Events Calendar
Beautiful Bel Canto: Concert by Birgit Wegemann (soprano) and Irene Ainstein (piano)
On Sunday 12 June at 17h00 at the Quintinha da Música near Tavira, Birgit will present songs from the works of Vivaldi, Handel, Bellini, Padre Telles, Mazziotti, Trindade, Leal, Boito, Catalani, Cottrau and di Capua. She will be accompanied at the piano by her friend of many years, Irene Ainstein. On offer in this concert, Birgit has much baroque music as well as items from opera and operetta. When resident in the Algarve, Birgit gave frequent performances as soloist and she is also well known for her concerts in the rest of Portugal with conductors like Laurence Cummings, Paul Hillier and Peter Rundel at the Casa da Música in Porto.
Many in the Algarve will remember Birgit Wegemann as a locally based operatic soprano, but since 2015, she has been based in Cologne, Germany. She has been giving concerts together with Christoph Spering, the well-known conductor of historical practice performances of pieces by composers such as Bach, Beethoven and Mendelssohn. Most recently, Birgit Wegemann has performed with harpist Carla Bos in The Hague. Her next planned performance tour is to Brixen (South Tyrol) with Chandos Anthems and in March 2017, she will star in the production of Léhar´s operetta The Merry Widow.
Birgit Wegemann studied classical singing at the Folkwang-Hochschule Essen and at The Royal Flemish Music Conservatory in Antwerp. She took master classes under Prof. Sylvia Geszty, Prof. Klesie Kelly-Moog and Prof. Hilde Kronstein-Uhrmacher. At the Händel-Akademie in Karlsruhe she took classes in Baroque Singing with Luis Devos. After her studies in Essen and Antwerp, Birgit sang with various production companies, such as with the Atelier Theatral de Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, the Amato Opera in New York and at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
English-born Irene won first prize in a Piano Competition for Young Musicians after only one year of study. She later participated in the Mozart Competition where she was awarded Second Prize. After finishing her secondary school in the Netherlands, she went on to study at the Academy of Music, Het Twents Conservatorium, where she graduated in three disciplines, Chamber Music, Accompanist and Soloist. Irene has played in number of chamber music ensembles, and as soloist with St Petersburg Orchestra and in 2002, she accompanied the famous Children For Children choir. She has performed in Holland, England, Germany, Spain, Portugal and China. Irene has also participated in several festivals and masterclasses in Germany, in England (at Dartington), in Holland (live music now) and has been a jury member at various prestigious piano competitions in Spain, Portugal and Italy. Having benefited from classes with teachers such as J Jansonius, Karl Heinz Kammerling, Tamas Vasary and Jan Wijn, she continues her concert performances with artists such as the soprano Birgit Wegemann and the violinist Michael Thomas and she continues her involvement with the Dutch Piano Quartet. Irene presently teaches piano in Tavira and at the Conservatório Regional do Algarve Maria Campina, where she is also a member of the Direcção Pedagógica.
Tickets are €25 and can be obtained from