JOEL FREDERIKSEN
A Short Story of joel:
Thanks for taking a moment to check out my website and for your interest! I am an American bass singer and lutenist living in Munich, Germany. Growing up in Minnesota, I learned to love music, singing in choirs, performing for talent shows, learning to play guitar and writing my own songs. I was exposed to and appreciated a wide variety of music, from pop to classical. Today I have my own group, Ensemble Phoenix Munich, which I founded back in 2003 with the release of a CD called "Orpheus, I am". Since then I have been continuously creating programs of Renaissance and Baroque music, sometimes even allowing myself to look earlier and later. The German Minnesinger, Walther von der Vogelweide, is the subject of a 2023 SONY/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi CD-release and documentary film. My deep interest in early American music led to the recording of "Rose of Sharon" (harmonia mundi France 2010). Juxtaposing new and early music, has kept my mind open and my music-making fresh. I like to test boundaries and to broaden the scope of what I do with new, creative projects. One of those is "A Day with Suzanne - A Tribute to Leonard Cohen" (SONY/DHM 2023) which unites some of Cohen's greatest songs with timeless French Renaissance Chansons. For "The Elfin Knight” (harmonia mundi France 2006 and hm Gold 2018) I arranged English ballads and dances for a small ensemble and with "Requiem for a Pink Moon - An Elizabethan Tribute to Nick Drake” (harmonia mundi France 2013) I connected Nick to the Elizabethan Lutenist Songwriters, even contributing a song of my own (Ocean). I am proud of my discography both with Ensemble Phoenix Munich and as a freelance bass singer, and excited for the work that is to come. Look for a book of 21 original songs, much more singing and new collaborations.
For a more traditional biography, click below!
REPERTOIRE
Lied, Opera & Oratorio
Lied (Song)
Winterreise (The Winter Journey) by Franz Schubert with Joel Frederiksen, bass, and Mikhail Berlin, piano (Photo: Thomas Zwillinger)
Opera
Claudio Monteverdi
Plutone and Caronte - L’Orfeo
Seneca - L’incoronazione di Poppea
Nettuno (Neptune) - Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria
Georg Friedrich Handel
Somnus - Semele
Achilla - Giulio Cesare
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Osmin - Entführung aus dem Serail
Sarastro - Zauberflöte
Oratorios, Masses, Other works
Johann Sebastian Bach
Jesus - St. John Passion, St. Matthew Passion
Quoniam - B-minor mass
Georg Friederich Handel
Polyphemus - Acis and Galatea
Caleb - Joshua
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Requiem
C-minor Mass
Claudio Monteverdi
Marienvespers
Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber
Requiem in F
Vespers
Solo Programs With Lute
Discography
Recordings with Ensemble Phoenix MunicH
A Day with Suzanne (SONY/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, January 13, 2023)
A Tribute to Leonard Cohen with French Renaissance Chanson
Walther von der Vogelweide (SONY/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, May 2023)
— ein Wanderleben
Un niño nos es naçido (SONY/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, November 2018)
A Child for us is born — Christmas music from Spain and Latin America in the 16-17th centuries
Tell me true love (SONY/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, October 2016)
Music from the "English Orpheus" John Dowland
Reflektionen (SONY/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, April 2013)
Reflections - Oswald von Wolkenstein newly interpreted
Requiem for a Pink Moon (harmonia mundi France, May 2012)
An Elizabethan Tribute to Nick Drake (1948-74)
Rose of Sharon (harmonia mundi France, May 2011)
100 Years of American Music
O felice morire (harmonia mundi France, August 2008)
Florence 1600 - Music of Caccini, Kapsberger, Monteverdi and others for bass voice and instruments
The Elfin Knight (harmonia mundi France, 2007; Re-release on harmonia mundi Gold, 2018)
Ballads and Dances of England and Scottland
Orpheus, I am (EPM Productions, 2003)
English, French and Italian music of the Renaissance and early Baroque
DVD Joel Frederiksen: LIVE from the Prague Senate (Dvorak Artists International)
Virtuosic Italian music of the early Baroque
America! Vol.1 - A Land of Refuge (harmonia mundi France)
Kompilation CD mit Werken von EPM
Recordings with other ensembles
Boston Camerata Anne Azema, Dirigent
Free America! - Early Songs of Resistance and Rebellion (harmonia mundi France 2019)
Treasures of Devotion - Spiritual Songs of Northern Europe ca. 1500 (Music & Arts Program 2019)
The Golden Harvest - More Shaker Chants And Spirituals (GLISSANDO 2000/2017)
What Then is Love? - An Elizabethan Songbook (Erato 1999)
Liberty Tree - Early American Music 1776-1861 (Erato 1998)
Douce Beauté - Pierre Guédron et l’Air de Cour (Erato 1998)
Carmina Burana - Medieval Songs from the Benediktbeuern Ms., c. 1230 (Erato 1997)
Angels - Voices from Eternity (Erato 1997)
Farewell Unkind - Songs and Dances (Erato 1996)
Trav'ling Home - American Spirituals 1770-1870 (Erato 1996)
Simple Gifts - Shaker Chants and Spirituals (Erato 1995)
American Christmas - Carols, Hymns and Spirituals, 1770-1870 (Erato 1993)
Per-Sonat Sabine Lutzenberger, Dirigentin
Kaiser Maximilian I. - Song, Chanson, Dances (Christophorus 2019)
Bis an der Welt ihr Ende - German songs of the Reformation (Christophorus, 2017)
Diabolus in Musica Antoine Guerber, Dirigent
Requiem - Johannes Ockeghem und Pierre de la Rue (Bayard Musique - harmonia mundi 2018)
Sarband Ensemble Vladimir Ivanoff, Dirigent
What the world needs now… (May 2018)
Huelgas Ensemble Paul Van Nevel, Dirigent
Het oor van Theodoor Van Loon (Cypress October 2018)
Jacobus de Kerle (harmonia mundi France)
Alfonso Ferrabosco (harmonia mundi France)
Quinta Essentia (harmonia mundi France)
40 Voices (harmonia mundi France)
Collegium Zielenski Krakow Stanislaw Galonski, Dirigent
Offertoria et Communiones Totius Anni (1611) Mikolaj Zielenski, (DUX) - Joel Frederiksen (bass) & Emma Kirkby (soprano)
Josquin Capella Meinolf Brüser, Dirigent
Geistliche Werke: Ludwig Senfl (recorded 2017)
Estote fortes in bello: Sacred Music by Jacques Arcadelt (CPO)
Lamentationes: Ockeghem, Gombert, Festa (MDG)
Benedicam Dominum: Thomas Stoltzer, Psalm Motets (MDG)
Missa super Ave praeclara: Heinrich Finck (2007, WDR; CPO)
Ensemble Gilles Binchois Dominique Vellard, Dirigent
Polyphonies oubliées - Faux-bourdons XVI – XIX (APARTE)
Cantica Sacra (EVIDENCE)
Rodrigo De Ceballos (ca.1533-1581) (ALMAVIVA, 2003)
The Unicorn Ensemble Michael Posch, Dirigent
Minnesang in Südtirol - Repertoire of the Minnesingers
Musica fiata Roland Wilson, Dirigent
Magnificat - Heinrich Biber
Orpheus Choir Munich Gerd Guglhör, Dirigent
Geistliche Musik am Münchner Hof (Sacred Music at the Munich Court) - Johann Kaspar Kerll und Rupert Ignaz Mayr (BMG Ariola Classics 2003)
Be Still! - Lawrence Traiger (1956-)
Ensemble for Early Music Frederick Renz, Dirigent
Marienvesper - Claudio Monteverdi
Waverly Consort Michael Jaffee, Dirigent (1938-2019)
1492: The Age of Discovery
A Waverly Christmas
An American Journey