The Operetta Boat

Copenhagen's successful Operetta Boat is put to sea once again. This year you’ll embark on the festive canal cruise with opera singers Lisbeth Kjærulff and Joachim Knop. Jacob Beck – known as the cheerful pianist from the Danish island Funen – will compere the Operetta Boat events. With these highly skilled entertainers on board, a hilarious, unpretentious and unique operetta experience is granted in the open Danish summer air.

The program is a blend of Danish and international arias from both very famous and less known operettas. In splendid costumes, we’ll have Jacob Bech entertain us for the fourth time - and this year soprano Lisbeth Kjærulff and baritone Joachim Knop will join them. Kjærulff and Knop are both familiar faces in opera, operetta and the musical genre. In Denmark, Knop is also a known personality from film and television.

Joachim Knop
Joachim Knop (1971) began his training as a singer at the Royal Danish Academy of Music. In the summer of 2000 he completed his studies at the Royal Theatre’s Opera Academy.

Since then he as played and sung many roles at various Danish stages. He has, amongst others, sung the role of Wilhelm in the theatre Betty Nansen’s version of Tom Waits' ’The Black Rider’. He also had the role of Fiddelihut in the Royal Theatre's world premiere of Fuzzy’s ’Mamma Witch Mortensen and the Fat Turkey’. Knop furthermore played the role of Ping in ’Turandot’ at the Malmo Music Theatre, and of Schaunard in ’La Boheme’ at the Royal Opera. Opera credits also include ’Don Juan’ at the Danish National Opera, ’The Barber of Seville’ at Aarhus Summer Opera, ’The Magic Flute’ at The Royal Opera, and ’The Brothers Lionheart’ at the Royal Theatre.

Lisbeth Kjærulff
Lisbeth Kjærulff holds degrees from the Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg and the Royal Danish Academy of Music. She has worked at various grand Danish stages - i.e. the Royal Threatre, Folketeatret and Det Ny Teater, and with the Danish opera companies Den Fynske Opera, Den Jyske Opera and The New Opera. Furthermore she was featured on Danish National TV in the children’s program ’Sigurd og operaen’.

Her classical repertoire apart, Kjærulff has also had success singing musical. She was the lead in many productions. For instance, she played Maria in ’Sound of Music’ and Christine in ’The Phantom of the Opera’, Jenny Lind in ’Mit eventyr’, Jellylorum in ’Cats’, and Eliza Doolittle in ’My Fair Lady’. In the summer of 2011, Kjærulff had her debut with revue.

Kjærulff is a member of the baroque ensemble Den Jyske Sinfonietta. Singing Bach’s large choral-orchestral works, Mozart’s ’Great Mass in C Minor’, ’The Creation’ by Haydn og Händel’s ’Messiah’, and much more has provided her with exceptional musical experience.

In collaboration with singers Magnus Vigilius and Lars Møller, and pianist Peter Møllerhøj, Kjærulff established the group Opera Intrige. The group stages comic opera and other events.

Jacob Beck
Beck studied at music academies in Odense (under Rosalind Bevan), Hannover (under Karl-Heinz Kämmerling), New York (under Alan Feinberg) and finally Aarhus (under John Damgaard), where he made his debut from the soloist class, 2002.

Beck has performed as a soloist, chamber musician and accompanist in Denmark as well as outside his native country. The past 10 years he has focused particularly on working with singers in opera and lied. Beck mainly works as a freelancer. Occasionally he is affiliated with the Opera Academy and the Royal Danish Academy of Music.

Besides being a musician, Beck is an active lecturer on music and cultural history and also a popular concert compere. Beck also made his way into theatre direction, and has amongst others directed Menotti’s ’The Phone’ at Aalborg Opera Festival, and ’The Barber of Seville’ at the event Opera in the Province.

Beck has proven to be a very entertaining and skilled master of ceremonies many times in Copenhagen Opera Festival’s previous seasons.