Laughter and Tears—A Recital with Julia Borchert (soprano) and Csaba Grünfelder (piano)

The selection of songs is inspired by the visual world of Félix Vallotton. His art, too, explores themes of closeness and distance, relationships and hidden emotions—and those subtle tensions that often reveal themselves only upon closer inspection. Thus, on this evening, music and painting engage in a dialogue about the contradictory aspects of human emotions.

Soprano Julia Borchert, who grew up in Herford, studied at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen and the Freiburg University of Music. After her early career at the National Theater in Mannheim and the State Opera in Hanover, she firmly established herself in the dramatic repertoire with her dazzling role debuts as Brünnhilde at the Theater Magdeburg and as Isolde at the Theater für Niedersachsen in Hildesheim. Her career path took her to opera houses in Leipzig, Cologne, Munich, Hamburg, and Linz, among others, and to the Bayreuth Festival. Under the baton of Daniele Gatti, she made her debut at La Scala in Milan and in Tokyo as the “Voce dal cielo” (Don Carlo), and in *Parsifal* under Zubin Mehta in Valencia. International concert tours have taken her throughout Europe, Switzerland, and Australia. She maintains a close collaboration with the WDR Symphony Orchestra in Cologne. She can be heard as Woglinde in the live recording of *The Ring* conducted by Marek Janowski. Together with pianist Ulrich Eisenlohr, she has released a highly acclaimed recording of Schubert lieder. She works with renowned conductors and directors such as Christian Thielemann, Michael Sanderling, and Adam Fischer, as well as Stefan Herheim and Peter Konwitschny.

Csaba Grünfelder, a native of Hungary, is a conductor, concert pianist, and singer. His 20 years of stage experience encompass a broad repertoire spanning concerts, opera, operettas, and musicals. From 2007 to 2020, he was engaged at the Landestheater Linz. He then became assistant to the chorus master at the Frankfurt Opera. From 2021 to 2026, he served as chorus master at the Theater Vorpommern, and later at the Volkstheater Rostock. Since September of this year, he has been principal conductor and deputy general music director at the Theater Aachen.