Yuko Kakuta
Born in the city of Himeji, Japanese soprano Yuko Kakuta was trained at the universities of Osaka and Kyoto (Japan) and graduated from Berlin’s University of Fine Arts. In Berlin she debuted with Mdm. Silberklang in Mozart’s “Der Schauspieldirektor”.
In 2002, Yuko made her international debut with Hermia in “A Midsummer night’s dream” by Benjamin Britten at the International Music Festival of Aix-en-Provence, France. From 2002 to 2006, she was a permanent member of the ensemble of Staatsoper Hannover, Germany. Quickly, Yuko established herself as a remarkable coloratura soprano with a focus on 20th century’s operatic music. Audience and critics applauded her bright coloratura, a superb technique and all combined with an overwhelming stage-appearance. She was a nominee as Germany’s “Most talented new opera-singer”. Since 2006, Yuko has been a member of Staatsoper Stuttgart. Several times – in Hannover as well as in Stuttgart – she was a part of Germany’s “opera-company of the year”.
As a guest, Yuko Kakuta appeared at Deutsche Oper Berlin, Komische Oper Berlin, Oper Leipzig, Oper Bremen, Prinzregententheater Munich, Nationaltheater Mannheim, Staatstheater Saarbrücken, Tokyo, Edinburgh-Festival and others. She was celebrated for Queen of the Night (“The Magic Flute”), Ilia (“Idomeneo”), Musetta (“La Boheme”) and Rosina(“Il barbiere di Seviglia”).
Yuko’s impersonation of Sopran in Helmut Lachenmann’s “Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern” marked a culminating point of her career with critically acclaimed performances at Deutsche Oper Berlin (2012), ruhrtriennale (2013), Teatro al Colon Buenos Aires (2014), Oper Frankfurt and at Spoleto Festival (2016).
In the 2018/19 season, Yuko performed once again as Cupido (“Orpheus in der Unterwelt”). She debuted with Susanna in Mozart’s “Le nozze di Figaro”, and one more time she performed with one of her favourite roles: The Queen of the Night in Mozart’s “Magic Flute”.
As of July 2019