TANGO
AnnA Franken is a tango singer based in Buenos Aires and Germany. She has shared festival-, concert- and milonga stages in France, the BeNeLux, Switzerland, France, Germany and Buenos Aires with the Orquestas Típicas Tango Masivo (BE), OTRA and TOC (NL) and Sabor a Tango (DE), the Berlin based Sexteto Obsesión Tango and Cuarteto Rotterdam and the Dutch Trio Tangata. She also performed with the guitar ensembles Guitarras Porteñas and El Barullo, Leonardo Andersen, Julián Caeiro, Walther Castro, Fabián Villalón, Juan Carlos Tajes, Victor Villena, Leo Vervelde, Micha Molthoff, Wim Warman, Hernán Ruiz, Claudio Constantini and Kay Sleking.
She sang on stages such as the Kölner Philharmonie, the Admiralspalast in Berlin, de Doelen in Rotterdam, the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg and the Gewandhaus zu Leipzig.
For the past 5 years she was the singer of the Berlin Tango Dinner Show "Locura Tanguera" staged by the renowned German company La casa del Tango Berlin.
In 2016 she released her debut CD "Idas y vueltas" which combines the genres of Tango Argentino with German Classical Music. Amongst others she is collaborating with such brilliant and inspiring musicians as Pablo Motta, Julián Caeiro, Diego 'Dipi' Kvitko, Juan Pablo Gallardo and Nicolás Enrich, just to name a few.
After her studies at the Rotterdam Conservatory (Bachelor of Music in Classical Singing) and the Rotterdam World Music Academy (Master of Music in Tango Voice) she won 2 scholarships which allowed her to continue her studies of interpretation and composition at the SADEM School in Buenos Aires as well as with Lidia Borda, Julián Peralta, Brian Chambouleyron and Alejandro Guyot.
AnnA Franken was the first (and up to now the only) singer to obtain the Master of Music diploma (MMus), Argentinian Tango voice, from a European Conservatory.
After having lived in Buenos Aires for 6 years she moved to Germany in 2017 where she performs regularly and teaches tango voice.
CLASSICAL SINGING
SOPRANO
AnnA Franken studied classical singing at the Rotterdam Conservatory where she obtained her Bachelor's diploma (BMus). She took masterclasses and lessons / coachings with Frans Huijts, Douglas Yates, Roberta Cunningham, Neil Semer, Charlotte Riedijk, Carolyn Watkinson, Roberta Alexander and Connie de Jongh.
Up to 2009 she performed as solo soprano (classical music) in various concerts and oratorias in the Netherlands and Germany and participated in choir projects of the Groot Omroepkoor and the Codarts Kamerkoor with conductor's such as Sir Simon Halsey, Sir Roy Goodman and Jaap van Zweden. During her Bachelor studies, AnnA was also coached by Hans Leenders and Henk Guittart - focusing on modern classical singing repertoire such as Arnold Schönberg's "Pierrot Lunaire" which she performed in 2009.
In 2009 AnnA also participated as a solo singer in a joint project of the Kölner Philharmonie and Cologne Highschools and sang an excerpt from J.S. Bach's "Johannespassion" in the Philharmonie Köln. This was her last performance as a classical singer.
During the time of transition from Classical Singing to Tango Voice she was intensively coached by Connie de Jongh and Ingrid Voermans (Lichtenberg method). Years of intensive Classical Singing training as well as lessons in the Lichtenberg Methode have made her very sensitive to the concept of sound as well as the aesthetics of sound used in different genres.
And before this?
AnnA grew up with professional vocal coaching as well as choir singing, performing in children´s musicals and theatre plays. Starting with violin and singing lessons at the age of 4 she sang solo parts as well as in professional choirs and performed in numerous concerts and childrens´ musicals throughout Germany, participating in TV and Film recordings, Radio shows as well as CD recordings.
