Ute Lemper
Ute Lemper's career is vast and varied. She has made her mark on the stage, in films, in concert and as a unique recording artist and interpreter of Berlin Cabaret Songs, the works of Kurt Weill and French chanson.
She was born in Münster, Germany and completed her studies at The Dance Academy in Cologne and the Max Reinhardt Seminary Drama School in Vienna.
Ms Lemper's professional debut on the musical stage was in the original Vienna production of Cats in the roles Grizabella & Bombalurina. She went on to play Peter in Peter Pan (Berlin) and Sally Bowles in Jérôme Savary's Cabaret (Paris) for which she received the Molière Award for Best Actress in a Musical. She played Lola in The Blue Angel (Berlin) and Maurice Bejart created a ballet for her, La Mort Subite (Paris). Ute also appeared in Kurt Weill Revue with the Pina Bausch Tanztheater.
Her solo concerts, which include "Kurt Weill Recital", "Illusions", "City of Strangers" and "Berlin Cabaret Evening" have been produced throughout the world at prestigious venues such as La Scala, Piccolo Teatro (Milan), Théâtre de la Ville, Theatre National de Chaillot, Les Bouffes du Nord (Paris), Palao de la Musica (Barcelona), The Sydney Opera House (Australia), Berliner Ensemble (Germany), Barbican, Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Almeida Theatre (London), Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center (New York), Tanglewood (Massachusetts), The Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.), Herbst Theatre (San Francisco) and The Westwood Playhouse (Los Angeles).
Ute's Symphony concerts include "The Seven Deadly Sins", "Songs from Kurt Weill", "Songbook" (Michael Nyman) and "Songs from Piaf & Dietrich" with The London Symphony Orchestra (Kent Nagano), Israel Philarmonic Orchestra (Zubin Mehta), London Philarmonic Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and Berlin Symphony Orchestra (all with John Mauceri), The Paris Radio Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, The " Illusions " Orchestra (Bruno Fontaine) and The Michael Nyman Band (Michael Nyman). She also appeared in "Folksongs" with the Luciano Berio Orchestra (Luciano Berio) and with The Matrix Ensemble (Robert Ziegler) performing Berlin Cabaret Songs.
Recordings for DECCA include Ute Lemper Sings Kurt Weill (Vols. I & II), Threepenny Opera, The Seven Deadly Sins, Mahagonny Songspiel, Prospero's Books (Michael Nyman), Songbook (Michael Nyman/Paul Celan), Illusions (Piaf/Dietrich), City of Strangers (Prevert/Sondheim) and Berlin Cabaret Songs (German & English Versions). In 2000, Decca released Ute's `Punishing Kiss" album, a collection of original songs by songwriters such as Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, Neil Hannon, Nick Cave and Philip Glass.
She was named Billboard Magazine's Crossover Artist of the Year for 1993-1994. She also recorded Crimes of the Heart, Life is a Cabaret and Ute Lemper Live for CBS Records and POLYDOR, Espace Indecent, Nuits Etranges and She Has a Heart.
All That Jazz/The Best of Ute Lemper, which features highlights from her illustrious career to date, was released in 1998. It accompanied her playing Velma Kelly in the London production of Kander & Ebb's Chicago for which she received the 1998 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical. After nine months in London's West End Ute made her Broadway debut in September 1998. A major highlight of her eight month American engagement in Chicago was starring with Chita Rivera in the Las Vegas premiere in March 1999.
In film, her many credits include L'Autrichienne (Pierre Granier-Deferre), Prospero's Books (Peter Greenaway), Moscow Parade (Ivan Dikhovichni), Prêt á Porter (Robert Altman), Bogus (Norman Jewison) and the recent releases, Combat de Fauves (Benoit Lamy), A River Made to Drown In (James Merendino) and Appetite (George Milton). She has appeared on television in Rage/Outrage, The Dreyfus Affair (Arte), Tales from the Crypt (HBO), Ute Lemper Sings Kurt Weill (Bravo), Illusion (Granada), Songbook (Volker Schloendorff), The Wall (Roger Waters) and The Look of Love (Gillian Lynn).
In 2000, Ute completed another sold out engagement of her one-woman show at Joe's Pub (The Public Theatre) in New York. She also appear at the Queen's Theatre in London's West End for two weeks in Autumn 1999 and then went on to the historic Opera-Comique in Paris the following December.
During 2001 and 2002, Ute Lemper toured the world once again, from South America to Warsaw, London to Berlin. This included performances at the Sydney Opera House for the Olympic Games, performing with the Washington Symphony under the baton of Leonard Slatkin, along side Guitar virtuoso Eliot Fisk in LA and at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Italy in "The Seven Deadly Sins". During this time, Ute also filmed the movie "Aurelien" with the director Arnauld Selignacs for Arte productions.
In Autumn 2002, Ute's new album `But One Day' is released on Decca. The album features highlights from Ute's current performances - songs by composers ranging from Kurt Weill, Hans Eisler, Jacques Brel and Astor Piazzolla, plus a selection of compositions by Lemper herself. Ute has spent the last 2 years working on her new album and describes it as one of the most exciting and rewarding projects she's ever worked on.
Also released for the first time on DVD will be Ute Lemper's classic Kurt Weill show, in a performance taken from the Bouffes du Nord in 1992. This is Ute on home territory, a dramatic tour-de-force that takes her Parisian audience on Kurt Weill's bitter-sweet journey from pre-war fame in Germany to an enforced emigration to America and a triumphant second career as a celebrated Broadway melodist. Featured are such favourites as Mack the Knife, the Alabama Song, Surabaya-Johnny, together with such US hits as I'm a Stranger Here Myself and Tchaikovsky. Supporting the Kurt Weill show on this new DVD is her 1992 Hamburg concert performance of Michael Nyman's 'Songbook', conceived for Ute and performed under the direction of Michael Nyman and his Band. A modern complement to Kurt Weill, the Nyman concert was filmed by the noted German director, Volker Schlöndorff ('The Tin Drum').
Ute currently lives in New York with her two children, Max and Stella.