About Knabenherz

Astrid M. Mathyshek was born in Wörth a.d. Donau on August 25. She grew up in Regensburg and Chieming, where she lived at boarding school "Schloss Ising am Chiemsee".

Astrid Mathyshek at Schloss Ising

Aged 13 she started to perform in many concerts national and abroad. She won "Jugend musiziert" several times and received further prizes like the Rita-Treutlinger-Preis and the 1st prize at "Oberpfälzer Jura" competition for young musicians.

After her A-Levels Mathyshek studied classical music at the University Vienna and Munich. She attended masterclasses with Ingeborg Hallstein, Laurent Pillot, Gabriela Cianci, Rume Urano, Sumjaty Widjaja (dance), Diane Torr (male acting), Alexander Kiermayer (fencing) and - still a student - worked with great musicians like conductor Petr Vronsky, the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonie Reutlingen and conductor Ola Rudner, conductor Romaan Widjaja, the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra and more. The artist is trained in archery, horseback riding, fencing, dancing and speaks German (mother tongue), English, French and Italian fluently. She studied further languages phonetically and in order to be able to translate texts such as Spanish, Hebrew, Latin, Swedish, Norwegian, Russian and Czech.

Some of her concerts were on Radio and TV.  In addition the young mezzosoprano participated in the opera studio of Teatro Umberto Giordano Foggia, where she earned the "Diploma di merito", and performed in several stage productions in Germany and abroad but sees herself as a concert singer and writer. As such she chose the pseudonym "Knabenherz" for her poetic work - a term she invented herself based on her love for breeches parts in opera productions. Many of her publications are multi-lingual, mostly written in German, English, French and Italian.

2022 Astrid Mathyshek received the "Diploma di Benemerenza" of the Accademia napoletana di studii storici:

In 2025 Mathyshek published a biography about Marie in Bayern named "Marie Sophie Amalie" showing off her intense research as a historian and presenting a host of historical sources about the life of Empress Elisabeth's younger sister, last Queen of the two Sicilies. All translations of historical documents were done by the writer herself. Editions de luxe of the first official print were given to the Italian Consulate in Munich as well as to members of the royal families of Wittelsbach and Bourbon-Two Sicilies.

In addition Mathyshek wrote her Libretto "Die Heldin von Gaeta" (The heroine of Gaeta) to have it composed as a Cantata a voce sola in honour of Queen Marie Sophie Amalie. Several composers were inspired by this work and applied for the musical setting in 2025.

Astrid Mathyshek 2025

For 2026 a competition for the composition was announced. In the same year Mathyshek gives her debut as Rossini's "Giovanna d'Arco" and publishes her essay about the European tradition of breeches part in the theatrical world...

Astrid Mathyshek - Breeches parts

...while announcing that she intends to change her stage work and to focus more on her work as a writer and breeches part actress bringing on stage her own literature.

Pictures: Knabenherz;