Constanze Backes

Constanze Backes was born in Bochum and studied in Essen, Germany, and London. After having been nominated by Sir John Eliot Gardiner, she won the London Lady Nixon Award  in 1993 and has been working  on the European Early Music scene ever since. Among the highlights of her career are Bach’s Cantata 51 with Nicholas McGegan at the Göttingen Händel Festival, Bach’s Mass in B minor with Thomas Hengelbrock in Baden-Baden and operatic roles such as Barbarina (Figaro), Papagena (Magic Flute) and Valletto (Poppea) with Gardiner for Deutsche Grammophon records in international productions, performing in Lisbon, London, Amsterdam, Paris and Parma. She also was a long-term member of the Monteverdi Choir.
The last few years saw her recording works by Händel’s teacher Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow with Ludger Rémy, performing cantatas by Steffani at the Göttingen Händel Festival as well as Monteverdi’s 1610 vespers in York, Aranjuez, Santiago de Compostela, Rome and Lisbon. She sang solo concerts for the WDR radio station in Cologne and embarked upon several projects with the jazz ensemble „Between the Times“ (a recording of works by Monteverdi is soon to be released). In 2012, she premièred the re-discovered opera „Il Marito Indolente“ at the Regensburg Early Music Festival, singing the female lead role. 2014, she sang in Händel’s „Solomon“ at the Halle Händel festival.
In addition to that, she translated several theatrical and literary works auch as Britten’s „Turn of the Screw“ (Darmstadt opera house). Constanze is a mother of four, teaches at the Wuppertal boys’ choir, sang in the popular „Ritter Rost“ children’s audiobook series and works for the Düsseldorf „Singpause“, a project designed to teach singing to a wide number of schoolchildren.