Reinet Behncke

The South African-Argentine soprano Reinet Behncke was raised in
Johannesburg, the United Kingdom, Buenos Aires, and the United States. She studied
voice and vocal pedagogy at the University of Colorado at Boulder before moving to
Vienna. She graduated from the Musik und Kunst Privatuniversität der Stadt Wien, where
she received her Master of Arts in Lied and Oratorio, studying with KS Birgid
Steinberger, KS Angelika Kirchschlager, and Carolyn Hague, as well as studying voice
with Michele Friedman, and early and Baroque music with Nicholas Parle and Reinhard
Führer. During her studies, she also participated in master classes with Helmut Deutsch,
Julius Drake, and Susan Manoff.

Reinet began her career in the United States, making her debut as Josephine (HMS
Pinafore) with Loveland Opera Theatre. She then worked in New York City where she
sang Barbarina (Le Nozze di Figaro) and Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier) with New York
Lyric Opera, as well as Brigitta (Iolanta) with New Opera NYC, and the Brautjungfer
(Der Freischütz) with Utopia Opera. Her other operatic credits include Mozart’s Erste
Dame (Die Zauberflöte) and Prima Novizia (Suor Angelica), among others.

Her main artistic focus has been the performance and interpretation of Lieder, art song,
and concert works. Along with her Lied duo partner Anna An, pianist, she has performed
throughout Europe. Her performance of Lieder has further led to
performances throughout the world, including at the Grand Théâtre de Calais, the
Colorado MahlerFest, and the Musikfest Stuttgart with Hilko Dumno.

An avid interpreter of the works of J.S. Bach, whose music is her greatest artistic passion,
she performed "Wir müssen durch viel Trübsal", BWV 146, under the direction of
Helmuth Rilling at the Musikfest Stuttgart. She was additionally a young artist at the
Internationale Bach Akademie Stuttgart in 2017, where she studied the interpretation and
performance of Bach's music with Dorothee Mields, Peter Harvey, and Jos van
Veldhoven. Her church and oratorio repertoire also includes Bach’s Magnificat and
numerous cantatas, Vesperae solennes de confessore, Exsultate Jubilate, Requiem, and
Krönungsmesse by Mozart, Die Tageszeiten by Telemann, Die sieben Worte Jesu Christi
am Kreuz by Schütz, and Szűz Mária Mise by László Dobszay in its Austrian premiere.
She has appeared as soloist with the Wiener Kammer Orchester, Wiener Kaiserquartett,
and Harmonia Ensemble Wien. She is currently the resident soprano of the Baroque
musical group, Ensemble Quattro Cieli.

Reinet was a winner of the ORF's prestigious Fidelio-Wettbewerb in both 2016 and 2017,
and was additionally a semi-finalist of the Heinrich Strecker Crossover Competition of
Bühne Baden, as well as a semi-finalist of the Internationaler Gesangswettbewerb
CantateBach, both in 2019.

In addition to performance, Reinet has a background in vocal education. Following her
pedagogy studies at CU Boulder, she taught both private students, and group voice for
non-music majors. She was a Berton Coffin Scholar and finished her master’s thesis,
“Neuropsychology and Singing: The Effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder on the
Voice”, under the guidance of renowned vocal pedagogue, Dr. Patti Hay Peterson.