About Knabenherz

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

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.

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

In 2024 composer Susan Oswell dedicated a Cantata a voce sola to her virtuous mezzosoprano, called "Die Heldin von Gaeta" (The heroine of Gaeta). The premiere takes place in 2025 in Munich and Naples.

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. All translations of historical documents were done by the writer herself.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.