Léonie Sonning Talent Prize 2020
She who laughs last sings best!
As a child Helle Gössler both played the accordion, the clarinet and the saxophone in music school. She also sang in a children’s choir despite her two older sisters saying she didn’t sing very well. According to them her singing was both too powerful, too piercing and a bit off.
And today Helle can laugh at this. Because now it is her critical older sisters whose voices, according to Helle, are not always in perfect pitch. Therefore she is no longer asked to play the wind instruments when the music-loving family plays together.
Up until the summer of 2020 Helle is studying at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, and in 2019 she had her first real role in an opera when she played Musetta in Puccini’s La Boheme.
The joy of making other people happy
While the family made Helle play instruments, the organ player in Lyngå village church was in no doubt that Helle had a special talent. The organ player made the 17-year-old sing for her own singing teacher – and before long Helle had started at the music academy in Esbjerg.
Something else which Helle took away from Lyngå church was the compassion which the vicar showed. He had a unique ability to inspire and engage people so that they felt appreciated and important. Virtues which Helle has brought with her into her professional life.
It is important for Helle to be close to her audience and give them the best experience possible. For her it is a special gift to be allowed to perform.
“Some of the greatest things in the world are love and compassion. I want the audience to have that. For me the biggest joy is to make other people happy,” Helle says. She often says a little prayer before going on stage, in which she expresses thanks for the gift she has been given in the form of her singing voice and the opportunity to give people an experience.
A base in the family
When Helle is not performing with her singing and warm-hearted messages, she spends most of her time with her family, where her young daughter means everything.
With a view to finishing her studies at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in the soloist class in 2020 – and with increasing attention from Denmark and abroad – the world is truly open to the soprano with the big smile, who always approaches her tasks with humility. To Helle it is vital to focus on being present when she sings – and not think too much. And when it all comes together, there is no place in the world Helle would rather be.
Helle Gössler Christensen in brief
Born in 1986. Grew up in Lyngå outside Hadsten.
Sang in the Lyngå church choir from the age of 10 and played several instruments.
Started her degree at the Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts in Esbjerg. Continued with private studies in Paris 2010-13 and will finish her studies as a soloist at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in 2020.
The scholarship from the Léonie Sonning Music Foundation
Helle Gössler will spend the money from the Léonie Sonning Music Foundation on demo recordings, more singing lessons with Eva Hess Thaysen as well as study trips to England and Germany.
