Marie Friederike Schöder / Batzdorfer Hofkapelle G.F. HÄNDEL Neun Deutsche Arien

Whether on the opera stage or in concert: the lyric-coloratura soprano and Bach Prize winner Marie Friederike Schöder inspires both the press and audiences with her clear, colorful voice and her commanding presence and dramatic enthusiasm. The versatile singer masters with bravura not only baroque, classic and romantic concert and operatic repertoire but also that of the present day breathtakingly and passionately. Presto Classical recently described her as “a shooting star of the baroque scene” whose voice “reaches the stratosphere with ease”.

Marie Friedrike Schöder comes from a musical family and both mother and father are opera singers. The parents Juliane Claus and Olaf Schöder, who are both singing teachers as well, provided for the training of the soprano who was, after her studies in Halle, from 2009 until 2013 a member of the ensemble of the Oper Halle. Since then she has been active as a soloist in such houses as the Semperoper Dresden and on concert stages like the renowned Gewandhaus in Leipzig. Her repertoire includes important roles like: Blondchen in The Abduction from the Serglio, Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute, Adele in Die Fledermaus, the title role in Martha, Angelica in Orlando, and Zerlina in Don Giovanni. Outside of opera the singer possesses a great love of church music. In 2008 she was the first soprano in the history of the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition in Leipzig to win the first prize.

“The young coloratura soprano Marie Friederike Schöder, a shooting star in the baroque scene, whose voice convinces listeners with its extraordinary fluency and lightness in the stratosphere.” (Presto Classical)

Xenia Löffler / Batzdorfer Hofkapelle GRAUN Oboe Concertos

Johann Gottlieb Graun became a member of the small court orchestra of the Prussian Crown Prince Frederick in Ruppin in 1732, which Carl Heinrich also joined in 1735. With Friedrich's ascension to the throne in 1740, Johann Gottlieb was appointed concertmaster and Carl Heinrich kapellmeister of the royal court. Johann Gottlieb remained until the end of his life closely linked to Frederick the Great, as concertmaster and chamber musician. Whilst his brother Carl Heinrich became an important figure at the new Berlin Court Opera, Johann Gottlieb strongly influenced the musical life of Berlin and early classicism in general as a violinist and composer. One can no longer determine with any certainty which of the brothers wrote the oboe concertos recorded here the existing sources are too unclear and the differences in their personal styles are too slight. What is certain, however, is that the name "Graun" was a kind of seal of approval in those days for zestful music rich in ideas an estimation still valid today, as is readily apparent when listening to these concertos. The oboist Xenia Löffler has distinguished herself as a specialist for the North German repertoire of this period, as in her recordings with oboe concertos from the Dresden Court and with works from the Dresden Pisendel Collection (ACC 24202 and 24222). Alongside her teaching activities at the Academy of the Arts in Bremen, she is a member of the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and in great international demand as a soloist.