Arantxa Armentia
Arantxa Armentia studied piano at the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música in her hometown Madrid with Julián López Gimeno and Marisa Villalba, and voice with Pedro Lavirgen. She continued her studies with Maria Venuti at the University of Music in Karlsruhe, Germany. From 1999 to 2006, she was a permanent member of the ensemble at the Landestheater Linz, where she appeared in roles such as Antonia, Mimì, Fiordiligi, Nedda, Rusalka, Marie (in The Bartered Bride), and Marguerite. From 2006 to 2012, she was a member of the ensemble at the Staatsoper Hannover, where she again performed roles such as Antonia, Fiordiligi, and Mimì, as well as Liù, Micaëla, Agaue in Henze’s The Bassarids, Elettra in Idomeneo, the Countess in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Freia, Helmwige, Fata Morgana (The Love for Three Oranges), Desdemona, and Alice in Verdi’s Falstaff.
She has been a guest at major opera houses and festivals, including the Vienna State Opera, the Graz Opera, Teatro Real in Madrid, Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville, Gran Teatro de Córdoba, Oper Frankfurt, Hamburg State Opera, the Ludwigsburg Castle Festival, the Slovenian National Theatre in Maribor, and the Odeon of Herodes Atticus at the Athens Festival. She has worked with numerous renowned conductors such as F. García Navarro, Walter Weller, Michel Plasson, Dennis Russell Davies, Enoch zu Guttenberg, Leif Segerstam, Adam Fischer, Martin Haselböck, and Jesús López Cobos, and with directors including Francisco Nieva, Gerd Heinz, Herbert Wernicke, Frank Hilbrich, Karoline Gruber, Tilmann Knabe, Philipp Himmelmann, and Barrie Kosky.
Arantxa Armentia gained her first teaching experience at the music school San Juan Bautista in Madrid, which she co-founded. There, she taught piano and early childhood music education. During her studies in Karlsruhe, she also worked as an assistant to Prof. Maria Venuti. In 2010 and 2012, she led interpretation courses for students from Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, who visited Staatsoper Hannover for three weeks each year. In October 2013, she taught at Yonsei University in Seoul. In April 2014, she completed her pedagogical training with the Vocal Pedagogy Certificate from the German Association of Voice Teachers (BDG). She is also engaged in vocal pedagogy through courses and workshops addressing vocal technique and related issues.
As an active member of both the BDG and the Spanish Association of Voice Teachers (AEPC), she regularly participates in symposia and professional development programs. She holds the Master Certificate in Voice Therapy from the Schlaffhorst-Andersen Institute, as well as the certificate in “Integrative Voice Therapy using the Vocal Function Circle” developed by Evemarie Haupt.
From 2014 to 2020, Arantxa Armentia was a voice teacher at the “Alfred Wagner” Music School in Suhl, Thuringia, where she taught amateur singers of all ages, launched new course formats such as Women Sing (designed for voices over 50), and organized an intergenerational musical theater production that brought together various departments of the school. She also supports the amateur choir Lied-Gut in Berlin-Weißensee as a vocal coach. At her vocal studio “LALA” in Berlin, she teaches both beginners and students preparing for entrance exams. Since autumn 2020, she has regularly given masterclasses for the WDR Children’s Choir in Dortmund. In October 2020, she was appointed vocal instructor for music education students at the UdK Berlin.