Mezzo-soprano Elsbeth Gerritsen became addicted to the operas of Verdi and Mozart in her teens. Studying musicology at Utrecht University turned out to be the perfect preparatory course: it brought her into contact with like-minded souls (so it turned out there were more young people listening to classical music on their headphones...), and introduced her to historical performance practice.

The many concerts she attended at the Festival of Early Music then brought her a great passion for baroque music in general, and for the music of Bach in particular.

After her doctoral studies, she went to the Amsterdam Conservatory of Music. As a vocal student there, she was very happy with her teacher Margreet Honig. Not only because of her very inspiring lessons, but also because once Elsbeth started singing her first Passions herself, Margreet sent her to Jard van Nes for coaching the alto arias. These lessons, too, were extremely valuable.

Oratorio

Meanwhile, as a singer, Elsbeth Gerritsen is part of the Nederlandse Bachvereniging, and is the alto in Quink, a vocal quartet of international renown. She has soloed with renowned ensembles such as Asko|Schönberg, Camerata Trajectina, Klangart Berlin, and VocaalLAB. Among others, she sang Brahms' Altrapsodie, Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky, and Andriessen's M is for Man, Music, Mozart.

She also sings a lot of oratorio repertoire, including Haydn's Stabat Mater, Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle, Berlioz's L'Enfance du Christ and Verdi's Requiem.

Opera

On the opera stage, Elsbeth Gerritsen's roles included naive Miranda in Purcell's The Tempest, pragmatic Yola in a world premiere about immigrants (Two Caravans by Guy Harries), good-natured Nourisher in Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov vengeful Clytaemnestra in Xenakis/Van Parys's Oresteia, boozy wife of Noah during the Flood in Britten's Noye's Fludde, and tar-loving Peace in the oldest Dutch opera: Carolus Hacquart's 1678 song play The Triumphant Min.