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Mimi Coertse

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Mimi Coertse (12 June 1932 - ), the South African soprano.


Early Life

Coertse, born in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, matriculated at the Helpmekaar Girls High School in Johannesburg. She left South Africa in September 1953 for London, and then via The Hague to Vienna. In January 1954 she started training with Maria Hittorff and Josef Witt.


Opera Career

Coertse made her debut in January 1955 as the First Flower girl in Wagner's Parsifal at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Karl Bohm conducting. She also sang in Basle at the Teatro San Carlo. On 17 March 1956 she made her debut at the Vienna State Opera as Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute (Mozart) and remained with the Vienna State Opera until 1978.


Coertse sang the soprano part in Bach's Matthäus-Passion at Fritz Wunderlich's first appearance at Vienna in 1958, when he did the tenor arias with Julius Patzak singing the Evangelist. In 1958, Coertse and Fritz Wunderlich again worked together at the Aix-en-Provence festival in Die Zauberflöte. In 1965, she sang Konstanze in Werner Düggelin's controversial production of Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Vienna State Opera which also featured Fritz Wunderlich as Belmonte.


Her repertoire also includes:


Coertse has sung in theatres at Aix-en-Provence, Athens, Barcelona, Brussels, Covent Garden, Dusseldorf, Glyndebourne, Graz, Linz, Melk, Naples, Palermo, Salzburg, Stuttgart, The Hague and Turin and with conductors like Karl Böhm, Vittorio Gin, Heinrich Hollreiser, Herbert von Karajan, Josef Keilbert, Rudolf Kempe, Josef Krips, Rafael Kubelik, Peter Lainsdorf, Wilhelm Loibner, Lorin Maazel, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Edouard van Moortel, Rudolf Moralt, John Pritchard, Argio Quadri, Mario Rossi, Sir Malcolm Sargent, Herman Scherchen, George Soltie, Hans Swarowsky, Georges Szell and Antonio Wotto.


Among the famous singers who have partnered her were Walter Berry, Rudolf Christ, Boris Christoff, Anton Dermota, Otto Edelmann, Hilde Gueden, Johannes Heesters, Sena Jurinac, Waldemar Kmentt, Erich Kunz, Christa Ludwig, Julius Patzak, Helge Roswaenge, Rudolf Schock, Teresa Stich-Randall, Otto Wiener and Guiseppe Zampieri.

Later years

Since returning to South Africa in 1973 she has been a regular guest on South African stages and also a frequent broadcaster on radio and television. In recent years she has devoted her time to exposing young South African singers to the neglected art of Lieder singing which can be artistically even more demanding than opera singing. Her support for her fellow South African musicians has been outstanding - as may be witnessed in her Debut with Mimi and through the Mimi Coertse Bursary.


In 1998 Mimi Coertse and Neels Hansen founded The Black Tie Ensemble, a development project which enables young, classically trained singers to bridge the gap between training and professional performance. This project has developed into the most exciting classical singing ensemble in South Africa, and is now on the brink of becoming a vibrant, new, young opera company. A project for future stars of Africa! The Ensemble, sponsored by Sappi, performs operas at the State Theatre (Pretoria), Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens (Johannesburg) and the Civic Theatre (Johannesburg).

Honours and awards

  • 1961 Coertse was awarded the Medal of Honour of Die Suidafrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns
  • 1966 a most prestigious title from the [[Austria|Austrian] Government: Kammersängerin.
  • 1985 she received in South Africa the Decoration for Meritorious Service in recognition of the contribution to the Arts.
  • August 1996 she received the highest accolade an artist can receive from the Austrian Government: the Oesterreichishe Ehrenkreuz für Wissenschaft und Kunst.
  • 2003 she received the D.Phil (h.c.) from the University of Pretoria, South Africa
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