Gerda Iguchi

We regret to announce that Nishad and Arko are unable to attend this year’s festival due to visa complications. We are pleased to announce that fellow Art Song Challenge winner, Gerda Iguchi is now to perform at this year’s Festival, presenting her reimagination of Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder.

Electro pulses meet Romantic passion in this bold reimagining of Wagner. Leeds Song’s late night immersive gig uses ambient textures to transform the Wesendonck Songs into a soundscape that feels at once intimate and electrifying.

Born from a forbidden love, Richard Wagner’s setting of poems by his muse Mathilde Wesendonck has captivated audiences since 1857. This iconic cycle of five songs for female voice and piano remains a cornerstone of the Romantic art song repertoire — but here, it is reborn.

German-Japanese opera singer Marie Gerhardine Iguchi rediscovered these songs through a dual cultural lens, embracing both tradition and innovation. Seeing herself as a bridge between worlds, she dives deep into the Wesendonck cycle, infusing it with electronic energy and contemporary atmosphere.

The result is a vivid collision of past and future — a luminous, genre-blurring experience that redefines what Wagner can be.

This is Wagner as you’ve never heard it before.

Marie Gerhardine (Gerda) Iguchi is a Japanese‑German mezzo‑soprano studying with Professor Christian Elsner at the Institute of Music Theatre at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe. Her repertoire includes roles from the bel canto tradition such as Romeo (I Capuleti e i Montecchi) by Bellini and Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia) by Rossini. Alongside her operatic work, Gerda has explored a wide range of genres and artistic platforms. She produced her own reimagined version of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, in which she not only performed all four principal roles herself but also transcribed and integrated songs by the avant‑garde heavy‑metal band IGORRR. This and similar interdisciplinary projects attracted the band’s attention, leading to her engagement as their new female lead singer for their 2026 international tour.

Beyond her love of opera and heavy music, Iguchi is an avid interpreter of German art song and an explorer of electronic ambient sound worlds. In combining these interests, she won the inaugural ART SONG CHALLENGE led by LiedBasel with her interpretation of Wagner’s “Träume”, which resulted in multiple concert engagements and the release of her début EP, Wesendonck Synthetisch.