cordiale as well as at the Klimt Villa Vienna in the concert series “Rising Stars”, at the Freunde des Liedes Zurich, at the Österreichischer Rundfunk and the Tonhallen St. Gallen and Zurich. As a member of the Zurich Singakademie, she has performed with René Jacobs and Trevor Pinnock in concert halls in Paris, London, Brussels, Baden-Baden, Cologne, Vienna, Athens, Geneva and elsewhere.