Onstage
Imogen has performed in 65 staged productions to date across opera, operetta, and musical theater in Germany and Aotearoa New Zealand. Her stage experience spans classical repertoire, contemporary works, and cross-genre productions as well as concert work.
Imogen has held full-time positions at Meininger Staatstheater and Staatsoper Stuttgart, as well as guest engagements with New Zealand Opera and Bayreuther Festpiele.
Soloist
Imogen is known as a natural character actor, with early operatic experiences shaped by Mozart’s clever maids and the sharp theatrical instincts they demand.
….using her comic talent and gift for characterisation to great effect.
/ SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL, ANNINA IN DER ROSENKAVALIER/
Trained in Estill Voice Science, this has informed Imogen’s trajectory from soubrette roles to lyric coloratura repertoire, supported through ensemble work in both 1. soprano and 2. soprano alongside a persistent interest in vocal technique and personal development.
Imogen has often performed as a soprano soloist with choir and orchestra. Adventurous modern works include singing Minnehaha for the southern hemisphere premiere of Hanson: Hiawatha, and Todd: Mass in Blue, a jazz setting of the Latin mass featuring soprano, choir and jazz combo.
Performed works include: Bach: Weihnachtsoratorium, Fauré: Requiem, Finzi: In Terra Pax, Hanson: Hiawatha, Haydn: Nelson Mass, Mozart: Mass in D Major, Mozart: Requiem Mass, Mozart: Vesperae solennes de confessore, Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 2 Hymn of Praise, Saint-Saëns: Oratorio de Noël, Schubert: Mass in C Minor, and Todd: Mass in Blue.
Imogen Thirlwall soared above the choir and trio, thrilling the audience with the clarity, power and beauty of her voice. Her command of the jazz idiom was breath taking and a credit to her musicality and versatility.
/ J.WANHILL, SOPRANO SOLOIST FOR MASS IN BLUE /
Chorus work in Germany
Staatsoper Stuttgart repertoire in the 2021/22 – 24/25 seasons includes: Adams: Nixon in China, Bellini: La Sonnambula, Norma, Bhatti: Der Rote Wal (world premiere), Bizet: Carmen, Britten: Death in Venice, Donizetti: L’elisir d’amore, Dvořák: Rusalka, Janáček: Jenůfa, Kjartansson/Sveinsson: Der Klang der Offenbarung des Göttlichen, Messiaen: Saint François d’Assise, Mozart: Die Zauberflöte, Don Giovanni, Idomeneo, Le nozze di Figaro (solo: Bridesmaid), Mussorgski/Newski: Boris, Prokofiev: Der Spieler, Puccini: Tosca, Rameau: Platée, J. Strauss: Casanova, Strauss: Die Frau ohne Schatten, Elektra, Verdi: Don Carlos, Falstaff, Il trovatore, Otello, Wagner: Götterdämmerung, Parsifal, von Weber: Der Freischütz (soloist: 3. Brautjungfer), Weill: Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny.
Additional performances include La Fest (a baroque highlights ‘celebration of life’ by dancer Eric Gauthier) at the Staatsoper, Sancta (opera performance by Florentina Holzinger with Paul Hindemith's Sancta Susanna, sacred works and new compositions), Puccini: Tosca in the Schlossfestival Bruchsal, and Schumann: Szenen aus Goethes Faust at Schlosspark Ludwigsburg. Symphony concerts include Strawinsky: Psalmensinfonie für Chor und Orchester, Mahler: Symphonie 2, Symphonie 3, and Symphonie 8 in the Liederhalle Stuttgart (Beethovensaal).
Performances at Staatstheater Meiningen include: Bizet: Carmen, Gilbert & Sullivan: Piraten von Penzance, Herzog Ernst II: Santa Chiara, Jessel: Schwarzwaldmädel, Leigh: Der Mann von La Mancha, Mozart: Così fan tutte, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Puccini: La Bohème, La Rondine (solos: Yvette, un cantore), Tosca, Orff: Carmina Burana, Rodgers and Hammerstein: The Sound of Music, Schoeck: Das Schloss Dürande (solo: Hilferin I), Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer, Tannhäuser, Webber: Evita.
Chorus work in Aotearoa
For New Zealand Opera, Imogen performed in the nationally cast New Zealand Opera Ensemble for touring productions of Gilbert & Sullivan: The Mikado and Sondheim: Sweeney Todd, directed by Stuart Maunder AM.
As a member of the New Zealand Opera Chorus for five years, productions include: Bizet: Carmen, Golijov: Ainadamar, Mozart: Don Giovanni, Puccini: Madama Butterfly, Tosca, Smetana: The Bartered Bride, Verdi: La Traviata, Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer. Additional chorus work includes: Bernstein: Candide, Handel: Alcina, Semele, and Rossini: Il viaggio a Reims.
Imogen has performed with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Wellington and Wellington Brass Band. Performed choral works include: Beethoven: Ninth Symphony, Holst: The Planets, Mahler: Third Symphony, Eighth Symphony, Psathas: Orpheus in Rarohenga, and Verdi: Requiem.
Imogen was involved in a commemoration concert for the Pike River 29, joining Orpheus Choir of Wellington for Dobbyn: This Love, McCarthy: 17 Days, and Harris: If Blood be the Price.