About
Amaru Soren is a versatile musician, with success throughout his interwoven career roles. He is lauded as a respected conductor, esteemed organist, prized pianist, gifted accompanist, and a talented singer.
Based in Berlin, Amaru Soren is in high demand as an opera coach of leading soloists from concert to opera stages and Guest Professor at the Universität der Künste. In 2019 he assumed the position of Choir Director of the rbb-Chor, Radio Berlin-Brandenburg and in April 2022 he became Kantor at the Gustav-Adolf-Kirche in Berlin.
As a German Citizen and a Brazilian Citizen, Amaru began his music studies at a very early age, encouraged and nurtured by his family of multicultural professional musicians. Distinguishing himself in three disciplines, Piano (Iza Castilho), Organ (Mário Gazanego) and Voice (Leda Coelho de Freitas), he graduated magna cum laude from the State University of Rio de Janeiro. Following graduation, he completed a five-year internship at the Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro, participating as the youngest baritone soloist in numerous opera productions and concerts with such renowned conductors as Romano Gandolfi, Michel Corboz, Antonio Guadagno, Eugene Kohn, Friedrich Egger, Mário Tavares, David Machado, Isaac Karabtchewsky, Andrés Máspero and Stewart Bedford.
During his eight-year tenure as Choir Director/Organist at the First Baptist Church in Rio de Janeiro, he founded the ensemble AULOS to provide a performing platform for the authentic interpretation of the sacred music of Renaissance and Baroque Worship Services. While still resident in his native Brazil, he won five National Awards, including the much-coveted Guiomar Novaes, Villa-Lobos and Marine of Brazil Prizes. Under the generous auspices of the São Paulo Vitae Foundation, Amaru pursued studies in Europe at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe in Germany, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Accademia Rossiniana di Pesaro and the Lutheran Seminary Haus der Kirchenmusik in Baden-Württemberg. He further expanded his musical horizons by participating internationally in a wide range of Master Classes in Conducting, Opera, Lieder, Chamber Music and Performance Practice. Among his celebrated professors were Neil Hankin (Carnegie Hall, New York); Otello Borgonuovo (Scala di Milano); Zsolt Nagy (Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris); Gianni Socci (Opera di Roma); Martin Gester (Conservatoire de Strasbourg); and Père André Gouzes (L`Abbaye de Sylvanes). Additionally, he performed in Vocal Master Classes with the renowned Co-Director of Opera Ebony New York, the distinguished American bass, Benjamin Matthews.
As Founder and Director of the Karlsruhe’s Badisches Konservatorium Vocal Ensemble for over ten years, Amaru received numerous awards and citations, and was singularly recognized for his outstanding and uniquely creative direction of the musical “Mowgli”. Since his Faculty at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe, Opera Coach Amaru Soren is a frequent and popular Guest Professor at the Conservatoire de Strasbourg, at the Centre de Formation des Enseignants de la Musique de Lorraine, France, and at the Universität der Künste in Berlin, where he conducted the production of Monteverdi`s "L`Incoronazione di Poppea" and assumed the position of choir director and Soloist Coach in the productions "Il Viaggio a Reims" by Rossini and "Angels in America" by Eötvös.
He pursues an active career as a collaborative pianist in Master Classe and Recitals, and has performed extensively with such acclaimed artists as Edita Gruberová, Nicolai Gedda, Renata Scotto, Lorna Myers, Julia Varády, Ivan Magrì, Aquiles Machado, Leila Guimarães, and Ión Buzea, among many others. His performances have been recorded by Süddeutschen Rundfunk and Polygram France.
Most recently, Amaru Soren has performed as a pianist for the Opera Master Classes of Ernesto Palacio at Castello Canevaro in Zoagli-Genova, and Amici del Loggione del Teatro alla Scala, Milano.
For his “Significant Contributions to Music”, the state of Rio de Janeiro has awarded him their prestigious Mention of Honor.
Amaru has been privileged to serve as Organist and Choir Director at many churches, including the Lutheran Stadtkirche Karlsruhe, the Baptist Friedenskirche and the Gedächtniskirche in Berlin, Calvary Baptist Church in New York, the Chiesa Evangelica Valdesa di Roma and Chiesa Batista di Roma, Italy; at Église Saint-Pierre de Montpon-Ménestérol and Église Saint-Nicolas de Tarbes in France, among others. He is a regular guest organist at the French Temple of Huguenots in the city of Erlangen, and participated in November 2014 in a Jubilee Concert celebrating the 250th Anniversary of their historic Ritter Organ.
Amaru’s many outside interests include architecture and painting, and his historical study travels often take him to Jerusalem, Palestine, Jordan and Greece.