Kädy Plaas

b. October 1, 1979, Pärnu

Soprano Kädy Plaas has received recognition both on the concert stage and in opera. As a valuable soloist, she performs vocal-symphonic music and cooperates with various interprets and ensembles. Besides Estonia, she has performed as an opera singer also in Germany, where she made her debut as Frasquita in Carmen in 2007.

Plaas graduated from Tallinn Georg Ots Music School with Marika Eensalu in 2002 and from the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre with Nadia Kurem in 2007 with a BA and 2014 with an MA in opera singing. In 2006/2007 she was an exchange student at the Hamburg University of Music and Theatre in the singing class of Professor Ingrid Kremling. She has participated in the master classes of Ingrid Kremling, Cathrine Sadolin and Sona Ghazarian.

In 2002–2004 Kädy Plaas was a singer of the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and in 2004–2008 a soloist of the project theatre Nargen Opera. She has also participated in the productions of the Estonian National Opera, Theatre Vanemuine and Hamburg State Opera. Since 2004 Plaas is voice teacher at Georg Ots Tallinn Music School.

Plaas’ wide repertoire comprises music from Baroque to contemporary music. She has performed soprano parts in vocal-symphonic works, such as Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s Te Deum, Johann Sebastian Bach’s Magnificat, Osteroratorium, St. Matthew and St. John Passions and cantatas, Georg Friedrich Händel’s Dixit Dominus, Messiah, Joshua, Theodora, Jephtha and Judas Maccabaeus, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Requiem and Davide penitente, Joseph Haydn’s Harmony Mass, St. Nicholas Mass and The Creation, Gioacchino Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle, Arthur Honegger’s Joan of Arc at the Stake and others.

Kädy Plaas has participated in several premieres of contemporary works by Estonian composers, like Toivo Tulev's Flute Concerto Deux (vocal part, 2005), Leave, alas this tormenting (2005), Songs (2005) and Six Last Words of Henry David Thoreau (2016); Tõnu Kõrvits's My Swans, My Thoughts (2005), Firegarden (2005) and The Gate of Dreams (2007), Helena Tulve's silences/larmes (2006), Tõnis Kaumann's Mi lagnerò tacendo (2005), René Eespere's Locus amoenus (2009) and Pärt Uusberg's Three Songs on Words by Ellen Niit (2015), she has also premiered To Define Happiness by English composer Gavin Bryars.

Plaas’ repertoire also consists over 10 opera roles, such as Violetta (Giuseppe Verdi La Traviata, Estonian National Opera, 2010), Manon (Jules Massenet Manon, Theatre Vanemuine in 2009), Gilda (Verdi Rigoletto, Estonian National Opera Theatre in 2009), The Queen of Night and Pamina (Mozart The Magic Flute, Hamburg State Opera in 2007 and theatre Vanemuine in 2008), Frasquita (Georges Bizet Carmen, Hamburg State Opera in 2007), Marzelline (Ludwig van Beethoven Fidelio, Nargen Opera in 2007), Student (Tõnu Kõrvits Firegarden [„Tuleaed”], Nargen Opera in 2006), Marie (Kõrvits My Swans, My Thoughts [„Mu luiged, mu mõtted”], Nargen Opera in 2006), Flaminia (Joseph Haydn Il mondo della luna, Nargen Opera in 2005 and 2008), Zelmira (Haydn Armida, Nargen Opera in 2005), Sylvia (Haydn L’isola disabitata, Nargen Opera in 2004) and supporting roles in Richard Strauss’s Frau Ohne Schatten (Hamburg State Opera in 2008). In addition, she has sung Hannerl in Franz Schubert’s/Heinrich Berté’s chamber operetta Das Dreimädlerhaus (Estonian National Opera in 2005) and Pepi Pleininger in Johann Strauss's operetta Wiener Blut (Thetare Vanemuine, 2018) and participated in Estonian opera Rehepapp by Tauno Aints (Theatre Vanemuine, 2013).

As a soloist, Plaas has performed with orchestras such as Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, Tallinn Baroque Orchestra, Sinfonietta Rīga, Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, The St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra (Lithuania) and collaborated with conductors such as Eri Klas, Tõnu Kaljuste, Andres Mustonen, Paul Mägi, Olari Elts, Anu Tali, Risto Joost, Paul Hillier, Edward Higginbottom, Simone Young, Simon Hewett, Steven Fox, Juha Kangas, Sigvards Kļava, Kaspars Putninš and others. She has appeared together with pianists Piia Paemurru, Martti Raide, Mihhail Gertz, Mihkel Poll, Siim Selis, organists Ene Salumäe, Ines Maidre and Ulla Krigul, oboist Riivo Kallasmaa and various ensembles, e. g. Corelli Consort, NYYD Ensemble, Tallinn Saxophone Quartet and Ensemble Voces Musicales. Concert tours have taken her to Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Germany and France. She has participated in many festivals, e. g. Estonian Music Days, Haapsalu Early Music Festival, Tallinn Baroque Music Festival, Rapla Church Music Festival, festival Glasperlenspiel, Viljandi Early Music Festival, David Oistrakh Festival, Festival de Radio France et Montpellier (France).

Plaas has been awarded the Annual Prize of the Endowment for Music of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia (2006) and the Marje and Kuldar Sink Prize Young Singer (2007), she has received the grant of the Lili Kaelas Music Fund (2007) and the grant of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia (2008). In 2017, Kädy Plaas was nominated for the Annual Theatre Award for the vocal part in Georg Friedrich Haas’s Atthis at the festival Afekt. She sings solo parts on Toivo Tulev’s author CD „Songs” (Harmonia Mundi, 2008).

Kädy Plaas is represented by Estonian Record Production

© EMIC 2009
(updated March 2018)

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