Treat yourself to a night of operatic gems with one of Germany’s most respected divas. Soprano star, Kriemhild Goldberg, will host classical charity concerts in Windhoek and Swakopmund end of October and beginning of November 2005, performing some of the world’s most popular opera and operetta classics as well as some lesser known gems from German and Italian classical song.

Hailed as ‘a true Desdemona’ in Puccini’s "Othello" and an ‘art experience of the extraordinaire’, Goldberg’s repertoire ranges from Verdi to Puccini, Bellini, Lehar and Schubert, to name but a few of the composers. Accompanied by tenor Volker Nakel from Swakopmund and pianist Claar ter Horst from the Netherlands, art aficionados are in for a treat when Goldberg delivers one of her headline making performances on 29 October at the Namib Primary School in Swakopmund and on 5 November at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Windhoek.

Part of the proceeds from the concerts will go to the ‘Karibib Shelter’, a Women Solidarity Namibia organization alleviating socio-economic pressures in this depraved Namibian town. The concerts are an initiative of ‘Sternenzeit e.V.’, a charitable organization based in Berlin supporting cultural exchange in southern and eastern Africa as well as Eastern Europe. Currently the organization is supporting a "house for children" in Sri Lanka, facilitating film projects for the youth in Berlin and sponsoring the "Wild Cinema Windhoek International Film Festival 2006".

Sternenzeit e.V. is presenting these classical charity concerts in collaboration with Media Logistics Namibia CC, the Arts Association Swakopmund, the NBC German Service and Allgemeine Zeitung. Sponsors include Mafilm GmbH, the German Embassy in Namibia, the Roman Catholic Church, Hotel Pension Steiner and Hotel Thüringer Hof in Windhoek as well as Hotel Schweizerhaus, Hotel Pension Rapmund, Secret Garden Guesthouse and Pension D’Avignon in Swakopmund.

Saturday, 29 October, Namib Primary School. Doors open 20h00 show starts 20h30. Tickets in advance N$ 35.- at Die Muschel, Tel. 064-402874, at the door N$40.-

Saturday, 5 November, St. Mary’s Cathedral. Doors open 20h00, show starts 20h30. Tickets in advance N$ 65 at NTN Box Office, Tel. 061-234633, at the door N$ 70

Hailing from the Oberlausitz in Germany, Kriemhild Goldberg studied Opera at the Carl Maria von Weber Academy for Music in Dresden. She graduated with a stunning interpretation of the "Prayer of Desdemona" from Othello and was immediately engaged as First Soprano at the Berlin Metropoltheater. Here she sang every major part of the classical and modern genres.

Her career took a new direction when Kriemhild performed the part of "Leonore" in Beethoven’s "Fidelio". This was the beginning of her opera career and even more successful then her classical "light entertainment". Her repertoire speaks for itself: Desdemona, Senta, Amelia, Tosca, Cho-Cho San, Aida, just to mention a few. As a frequent guest singer of the Komische Oper Berlin (Comic Opera Berlin) she travelled to Tokyo and Nagoya. During this time she trained and perfected her voice under the tutorship of singers like Hannelore Kuhse, Kurt Rehm, Marianne Kupfer and last but not least, Callas-student Rafael Ortiz. Kriemhild Goldberg is a member of the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

Born in Amsterdam, Claar ter Horst started her solo-studies in piano with Haakon Ausrbro in Holland and Edith Picht-Axenfeldt in Freiburg/Germany. Over several years she accompanied master classes of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Elizabeth Schwarzkopf. Regular concert performances with chamber music and song recital ensembles brought her to cities all over Europe and America where she even performed in New York’s famous Carnegie-Hall.

Claar ter Horst has worked with many renowned singers of the likes of Julia Varady, Stephan Gernz, Christoph Genz, Christiane Libor, Christian Voigt, Nena Brzákovich and others. She was awarded the "Diapason d´or" for her recordings with Stephan Genz of Hugo Wolf’s and Robert Schumann’s songs. Furthermore she has recorded for all major German and French radio stations. Claar has been engaged to perform at several international singing competitions as well as the annual Richard-Strauss-Festival in Garmisch-Partenkirchen/Germany.

Today her musical home is the "Hanns Eisler" Academy for Music in Berlin, where she teaches as a professor for Solorepetition.

For Swakopmund-based tenor Volker Nakel singing is a calling rather than a career. He developed his love for singing already as a young boy, where the Humboldt-University discovered his talent and facilitated external singing classes for him at the Berlin Music Academy. Here he took classes with Prof. Altendorf.

After his studies of veterinary medicine he chose singing as his second career. The synphony orchestra of Potsdam engaged him as concert singer and he became known as "the singing veterinarian". In his country of choice, Namibia, he performed in "Lucia de Lammermoor" in the National Theatre of Namibia. He gave his Namibian debut as soloist during the Swakopmunder Musikwoche in Beethoven’s "Phantasy for Choir and Orchestra".