...Debora Berghuijs showed to be an overall gifted student, whose performance of “Gretchen am Spinnrade” was full of Passion...
The Dutch Soprano Debora Berghuijs (1984) started her first singing lessons with Meta Bourgonjen when she was fourteen years old. Three years later she was accepted to the Young Talent Department of the Royal Conservatoire The Hague where she studied with Lenie van den Heuvel and started to have coaching lessons with Ana Sánchez Donate. Following her preparatory years, Debora started in the first year of the B-Mus programme in September 2005 with Maria Acda and again Ana Sánchez Donate. One year later, Debora moved to London in order to continue her studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Ameral Gunson were she succesfully completed her Bachlor with Honours Degree in June 2009. Since september 2009 Debora studies privately with the famous tenor James McCray.
In July 2007 and 2008 Debora followed the renowned summer course of the Franz Schubert- Institute in Austria, Together with her duo-partner Merel van der Knoop, she participated in masterclasses with Rudolf Jansen, Julius Drake, Walter Moore, Edith Wiens, Jorma Hyninnen, Wolfgang Holzmair, Helmut Deutsch, Wolfram Rieger, Rudolf Piernay and Elly Ameling.
Apart from this course, Debora joined masterclasses given by Michael Chance, Emma Kirkby and Graham Johnson. Miss Ameling invited Debora and Merel to participate again in a masterclass with her in the Waalse Kerk in Amsterdam.
In March 2009 Debora joined the Guildhall Choir performing Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with Sir Colin Davis as conductor in the Barbican Hall, London, and The Anvil theatre, Basingstoke. She was also part of the Choir in Guildhall’s production of 'The King goes forth to France' by Aulis Sallinen.
During her study in the Netherlands, she performed as a member of the choir in Verdi's Nabucco in the Rai-Theatre in Amsterdam (March 2006).
Debora performs regularly in both the Netherlands and in the UK together with her duo-partner Merel van der Knoop (piano) but has also performed regularly with Dimitri van Halderen (guitar), Erwin Weerstra and Ana Sánchez Donate (piano).
Debora Berghuijs is currently based in Zoetermeer, NL
