Denise Seyhan’s mature dramatic mezzo has been characterized as warm and sparkling in all ranges and has a unique timbre. Due to her open mindedness and joy of acting, she can get into the spirit of even unusual directing concepts. “She’s an outstanding singer and an excellent actress “. (Elias Grandy).

Born in Germany, with Turkish heritage, Denise graduated in classical vocal studies from Musikhochschule Karlsruhe as a soprano, continued private studies with Gabriele Kniesel and changed back to mezzosoprano. She deepened her training in the Italian bel canto technique with Walter Donati and Anna Rita Esposito, gradually developing into more dramatic repertoire.

Her first engagements as a mezzo were Dorabella in “Così fan tutte” at Pasinger Fabrik, Munich, & Hänsel and Maria Bellacanta (“Hexe Hillary geht in die Oper”) at Junge Kammeroper Köln.

Under the baton of Johannes Witt, she sang her first dramatic role at the Rheinische Kammeroper: Knusperhexe (“Hänsel und Gretel”). MiR Gelsenkirchen engaged her for the female lead in the world premiere of the opera “Konrad oder Das Kind aus der Konservenbüchse” by Gisbert Näther. Following this successful production, she was again engaged in spring 2014 to sing the first recording of Georg Pelecis’ composition “In Honour of Henry Purcell”.

Important roles followed such as Ulrica (“Un ballo in Maschera”) at Kammeroper Frankfurt, Amneris (“Aida”), Fricka (“Die Walküre“) and Maddalena (“Rigoletto“) at Theaterwerk München, Dora K. in “Benjamin” by Peter Ruzicka at Theater Heidelberg, 3rd Lady (“Die Zauberflöte”) at the summer festival of “Opera to go”, 3rd Woodsprite in Dvořák’s “Rusalka” at Theater Pforzheim, and Birsen Güner in Ludger Vollmer’s opera “Gegen die Wand” at Theater Giessen. She sang the alto solo part in the world premiere of the chamber opera “Thirst” by Robert Jíša at the Olomouc Music Festival in the Czech Republic which was filmed by Tanzquartier Wien (TQW).

Recently she debuted as Mrs Peachum (“Die Dreigroschenoper”) as Old Lady/Paquette (“Candide”) and as Erda, Fricka, Flosshilde (“Ring in einem Abend”).

She was a finalist in the Prix Atelier d’exellence (Italian opera), a semi-finalist in the NYIOP singing competition and a semi-finalist in the Nuovo Canto singing competition (Wagner category) in Milan, Italy.

Denise Seyhan works with conductors such as Elias Grandy, Ricardo Estrada, Marcus Merkel, and directors such as Ingo Kerkhof, Kristina Wuss and Cathérine Miville. She prepares her roles with Rainer Armbrust and Alessandro Pràtico and worked extensively with renowned coach Margaret Singer before her death in 2023.

She further refined her skills in masterclasses with Alexia Voulgaridou, Alessandro Amoretti, Elias Corrinth, Neil Barry Moss, Mario Andersen, Gabriele Wiesmüller, Klesie Kelly and Anna Reynolds.

Apart from her operatic career, she has performed at concert venues in Germany and abroad. Important engagements were the alto solo in Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 9” at Reims Cathedral/France and a tour with the Westsächsische Symphonieorchester in Quintana Roo, Mexico.

Her wide-ranging concert repertoire extends from Bach and Händel to Pergolesi, Saint-Saëns, Mendelssohn-Bartholdy as far as contemporary repertoire such as “The Passion of Lukas” by Klaus Rothaupt.

She discovered her passion for producing classical music videos in 2020 and created her own showreel highlighting the many facets of her personality as a singer-actor.

In summer 2021, she founded the Ensemble “Die Mimusen”. With them she created a video version of the song cycle “Seven early songs” by Alban Berg and the theatrical programme “The Pink Danger” about six female composers.

Since 2002 she has been working with dedication as a vocal coach in classic, pop, rock and musicals repertoire for amateurs and professionals.