WHO AM I ...

Vita

After graduating from high school, I first studied German and Romance studies at the Freie Universität Berlin, but then soon went to the Conservatorio di Musica "Giuseppe Verdi" in Milan to study classical singing and to be trained as a mezzo-soprano.

I attended master classes with Ks. Brigitte Fassbaender, Laura Sarti and Grace Bumbry and supplemented my training with Prof. Ks. Csilla Zentai in Düsseldorf.

After my return to Germany, nationwide opera engagements followed: already my second stage engagement was the title role of Carmen in Bizet's opera of the same name in Constance and Hamburg. This was followed by the Countess in Lortzing's opera "Der Wildschütz" at the Dresden State Operetta and Flora in Verdi's "La Traviata" at the International Castle Festival at the Schwerin State Theatre. I was engaged for many seasons at the Lüneburg Theatre, where I performed numerous mezzo and Spielalt roles in the opera and operetta repertoire. For example, Maddalena in "Rigoletto" by G. Verdi, Mary in Wagner's "Der fliegende Holländer", Baba in the opera "The Rake's Progress" by Igor Stravinsky and many more. 

My sung opera repertoire now includes more than forty different specialist roles.

Before I my Fach chang, I was also a temporary help in the alto section of the Rundfunkchor Berlin, where I took part in numerous concerts and CD productions.

For many years I sang “away” from classical music in the booth of the musical “Starlight Express” in Bochum and was also a founding member of “Teñoritas”, a show formation of the “Fliegenden Bauten”, Hamburg, which toured nationwide for several years, and performed e.g. in the "Tipi – am Kanzleramt" in Berlin, in the "Meereskabarett" on Sylt and in the Theaterzelt - Merzig. 

In the summer of 2013 I prepared to change to soprano and made my debut as Leonore in Beethoven's opera "Fidelio" in Berlin with great success. The "Berliner Morgenpost" wrote: "This is not least due to a really grandiose Ilona Nymoen as Leonore,..." - The "Opernfreund" reported: "Ilona Nymoen is a visually ideal, acting convincing Leonore, who also achieves astonishing vocal results with a soprano that is not only sure of her high notes, but also very present in the middle range.”

My opera roles in the soprano field now include Turandot in the opera of the same name by G. Puccini, Leonora/ Verdi: "La forza del destino", Sieglinde/ Wagner: "Valkyrie", Santuzza/ Mascagni: "Cavalleria rusticana", Amelia/ Verdi: "A Masked Ball", as well as in the operetta: the main roles in Johann Strauss' "Gypsy Baron": Saffi and in "Fledermaus", Rosalinde or the title role in Franz v. Suppés "The Beautiful Galathée".

In addition to opera engagements and commitments as a soloist in oratorios, lieder recitals are another focus of my artistic activity. Here my repertoire ranges from Monteverdi to compositions by Wolfgang Rihm, whereby the Romantic and late Romantic periods, such as e.g. For example, the orchestral songs by Gustav Mahler are particularly close to my heart.
The Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung wrote: "Ilona Nymoen brought her mature, modulatory voice into play with clear expression. She had the not exactly catchy interval leaps in "Das irdische Leben" just as securely under control as the melismas in "Wer hat dies Liedlein erdacht?" With charm she underlined socio-critical points in "Lob des hohen Verstandes" and in the "Fischpredigt des Antonius von Padua".

My engagements and concerts have taken me to the Staatstheater Schwerin, Staatsoperette Dresden, Landestheater Neustrelitz, Theater Meissen, the Frankfurt Chamber Opera, the Admiralspalast Berlin, the Nikolaisaal Potsdam, the Laeiszhalle Hamburg, the Alleetheater Hamburg, Theater Lüneburg, Konzerthaus Berlin, Berlin Philharmonic, “Das Tipi – am Kanzleramt”, “Die fliegenden Bauten” Hamburg, Zeltpalast Merzig, Meereskabarett Sylt, Volksbühne Köln, to the Emsland Festival, the Kirchstetten/Vienna Castle Festival, to the Goetheanum Dornach/Basel, the Teatro Toselli Cuneo, Teatro Duse Bologna, Tivoli Copenhagen, …

I had the pleasure of singing under the following conductors: Roland Fister, Florian Erdl, Ernst Theis, Kent Nagano, Kurt Masur, Matthias Foremny, Simon Halsey, Marek Janowski, Thomas Dorsch, Knut Andreas, Thomas Hennig, Cordt Garben, Andreas Schulz, Helmut Weese, Urs Theus, Sierd Quarré, Marty Jabara, Meinolf Müller, Hooman Khalatbari, Fritz Weisse

I was accompanied by orchestras such as: Berliner Philharmoniker, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Philharmonia Hungarica, Hamburger Kammersolisten, Mecklenburgische Staatskapelle Schwerin, Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg, Copenhagen Symphony Orchestra, Preußisches Kammerorchester, Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg, Orchester der Staatsoperette Dresden, Rhein-Ruhr Philharmonie, Lüneburger Symphoniker, Neues Orchester Basel.

Staged by the directors, among others: Astrid Jacob, Claus Guth, Jasmin Solfaghari, Philipp Harnoncourt, Marguerite Kollo, Brigitte Gaudszuhn, Stefan Neugebauer, Florian Malte Leibrecht, Gretel Schulze, Peter Lotschak, Rainer Pudenz, Dorothea Rinck, Hajo Fouquet, Mauro Guindani, Enke Eisenberg, Uwe Deeken, Lutz Lansemann

My pianists include: Herta Werner, Siegfried Schwab, Ekkehard Schoeps, Senka Brankovich, Klaus Sallmann, Markus Syperek, Luca Gorla, Markus Zugehör, Suwon Kim, Stefano Giannini; Christoph Stoecker, Raminta Lampsatis, Jens Holzkamp, Philip Mayers, Volker Sondershausen, Manuel Lange.

I sang in ensembles such as the Berliner Konzert Chor, Starlight Express Bochum, Rundfunkchor Berlin, Teñoritas, "LesBellesImmortelles", "Edellärm", "Latin Passion", "Fantastic Opera".