Ruth Willemse

Dutch soprano Ruth Willemse began classical singing at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam in 2005 while completing her master's in Musicology at the University of Amsterdam with a thesis and practical research on the transmission of emotion in vocal classical music. In 2013, she obtained her master's degree in classical singing at the Prince Claus Conservatoire. After working as a mezzo with a strong and easy high register, she made the switch to soprano.

In 2015, she made her debut with Dutch National Opera as Maddalena in Reimsreisje (a children's performance based on Il Viaggio a Reims). In 2016, her debut in the NTR Matinee was as Madre di Cio-Cio-San in Puccini's Madama Butterfly. With the Nederlandse Reisopera, Ruth sang various roles such as Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Berta in Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Old Lady in a pocket version of Bernstein's Candide. She performs various opera roles with other companies or at festivals, including Miss Todd in Menotti's The Old Maid and the Thief, Concepcion in Ravel's L'heure espagnole, Cornelia in Handel's Giulio Cesare and Petrovna in Stravinsky's Mavra with the Netherlands Blazersensemble.

Ruth can also be heard regularly in oratio performances and song recitals; she forms a duo with pianist Vital Stahievitch with whom she recorded songs by Mahler, Elgar and Wagner in 2018, released by ETCETERA-Records.