Rachel Frenkel

The mezzo-soprano Rachel Frenkel is acclaimed for her “rich and refined” (forumopera) voice, which is “rich in colour and always agile” (nmz), as well as for her performances of emotional depth; she is an established artist on international opera and concert stages, particularly in works by Mozart and Rossini.

Her projects for the 2026/27 season include further appearances at the New Israeli Opera as Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, as Siebel in Faust and as the Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte, as well as Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra conducted by Michael Sanderling.

Her most recent opera engagements include her debut at the Opéra national de Paris as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, as the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos at La Scala, as Marcelline in Le nozze di Figaro, as Fenena in Nabucco, as Olga in Eugene Onegin and as Isabella in L’Italiana in Algeri (New Israeli Opera), Dorabella in Così fan tutte with the Orchestre national de Lyon, Idamante in Idomeneo at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden and at the Opéra de Lille, and Sesto in La Clemenza di Tito at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse.

As a former member of the Vienna State Opera ensemble, her roles there included the Composer, Angelina in La Cenerentola, Rosina, Fenena, Stephano in Romeo et Juliette, Wellgunde in Das Rheingold and Götterdämmerung, Ascanio in Les Troyens, Ruggiero in Alcina, Lea in Die Weiden by Johannes Maria Staud, and Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Guest engagements have taken her to the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Bavarian State Opera, the Berlin State Opera, the Semperoper in Dresden, the Hamburg State Opera, the Salzburg Easter Festival, the Salzburg Festival, the Bregenz Festival, as well as the Glyndebourne Festival, the Edinburgh International Festival and the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York.

Her concert repertoire ranges from Bach to works by Beethoven, Mahler, Berlioz and Bernstein, which she has performed with orchestras and ensembles such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, the BBC Philharmonic, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Concerto Köln, the MDR Symphony Orchestra Leipzig, Camerata Salzburg, Chœur Accentus, the German National Youth Orchestra and the BR Radio Orchestra Munich.

Rachel Frenkel has worked with conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Daniel Barenboim, Christian Thielemann, Ivor Bolton, Ton Koopman, Iván Fischer, Gustavo Dudamel, Marc Minkowski, Ingo Metzmacher, Omer Meir Wellber, Simone Young, Thomas Hengelbrock, Emmanuelle Haïm, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, Dan Ettinger, Dirk Kaftan, Kent Nagano, Laurence Equilbey, Hervé Niquet, Yves Abel and Robin Ticciati.