Bettina Smith
Professor
Contact
Email: bettina.smith@uis.no
Department
Faculty of Performing Arts
Department of Classical Music
About me
Mezzosoprano Bettina Smith is a performing artist and Professor of singing at the Faculty of Performing Arts, University of Stavanger, Norway. She has also taught singing at the Schubert Institute at Baden bei Wien (as an Artist in Residence), the Grieg Academy at the University of Bergen (main instrument), the Amsterdam Conservatory of Music (Erasmus exchange teaching), and the Norwegian Academy of Music (masterclass).
Bettina began her studies at the Bergen Conservatory of Music where she graduated with the highest degree. She then pursued her studies with Wout Oosterkamp and Elly Ameling at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Den Haag, The Netherlands, receiving a Masters Degree with distinction. Bettina then specialized at the Internationales Opernstudio des Opernhaus Zürich, Switzerland. The two year engagement included several roles on the Opernhaus Zürich`s main stage. In 2001, Bettina made her debut at the Staatsoper Berlin in Rossini`s "Il Barbiere di Siviglia", and has since then been performing at leading operahouses, festivals and concert halls in Europe. In 2013, Bettina made her operatic debut in the USA, singing the leading role in John Bilotta`s "Quantum Mechanic" at the Fresh Voices festival in San Francisco. Bettina has a wide repertoire ranging from Medieval to contemporary music, and has extensive experience as an oratorio and cantata soloist, in addition to being an active chamber-musician. As a recitalist, Bettina has performed in many European festivals, a.o. The Bergen International Festival; Zürcher Festspiele; The Rhijnauwen Kamermuziekfestival; Oude Muziek Festival Utrecht; Mozart Tage Luzern; Bach Tage Luzern; Brahms Festival Den Haag; HindemithFestival Den Haag; The Strawinsky-Festival 2000 at Het Muziekteater Amsterdam. Together with the Dutch pianist Jan Willem Nelleke, Bettina has given recitals all over Europe, including Amsterdam (het Concertgebouw), Oslo, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Reykjavik and Baden bei Wien. They regularly give recitals in The Netherlands for the organisation Vrienden van het Lied. Bettina has been Artist in Residence at the Laudinella Festival in St. Moritz, Switzerland, and has performed Hugo Wolf`s "Spanisches Liederbuch" in the prestigious Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. In April 2007, Bettina and Mr. Nelleke gave a highly acclaimed recital in the Concertgebouw De Vereiniging Nijmegen, and in May 2007, Bettina gave a solo recital at the Bergen International Festival, together with the Norwegian pianist Einar Røttingen. This duo has also performed together at the Fartein Valen Festivalen in Haugesund, Euterpe- series, Oi-Oi Festival and AVGARDE- series, as part of the Grieg -07 Festival. Bettina has made radio recordings for Dutch, German, Swiss and Norwegian broadcasting and has received several prestigious scholarships, a.o. the Edwin Ruud Stipend and the Herbert von Karajan Music Legacy. She was a prizewinner in the Françesco Viñas competition in Barcelona 2001, and was awarded a special prize given by Dalton Baldwin for outstanding lieder-singing. Bettina has released four solo CDs with pianists Einar Røttingen and Jan Willem Nelleke, all to great acclaim, on label LAWO. (www.lawo.no). The first containing songs by G. Fauré, E. Chausson and C. Saint-Saëns, the second containing works by contemporary Norwegian composers F. Valen, K. Hvoslef and J. Stalheim, the third with songs by G. Fauré and C. Debussy, and the fourth containing cycles for voice and piano by G. Fauré. With these four CDs, Bettina has recorded all the cycles for voice and piano by Gabriel Fauré. Her fifth solo CD , containing works by women composers, is to be released in 2020. Bettina Smith has worked with renowned conductors and stage directors such as Nello Santi, Franz Welser-Möst, Adam Fischer, Thierry Fischer, Petr Altrichter, Fabrizio Ventura, Phillippe Jordan, Kenneth Montgomery, Jos van Veldhoven, Erkki Korhonen, Philip Ledger, RobertWilson, Grischa Asagarof, Claudia Blersch, Daniel Bohr, Ulrich Peter, Birgitte Fassbänder, Javier López Piñón, Hans Niewenhuis. Bettina has participated in masterclasses with a.o. Elly Ameling, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Dalton Baldwin, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Oren Brown, Nigel Rogers, Jill Feldman, Robert Holl, Rudolf Jansen, Helmuth Deutsch, Ernst Haefliger, Walter Berry, Jörg Demus, Hans-PeterBlochwitz, Susanna Eken, Hans Gertz and Lorraine Nubar. Bettina has also been active as a music educator in the educational initiative "Write a Science Opera" (WASO), and has taught workshops at the WASO sessions at the Scottish National Opera, Stord Haugesund University College, and the University of Stavanger. Languages spoken:Norwegian, English, German, French, Dutch, Spanish