A Song in Her Heart, Fame in Her Grasp

Big things have happened since Austrian mezzo-soprano Angelika Kirchschlager made her Southern California debut in Laguna Beach a scant 18 months ago.

Never mind that Kirchschlager translates as “church-beater”: She recently gave a concert in the Sistine Chapel to mark the 20th anniversary of the pope.

Never mind the seven consonants in a row: The name fit just fine on the Vienna State Opera marquee for several major productions this season.

And never mind that her name might be difficult to pronounce (on-GAY-lee-ka KEERSH-shlog-gah): It’s still on the lips of concert-goers on both sides of the Atlantic and both coasts of the U.S. (She made her San Francisco Opera and Metropolitan Opera debuts the same year she appeared in Laguna.)

The big things notwithstanding, some little things--perhaps an intimate song recital, especially after her demanding stint in Strauss’ “Ariadne auf Naxos” in Lausanne, Switzerland--may be just what the doctor ordered.

“In my point of view, if you sing songs it’s hygienic for the voice,” Kirchschlager, 33, said by phone before a recital this month in San Antonio. “I recently sang [the role of the] Composer in Lausanne, maybe the most dramatic part I will ever sing. I sang a lot of opera.

“When you sing big opera, you tend to just . . . s-i-i-i-ng, you know, and your voice might take a wrong direction,” she said. “When I came back to recitals, I had to work to get it soft, to get it relaxed and elastic.”

The Salzburg-born Kirchschlager sings songs by Brahms, Beethoven (a nod to the Philharmonic Society of Orange County’s yearlong Beethoven festival) and Dvorak (“Seven Gypsy Melodies”) at Irvine Barclay Theatre on Tuesday.

Not coincidentally, a group of lullabies provides a program centerpiece. Sony Classical has a Kirchschlager lullaby album in the works.

Kirchschlager’s interest in lullabies may have been sparked by her 3-year-old son, Felix Octavian, who travels with her on tour. But she was at a loss when asked which lullabies lull Felix best.

“Actually the only [music] that works for Felix is the 9th Symphony of Beethoven, the final chorus,” she said. “I tried several lullabies and he never responded. . . . The 9th Symphony makes him go to sleep.”

Kirchschlager’s own mother soothed her by singing Brahms’ “Sandmannchen” and Schubert’s “Wiegenlied.” But the singer imagines that her lullaby recording will be intended primarily for adults. Lullabies, folk songs and Gypsy tunes provide contrast enough from Kirchschlager’s 1997 program in Laguna of Mahler and Korngold.

Repertory aside, Kirchschlager said that the accompanists alone--French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet for her previous local appearance and Viennese-born, Munich-based pianist Helmut Deutsch this time out--promise quite a different experience.

“Thibaudet was so sensitive, even when I would do a song with him for the first time,” said Kirchschlager, who studied piano at the Salzburg Mozarteum before studying voice at the Vienna Music Academy with Walter Berry.

“But I always feel that [Thibaudet] is more the soloist, which creates a special energy on stage. It’s not always so safe, you never can be sure what’s coming up next. You inspire each other, two artists communicating together.

“Mr. Deutsch is an accompanist,” she said. “A fantastic accompanist. He knows all the repertory. His experience with singers is incredible. When I sing, I can do what I want, which is also very nice.” Deutsch also has accompanied Hermann Prey, Peter Schreier and Dawn Upshaw.

A name that often comes up in tandem with Kirchschlager’s--not that they’ve ever collaborated--is that of Italian mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli, usually when Kirchschlager is tagged as “the Austrian Cecilia Bartoli.” And because the two share the same agent, the question naturally arises: Have they discussed a duo recital?

“No,” Kirchschlager said. “But I see no reason not to. We know each other, we have dinner together, she came to my concert, her mother came to my recital. When we met, we got along very well.”

Meanwhile, Kirchschlager doesn’t worry about comparing her own rising stardom with Bartoli’s runaway success. She’s content with whatever acclaim comes her way, she said, and doubts that she’ll ever get disappointed, for a simple reason:

“To be honest I never imagined anything,” Kirchschlager said. “I never imagined that this could happen to me at all. If I would have imagined what it means to be a singer. . . .

“Singing itself is such a little percentage of what it is to be a singer--it really is very much harder. If I had known that, I would have thought twice about it. Now that I do it, I am very happy to be a singer.”

* Mezzo-soprano Angelika Kirchschlager and accompanist Helmut Deutsch perform music of Brahms, Beethoven and Dvorak on Tuesday at Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Drive. 8 p.m. $18-$28. (949) 854-4646.