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Ute Lemper's career is vast and varied. She has made her mark on the stage, in films, in concert and as a unique recording artist. She has been universally praised for her interpretations of Berlin cabaret songs, the works of Kurt Weill and Berthold Brecht and the French chanson book, as well as her own compositions and the more jazz influenced collaborations and works. In the world of theater, Ute made her mark with her portrayals on Broadway, in Paris and in London's West End.
In 2011 and 12 Ute toured the world with Ultimo Tango, presenting a journey through the songs of Astor Piazzolla, the fabulous Argentinian composer of Tango and the words of the Poet Horacio Ferrer. Ute sings in the original Spanish and created adaptations of these stories of love, abandonment, decadence and passion in Buenos Aires, Berlin, Paris and New York, in French, German and English. The tour presented the original Astor Piazzolla Sextet from Buenos Aires. Opening night was March 2011 at the Hong Kong Arts Festival.
Ute also played a packed house in March 2011 for the Jazz at Lincoln Center concert series, with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, led by Wynton Marsalis, at Rose Hall in New York City, dedicated to the music of Kurt Weill.
Very different is Ute’s other recent creation, The Bukowski Project, a rather avant-garde, adventurous collage in music and songs of the poetry of Charles Bukowski. This homage to the poet was invented and largely composed by Ute herself, in collaboration with her partner Todd Turkisher and her pianist Vana Gierig.
Ute was nominated in 2013 for a Grammy for her CD Paris Days/Berlin Nights with the Vogler String Quartet and Stefan Malzew on Piano. It is a beautiful semi-classical recording featuring songs between love and war composed by Hans Eisler, Kurt Weill, Brel, Piaf and Piazzolla, and also Folksongs in Yiddish and in Russian. The group did an extensive North American tour in March and April of 2012.
Born in Munster, Germany, Ute completed her studies at The Dance Academy in Cologne and the Max Reinhardt Seminary Drama School in Vienna.
Her professional debut on the musical stage was in the original Vienna production of Cats in the roles of Grizabella and Bombalurina. She went on to play Peter Pan in Peter Pan (Berlin) and Sally Bowles in Jerome Savary’s Cabaret (Paris) for which she received the Moliere Award for Best Actress in a Musical. She played Lola in The Blue Angel (Berlin) under the direction of Peter Zadek and Maurice Bejart created a ballet for her, La Mort Subite (Paris). Ute also appeared in many Weill Revues with the Pina Bausch Tanztheater, and she created the part of Velma Kelly in London’s production of Chicago in the West End, for which she was honored with the Laurence Olivier Award, and moved to the Broadway production after one year, where she receive the American Theatre Award.
Ute Lemper’s solo concerts, which include Kurt Weill & Berthold Brecht Recitals, Dietrich & Piaf, Jacques Brel, Leo Ferre, Kosma, Prevert, Sondheim and Berlin Cabaret Evenings, have been produced in prestigious venues throughout the world. Her symphony concerts include The Seven Deadly Sins, Songs from Kurt Weill, Songbook (Michael Nyman) and Songs from Weill, Piaf and Dietrich with the symphony orchestras of London, Israel, Boston, Hollywood, San Francisco, Berlin, The Paris Radio Symphony Orchestra, The Illusions Orchestra (Bruno Fontaine) and the Michael Nyman Band (Michael Nyman). She also appeared in Folksongs with the Luciano Berio Orchestra (Luciano Berio) and with The Matrix Ensemble (Robert Ziegler) performing Berlin Cabaret Songs. She performed with the best symphony orchestras all over the world from Buenos Aires to Sydney.
Her celebrated recordings for DECCA include Ute Lemper Sings Kurt Weill (Vols. I and II), Three Penny Opera, The Seven Deadly Sins, Mahogonny Songspiel, Prospero’s Books (Michael Nyman), Songbook (Michael Nyman/Paul Celan), Illusions (Piaf/Dietrich), City of Strangers (Prever/Sondheim) and Berlin Cabaret Songs (German and English versions). She was named Billboard Magazine’s Crossover Artist of the Year for 1993-1994. In early 2000, Decca/Universal Music released Punishing Kiss, featuring new songs composed for her by Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, Philip Glass, and Nick Cave. Her following release on Decca But One Day, features new arrangements of Weill, Brel, Piazolla, Heymann and Eisler songs, as well as the first recordings of her own compositions, for which she wrote both lyrics and music. She has also recorded Crimes of the Heart, Life is a Cabaret and Ute Lemper Live for CBS Records, and Espace Indecent, Nuits Etranges and She Has a Heart for Polydor.
A live album and DVD, Blood and Feathers, was recorded in 2005 at the Café Carlyle, one of New York’s hottest Cabaret stages. It was released worldwide on DRG/Koch Records and EDEL Records in Europe.
All That Jazz/The Best of Ute Lemper, which features highlights from her illustrious career was released in 1998. It accompanied her playing Velma Kelly in the London production of Kander and Ebb’s Chicago for which she received the 1998 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical. After nine months in London’s West End Ms. Lemper made her Broadway debut in September 1998. A major highlight of her eight months American engagement in Chicago was starring with Chita Rivera in the Las Vegas premiere in March 1999.
Her 2008 album Between Yesterday and Tomorrow is the first album consisting entirely of self-penned music and lyrics by Ute, which she coproduced together with her partner in life and work Todd Turkisher.
In film, her many credits include L’Autrichienne (Pierre Granier-Deferre), Prospero’s Books (Peter Greenaway), Moscow Parade (Ivan Dikhovichni), Prêt-à-Porter (Robert Altman), Bogus (Norman Jewison) and the most recent releases, Combat de Fauves (Benoit Lamy), A River Made to Drown In (James Merendino) and Appetite (George Milton). She has appeared on television in Rage/Outrage, The Dreyfus Affair (Arte), Tales from the Crypt (HBO), Ute Lemper Sings Kurt Weill (Bravo), Illusions (Granada), Songbook (Volker Scholendorff), The Wall (Rogers Waters) and The Look of Love (Gillian Lynn).
Ms. Lemper lives in New York with her four children, Max, Stella, Julian and Jonas.
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