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The Norwegian soprano, Birgitte Christensen, received her vocal training at the State Academy of Music in Oslo, graduating in 1997.
From 1999 to 2003 Birgitte Christensen was engaged at the Opera in Innsbruck. Her roles there included the title role in George Frideric Handel's Partenope, Vitellia in W.A. Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito, Liu in Turandot, Michaela in Georges Bizet's Carmen, Oscar in Un Ballo in Maschera, Desdemona in Rossini's Otello, Frau Fluth in Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor, Fiorilla in Il Turco in Italia", Helena in Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Priestess in Aida, Cunegonde in Leonard Bernstein's Candide and Queen of the Night in W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. In June 2000 she got for Partenope a talent prize in connection with the award of the Eberhard Waechter Medal, which was presented at the Wiener Staatsoper.
Her opera appearances in recent years included Helena in B. Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream and Jenny in Mahagonny at the Semperoper in Dresden, Blonde in W.A. Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Violetta in La Traviata in Naples, Donna Anna W.A. Mozart's Don Giovanni, Cleopatra in G.F. Handel's Giulio Cesare, Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte, Musetta in La Bohème and Iphis in G.F. Handel's Jephta at the Norwegian National Opera and Queen of the Night in Meiningen. In addition, she sang Madame Hertz in W.A. Mozart's Der Schauspieldirektor with the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra and Gilda in Rigoletto at the North Country Music Festival.
Birgitte Christensen has worked with conductors such as René Jacobs, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Alan Curtis, Lothar Zagrosek, Fabio Biondi, Adam Fischer, Leopold Hager, Manfred Honeck, Nicholas Kraemer, Paolo Carignani, Olaf Henzold, Peter Schreier, Jürgen Budday, und Francesco Corti.
Birgitte Christensen has already appeared in numerous concert halls and festivals throughout Europe. Her repertoire includes the Matthäus-Passion (BWV 244), Johannes-Passion (BWV 245), B minor Mass (BWV 232), the solo Cantata BWV 51 Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen and Weihnachts-Oratorium (BWV 248) by J.S. Bach, W.A. Mozart's Requiem, the C Minor Mass and Exsultate Jubilate, Haydn's Die Schöpfung G.F. Handel's Messiah and Jephta, Rossini's Stabat Mater and Petit Messe Solenelle, Gabriel Fauré's Requiem, Orff's Carmina Burana, Felix Mendelssohn's Elijah and Lobgesang Bruch's Moses and Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's Stabat Mater.
In the 2006-2007 season, her engagements included the Vitellia in La Clemenza di Tito and Hanna Glawari in Die lustige Witwe at the Norwegian National Opera; Vitellia in La Clemenza di Tito with conductor Adam Fischer, Bellezza in G.F. Handel's Il Trionfo del tempo e del disinganno with the conductor Fabio Biondi, G.B. Pergolesi's Stabat Mater with the conductor Rinaldo Alessandrini, arias by G.F. Handel with the conductor Nicholas Kraemer and W.A. Mozart's C minor Mass with the conductor Diego Fasolis.
In the 2007-2008 season Birgitte Christensen sang under the baton of René Jacobs the role of Edronica in Georg Philipp Telemann's Der Geduldige Sokrates at the Staatsoper Berlin, at the Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik, at the Cité de la Musique in Paris and in Hamburg. Furthermore, she sang Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Komische Oper Berlin, Cleopatra in G.F. Handel's Giulio Cesare and Solveig in Grieg's Peer Gynt at the Norwegian National Opera. She also performed and recorded G.P. Telemann's Brockes Passion, TWV 5:1 with René Jacobs, arias by W.A. Mozart with conductor Hugh Wolff and Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 2 with the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra in Berlin, Frankfurt, Innsbruck and Baden-Baden.
Forthcoming engagements include Elisabetta in Don Carlo, Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes and Vitellia in La Clemenza di Tito at the Norwegian National Opera, as well as Bellezza in Il Trionfo del tempo e del disinganno with the conductor Rinaldo Alessandrini. |
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