Birgitte Christensen (Soprano)
The Norwegian soprano Birgitte Christensen studied at the State Academy of Music
in Oslo. 1999-2003 she was engaged at the opera in Innsbruck.
She
regularly works with conductors such as Rene Jacobs, Rinaldo Alessandrini,
Alessandro De Marchi, Alan Curtis, Lothar Zagrosek, Fabio Biondi, Manfred
Honeck, Adam Fischer, Leopold Hager, Nicholas Kraemer, Stefan Klingele, Paolo
Carignani, Diego Fasolis, Thomas Sondergard, Olaf Henzold, Steven Sloane,
Francesco Corti, Jurgen Budday and Peter Schreier.
Recent opera
appearances have brought her to opera houses such as Staatsoper Berlin,
Semperoper Dresden, Staatsoper Stuttgart, National Theater Mannheim, Komische
Oper Berlin and the Norwegian National Opera.
Her opera roles include
Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Konstanze in Die Entfuhrung aus dem
Serail, Vitellia in La Clemenza di Tito, Violetta in La
Traviata, Liu in Turandot, Michaela in Carmen, Desdemona
in Rossini’s Otello, Fiorilla in Il Turco in Italia, Helena in
Britten’s A Midmummer Night's Dream, Musetta in La Boheme,
Mrs. Fluth in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Hanna Glawari in Die
Lustige Witwe, Jenny in Mahagonny, Cunegonde in Candide.
She has also sung several roles in baroque operas, including Cleopatra in
Haendel’s Giulio Cesare, the title role in Haendel’s
Partenope, Bellezza in Haendel’s Il Trionfo del Tempo e del
Disinganno, Iphis in Haendel’s Jephta, Edronica in Telemann’s
Der Geduldige Socrates and Gionata in Conti’s David.
Birgitte Christensen has appeared in numerous concert halls and
festivals throughout Europe. Her repertoire include Bach’s St. Matthew
Passion, St. John Passion, Mass in B minor, Jauchzet Gott in Allen
Landen and Christmas Oratorio, Mozart’s Requiem, Mass in C minor
and Exultate Jubilate, Haydn’s The Creation, Haendel’s
Messiah and Jephta, Rossini’s Stabat Mater and
Petite Messe Solenelle, Verdi’s Requiem, Faure’s Requiem, Orff’s
Carmina Burana, Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Symphony No. 2,
Telemann’s Brockes Passion, Bruch’s Moses, Mahler’s Symphony
No. 2 and Symphony No. 4, and Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater.
The
season 2008/09 included Micaela in Carmen and Elisabetta in Don
Carlo at the Norwegian National Opera, arias by Mozart with the conductor
Rinaldo Alessandrini as well as with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Mahler’s
Symphony No. 4 and songs for soprano and orchestra by Charles Ives in Essen, and
arias by Bach and Mozart with Mahler Chamber Orchestra
Engagements in the
season 2009/10 include the title role in L'Incoronazione di Poppea at
the Norwegian National Opera, Debussy’s La Damoiselle Elue with the
conductor Umberto Benedetti Michelangeli, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis
with the conductor Andrew Manze, Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem with
Trondheim Symphony Orchestra as well as on Iceland with the conductor Hordur
Askelsson, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solenelle in Hamar, and Verdi’s
Requiem with the Nordfjord Opera.
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