Isabel Houtmortels is a versatile singer with a wide-ranging repertoire, spanning opera and oratorio to contemporary music. She recently performed the soprano solo in Handel’s Messiah at the Église Saint-Eustache in Paris. This season, she can be heard as a soloist in works by, among others, Bach, Vivaldi, Brahms, and Fauré.
In addition to her classical singing studies at Codarts, where she studied with Charlotte Riedijk, Isabel attended masterclasses with Margreet Honig and Teru Yoshihara and took drama lessons with Elsina Jansen. She is currently coached by Margreet Honig and Charlotte Riedijk.
On the opera stage, Isabel made her debut at De Nationale Opera as Die Tochter des Besenbinders in Humperdinck’s Königskinder, conducted by Marc Albrecht and directed by Christoph Loy. She also performed the role of Ismene in Mozart’s Mitridate, in a production directed by Mirjam Koen.
As an oratorio soloist, Isabel has performed Fauré’s Requiem, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, and Bach’s St Matthew Passion. She is also active in ensemble and choral work, including with the Laurens Collegium in Rotterdam.
Together with pianist Aarón Ormaza, Isabel forms a duo. This coming summer, they will present their first song program, combining iconic repertoire with works that have long been overlooked. The program focuses on Dutch composers such as Henriëtte Bosmans, Rosy Wertheim, and Dick Kattenburg, whose works were banned during World War II and sometimes only rediscovered much later. With this program, Isabel and Aarón pay tribute to these composers and shed new light on a frequently forgotten, yet valuable, part of our musical heritage.
