Singers Female

Colleen Besett

Born in Baltimore, USA, Colleen Besett received her early training at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. She then specialized in the field of opera at Indiana University, Bloomington, USA, in the Masters Program and was awarded a scholarship to study at the renowned College of Music in Munich, Germany. At the age of 23, she was engaged as a Soubrette and Lyric Coloratura Soprano at Staatstheater Karlsruhe and Stadtheater Koblenz, singing such roles as Zerbinetta in “Ariadne auf Naxos”, Blonde in “The Abduction from the Seraglio”, Olympia in “TheTales of Hoffman” and the Queen of the Night in ”The Magic Flute”, with guest appearances in numerous theaters throughout Germany, Austria, The Netherlands and Switzerland. Colleen Besett was Cunegonde in the European Premiere of Bernstein’s ”Candide“ and sang the role of Christine Daaé in Lloyd Webber’s „The Phantom of the Opera“ in over 800 performances in Vienna, Austria, as well as the Soprano Solo in the Austrian Premiere of Lloyd Webber’s Requiem. She delighted audiences with her Mrs. Potts in the German Language Premiere of “The Beauty and the Beast”(Menken) and charmed them in the Doepke European Tour „The Beauty and the Beast“ as the Fairy. Colleen Besett was part of the World Premiere Cast of Disney’s „The Hunchback of Notre Dame”(music Alan Menken, book Stephen Schwartz, director James Lapine) at the Theater at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin. She was professor of singing at the Joop van den Ende Academy, Hamburg, as well as the Academy of Film and Television in Potsdam-Babelsberg. Thereafter she was seen as Gumbie, Jelly and Grizabella in the Berlin and Düsseldorf productions of „Cats”, in Les Miserables in St. Gallen and as Miss Bell in Fame in Saarbrücken. Once again in Vienna, Colleen enjoyed playing Sister Mary Lazarus in Sister Act followed by the Mother Superior in the World Premiere of Frank Wildhorn’s „Excalibur“ in St. Gallen, Switzerland. She was very happy to be singing the role of Josepha Hofer in the workshop for the World Premiere of the new musical “Schikaneder”(music Stephen Schwartz, Book Christian Struppeck, Direction Trevor Nunn). At the moment Colleen is part of the ensemble of „Don Camillo And Peppone“ in Vienna after its world premiere at the Stadttheater St. Gallen, Switzerland.