Birgitte Christensen

Biography

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.

In 2010 she made her debut at the Bolshoi Theatre as Donna Anna (Don Giovanni). In 2012 she performed the role of Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus).