Ulrike Hofbauer was born in Bavaria and studied singing at the Universities of Würzburg and Salzburg. Following this, she continued her studies at the Schola Cantorum in Basel. The teachers who influenced her most profoundly were Sabine Schütz, Evelyn Tubb and Anthony Rooley.
Ulrike now lives near Basel and has performed as a soloist with Singer Pur, Collegium Vocale Gent, L’Arpeggiata, La Chapelle Rhénane, L’Orfeo Barockorchester and Cantus Cölln amongst others. She has worked with directors including Howard Arman, Andrew Parrott, Philippe Herreweghe, Christina Pluhar, Andrea Marcon, Gustav Leonhardt, Manfred Cordes, Hans-Christoph Rademann, Rudolf Lutz, Jörg Halubek and Jörg-Andreas Bötticher.
Her versatility as a singer is documented by her considerable disocgraphy, one of her latest CDs being "Lucia" (Albbus - fair editions).
Ulrike regularly has the opportunity to pursue her love of acting on the opera stage and has performed in (among other venues) the theatres of Basel and Bern. Roles include Euridice in the Orpheus settings by Monteverdi, Gluck and Telemann, the title roles in Cavalli's Calisto and Handel’s Acis and Galathea as well as all the female roles in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. She also sang the title role in Handel's Almira at the Boston Early Music Festival.
Ulrike enjoys exploring new and unusual repertoires from different epochs and styles. She is particularly interested in the music of the 17th and early 18th centuries as well as ornamentation and the "recitar cantando" style.
Next to music, Ulrike works on discovering the secret to the perfect espresso. She enjoys cycling, nature, swimming and - last but not least - books, books, books!
With her baroque ensemble savādi, focusing on Italian music from the early 17th century, she combines historical performance practise with more contemporary performance styles, and has won several awards. She directs larger-scale projects with her ensemble &cetera and in 2014 the ensemble released their first CD, "Dialoghi a voce sola" on the Raumklang label and in collaboration with Radio Bremen. &cetera's second CD, featuring motets by the Neapolitan composer Leonardo Leo, was released by Sony in 2016.
Previously, Ulrike taught Baroque singing at the Institute for Early Music of the Mozarteum University in Salzburg and at the Conservatoire and the Académie Supérieure de Musique in Strasbourg. Since 2019 she has been a professor of Baroque singingg at Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. Ulrike is also regularly invited to give international master classes throughhout Europe.
Ulrike enjoys exploring new and unusual repertoires from different epochs and styles. She is particularly interested in the music of the 17th and early 18th centuries as well as ornamentation and the "recitar cantando" style.
Next to music, Ulrike works on discovering the secret to the perfect espresso. She enjoys cycling, nature, swimming and - last but not least - books, books, books!
