Helga Forner (1936 – 3 December 2004) was a professor of singing at the

University of Music and Theatre Leipzig The University of Music and Theatre "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig () is a public university in Leipzig, Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1843 by Felix Mendelssohn as the Conservatorium der Musik (Conservatory of Music), it is the oldest univ ...

. She was one of the best-known German singing teachers before and after the

Peaceful Revolution The Peaceful Revolution () – also, in German called ' (, "the turning point") – was one of the peaceful revolutions of 1989 at the peak of the collapse of the Eastern Bloc in the late 1980s. A process of sociopolitical change that led to, am ...

Career

Forner was born in Berlin. From 1954 to 1960 she studied singing at the Hochschule für Musik Leipzig, among others with Eva Fleischer. Afterwards, she taught singing at the Halle Conservatory for five years. In 1965 she received a teaching assignment at her former training centre in Leipzig. In 1978, after three rejections (for political reasons), she was appointed a lecturer for singing. In 1987 she received an extraordinary professorship and five years later she was appointed full professor of singing. Forner was nominated emeritus in 2001, but held a teaching position until 2004. The vocal teacher, who conducted

master class ''Master Class'' is a 1995 play by American playwright Terrence McNally, presented as a fictional master class by opera singer Maria Callas near the end of her life, in the 1970s. The play features incidental vocal music by Giuseppe Verdi, Giac ...

es in Germany and Europe, trained a large number of singers, including

Eva-Maria Bundschuh Eva-Maria Bundschuh (born 16 October 1941) is a German operatic soprano who began her career as a contralto. She received international when she collaborated with Harry Kupfer at the Komische Oper Berlin. Life and career Born in Braunschweig ...

Simone Kermes Simone Kermes (born 17 May 1965, in Leipzig) is a German coloratura soprano, especially known for her virtuoso voice, suited to the opera seria genre of the Baroque and early Classical period. Career Kermes has performed at many important th ...

Romelia Lichtenstein Romelia Lichtenstein, also ''Romelia Assenowa-Lichtenstein'' (12 March 1962 in Sofia) is a German opera, operetta, oratorio, lied and concert soprano. After an apprenticeship as children's nurse she studied vocals at the University of Music and Th ...

Jochen Kupfer Jochen Kupfer (born 1969 in Grimma) is a German operatic baritone. Early life and education Kupfer received regular singing lessons from the age of 10, and studied singing with Helga Forner at the Musikhochschule Leipzig. He attended master clas ...

, and Thomas Wittig. Forner died in Leipzig.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forner, Helga German voice teachers Academic staff of the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig 1936 births 2004 deaths Singers from Berlin