Still singing after all these years

Lady M is a dark story about war, rage and murder, and the title character is unlike the traditional female roles in Chinese theater. "She is not that feminine and thrives on power and strength," Hakvoort says.

Many musical lovers in China got to know Hakvoort in Elisabeth, a benchmark musical in German based on the true life story of Austrian Empress Elisabeth, who is also known as Sisi. Hakvoort has performed Elisabeth more than 1,000 times since 1994 and was the star in the official DVD edition.

"Elisabeth made my career grow," she says about the most important production of her career. "Because you play from ages 14 to almost 61, it is such an intense acting process. I think this is the only role that goes through this many life stages."

After performing Elisabeth in a concert in Vienna in 2023, she thought maybe that could be her last time in the role, but a few weeks ago, she received a phone call from Munich asking her to play Elisabeth the next day because "everyone was sick".

She drove from Vienna to Munich in four hours, did the rehearsal, put the costumes on and played Elisabeth one more time.

"I played it when I had no children, then I played it when I had children, and then I played it when I was a bit older. As I age, I play the part better. I can see Elisabeth every time of the day. The music, the voice and the script are in my system. I never say it's my last time."

In 2014, as a guest star during the musical's tour of Shanghai, Hakvoort went on stage at the Shanghai Culture Square for the first time. In 2019, she returned to the theater again with other colleagues for a gala concert. Since then, she has built a solid fan base in China, especially in Shanghai.

In 2023, Shanghai Culture Square invited her for three recitals. To her surprise, the tickets sold out in one and a half days.