March 26, 2026
Athens, GR 14 C
Expand search form
Blog

Brigitte Fassbender: All my life I suffered from stage fright

Brigitte Fassbender: All my life I suffered from stage fright

The magnificent German mezzo, later an imposing theatre and festival director, gives a rare interview to Zsolt Bognar. Now 85, Brigitte involves her successor as director, Josef Köpplinger, as an intermediary in the conversation.

Brigitte attributes her early retirement from singing to an increase in performance anxiety. ‘I was like a lamb to slaughter,’ she says.

She amplifies: ‘The more you work and the further you come, the more your own responsibility grows. Sometimes you want to stay back and say, I can’t any more. The regeneration of emotional feelings is running out. This is a reason I stopped rather early.’

I was overwhelmed by Brigitte’s candour when we met for a BBC Lebrecht Interview in 2008. Sadly, it is not presently online.

Watch Zsolt’s latest:

The post Brigitte Fassbender: All my life I suffered from stage fright appeared first on Slippedisc.

Previous Article

Whose Fantasie…. Richter’s or Yuja’s

Next Article

Ruth Leon recommends… In The Bleak Midwinter – Wigmore Hall

You might be interested in …

Alon Kariv plays Chopin at Cadogan Hall

Alon Kariv plays Chopin at Cadogan Hall

Mendelssohn, Chopin, Schumann Alon Kariv (piano); English Chamber Orchestra / Roberto Forés Veses (conductor). Cadogan Hall, London, 11.05.2025 Mendelssohn Overture, ‘The Hebrides,’ Op. 26 (1829)  Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11 […]

Paris Hilton: Let’s make an opera

Paris Hilton: Let’s make an opera

Tonight, on the US Peacock network, fading reality-TV influencers Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie aim to put together an opera in 30 days. In a three-part series. With opera entrepreneur Beth Morrison. And British composer […]

Ravel ‘Daphnis’ from Strasbourg

Ravel ‘Daphnis’ from Strasbourg

Aziz Shokhakimov’s continuing success with the Strasbourg orchestra is exemplified in this recording. Good timing, too, given the Ravel celebrations this year. Recently, we covered a live performance in Strasbourg of Stravinsky’s Rite could with […]