Main Menu > Music > Our Musicians > Vocal Coaches

Bettina Kühne, Vocal Coach

Bettina Kühne was born the daughter of a church musician. She completed degree courses in instrumental (violin) and vocal studies with Prof. Rudolf Aue at the College of Music Lübeck.
Between 1989 and 1993 she was a member of the Bavarian Radio Choir. Since 1994 she has been engaged in the choir of the Bavarian State Opera, where she is regularly entrusted with soloist roles, e.g. in Henze's "Der junge Lord" (Dennis Russel Davis), as a bridesmaid in Weber's "Der Freischütz" for a guest performance of the State Opera in Tokyo, as a Flower Girl in Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro" (Zubin Metha) and most recently in Mozart's "Idomeneo" for the reopening of the Cuvillés Theater under GMD Kent Nagano. among others.
Bettina Kühne also performed as a soloist in various church operas at St. Michael's under Elmar Schloter (by J. Haydn and others). Her repertoire encompasses the sacred works of Bach, Händel, Mozart, Haydn, Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Beethoven, Gounod, Fauré, R. Strauss, and Dvorak (a detailed list can be found on her website).
She performs in concerts and recitals both in Germany and abroad and is a permanent ensemble member in the musical team of the Jesuit Church of St. Michael's in Munich (under the artistic direction of Choral Director Frank Höndgen).
Bettina Kühne's musical work is completed by extensive teaching activities at her own vocal studio. One special focus of her work are children, whom she prepares for work in the children's choir of the Bavarian State Opera. She also offers general vocal training and voice coaching for amateur and professional singers.

Birgit Rolla, Vocal Coach

Birgit Rolla's versatility and stylistic confidence make her a sought-after soloist and ensemble singer. Born in Munich, the contralto received musical training from an early age and went on to study school music at the University of Music and Theater in Munich, focusing on the violoncello. She completed her vocal studies with Mercedes Gollwitzer, Mary McSweeney, and Karl-Heinz Jarius, among others.
She performs both in Germany and abroad as an oratorio and lieder singer. Her broad repertoire includes compositions by Hildegard von Bingen, C. Monteverdi, H. Purcell, J.S. Bach, G.F. Händel, W.A. Mozart, J. Haydn, and L. van Beethoven as well as by G. Rossini, B. Britten, and I. Stravinsky.
For some years now, she has devoted herself primarily to music of the 17th and 18th century: Both as a soloist and as member of various ensembles at festivals and in numerous concerts, she mainly performs baroque and classical compositions in all their virtuosity and expressiveness (e.g. at Elbphilharmonie, at the Herrenchiemsee Festival, at the Festival AmaDea in Salzburg, at the Autumn Organ Festival in Munich, and at the Musikverein in Vienna). As a soloist she has collaborated with renowned conductors such as Kent Nagano, Zubin Mehta, Valery Gergiev, Andrew Parrott, Manfred Honeck, and Enoch zu Guttenberg.

Peter Pöppel, Vocal Coach

Peter Pöppel was born in Regensburg in 1962. Aged 8, he was accepted into the boys' choir of the Regensburger Domspatzen, where he soon emerged as a soloist on numerous concert tours. Intensive training in music theory, singing, piano, and flute in the affiliated music school laid the foundations for his later career already during his childhood and youth.
After his high school graduation, civilian service, studies in theology and philosophy in Munich and further training in music therapy in Berlin, he studied singing and piano at the Munich Conservatory and externally with Ilse and Hans Hagen; he also attended the opera studio under Wolf Busse. Master classes with John Shirley-Quirk, Prof. Kurt Widmer, Prof. Thomas Quasthoff and two years of further education with Prof. James Taylor ensued.
In the following years, concert tours and opera productions took him across Europe, to Israel, the USA and Japan as a soloist and ensemble singer. Since 1992 he has been singing in the Bavarian Radio Choir. Between 2000 and 2016 he was a member of Collegium Vocale Gent.
Since 1993 Peter Pöppel has been running his own vocal studio in Munich, where he teaches, coaches, and accompanies students and singers of all ages and at all levels.
In 2005 he completed his training as a breath therapist at the Institut für Atemlehre Dr. Anne Schaeffer-Riedl in Munich with the AFA diploma and has been working in his own practice ever since. In 2006 he completed a multi-annual training as a Reiki teacher and Reiki master in Bangkok/Thailand and received his diploma as Advanced NuadThai Practicioner from the Wat Po Traditional Medical School.
He works as a voice trainer and vocal coach for various institutions, such as International Bach Academy Stuttgart, gives lectures, courses, seminars, workshops and trainings for musicians, singers, actors and people in speaking professions.


Collegium Monacense

Collegium Monacense of St. Michael's is a professional vocal ensemble that cultivates the tradition of the court chapel, i.e. music performed around the times of St. Michael's original construction. The ensemble's sound is ideal for performing works of the early modern era, particularly Renaissance and early Baroque music. But the Collegium also tackles music in all other styles and from all eras (in appropriately varying sizes).


Choir & Orchestra of St. Michael's

The choir and orchestra of St. Michael's have by far the longest and richest tradition of all the musical ensembles connected to our church. They can look back at a history that spans more than 400 years, starting with the consecration of the altars in 1592, which was accompanied by then maestro di capella Orlando di Lasso. Today the choir and orchestra are essential elements in the great concert of all musical ensembles at St. Michael's.