Mit Bedauern hören wir vom Tod der Sopranistin Kristine Ciesinski (ein Gleiterunfall am 10. Juni 2018 im Grand Teton National Park), die Opernliebhabern – im Tandem mit ihrer ebenfalls singenden älteren Schwester Katherine Ciesinski – auch in Deutschland, namentlich Berlin, Frankfurt oder Stuttgart, ein Begriff ist. Es fiel  Außenstehenden stets ein wenig schwer, die beiden auseinander zu halten, sahen sie sich doch sehr ähnlich und sangen auch gelegentlich dieselben Partien. Sie traten gerne im Doppel auf, auf der Bühne wie im Film von Werner Schröter, „Les Poussieres d´amour“, oder bei anderen Gelegenheiten. Beide haben viele Aufnahmen gemacht, Kristine in den dramatischen Sopranrollen, Katherine Ciesinski eher in den dunkleren, dramatischen Partien. Ihre Einspielungen finden sich bei Erato, RCA, Decca, BMG oder Nonsuch, vorzugsweise in zeitgenössischen Werken, für deren Interpretation sie einen Namen hatte. Kristine Ciesinski wurde nur 65 Jahre alt.

 

Zu ihrer Biographie ein Auszug aus der website der Sängerin: Kristine’s roles include portrayals of many of the great operatic heroines with which her career has become identified:  ‘Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk’ (Katerina) at La Scala, Paris Opera Bastille, Frankfurt Staatsoper;  ‘Salome’ (career total of 18 productions) including the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Semperoper in Dresden, ENO (English National Opera) in London, Bellas Artes in Mexico City, Teatro Carlo Felice in Genova, San Diego Opera, Canadian Opera company, Toronto;  ‘Wozzeck’ (Marie) in Frankfurt, Bonn, Hamburg, ENO, Buenos Aires Teatro Colon;  the double bill ‘Bluebeards Castle/Erwarturg’in Leipzig and Basel;  Bluebeard’s Castle in Tokyo;  Verdi’s ‘Macbeth’ (Lady Macbeth) at the Festival de Vichy, at ENO in London, the ENO tour to the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow and the Marinsky Theater in St. Petersburg and in the prize winning (Bayerische Theaterpreis) production in Bremen;  and Janacek’s ‘Makropulos Case’ (Emilia Marty) at the Glyndebourne Festival, at La Monnaie in Brussels, the Statsopera in Hamburg, at the Maastrict Opera, Netherlands and at the Netherlands National Opera in Amsterdam.

In addition to the aforementioned interesting and more standard repertoire, Kristine performed a number of rarely heard 20th century masterpieces in premier opera houses:  Hans Werner Henze’s ‘The Basserids’ (Agave) performed with the Netherlands National Opera directed by the legendary Peter Stein and conducted by Ingo Metzmacher;  Pauls Dukas’ ‘Ariane et Barbe Bleu’ (Ariane) in Torino conducted by Emmanuel Villaume;  and Franz Schreker’s ‘Die Gezeichneten’ (Carlotta) sung with the Netherland’s National Opera in Martin Kusej’s prize-winning production, with the renowned Konzertgebouw Orchestra under Ingo Metzmacher;   Sziminowsky’s ‘König Roger’ (Roxanne) in Stuttgart in the Peter Mussbach production and in Bremen directed by K. Zanussi;   and Prokofiev’s Fiery Angel (Renata) in Nürnburg conducted by Eberhard Kloke.

As a youthful-dramatic/dramatic soprano, Kristine sang many Wagnerian roles;   ‘Die Meistersinger’ (Eva) with the Cincinnati Opera, the ‘Ring Cycle’ (Gutrune, third Norn, and Gerhilde) with San Fransisco Opera, ‘Tannhäuser’ (Elizabeth) in Bremen, ‘Der Fliegender Holländer’ (Senta) in Opera North, UK, ‘Die Walküre’ (Sieglinde) Teatre Wielki – Warsaw, and a concert version of ‘Rienzi’ (Adriano) at Carnegie Hall NYC, conducted by Eve Queller.

Some of Kristine’s most highly acclaimed performing came in her career-long collaboration with the late, celebrated German film director Werner Schroeter.  His prolific work encompassed straight theater productions, opera productions and over 50 films.  Six projects that Werner directed Kristine in included:  Catalani’s ‘La Wally’ (title role) in Bremen; Cerubini’s ‘Medée’ (title role) in Freiburg;   R. Strauss’‘Salome’ at Bellas Artes in Mexico City;  Shostokovich’s ‘Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk’ (Katerina) in Frankfurt;  a staged concert titled “Wagner und…” in Düsseldorf;  and the prize-winning film “Abfallprodukte der Liebe” filmed in France and honored at the Caans film festival.

Married (now for 29 years) to the world renowned British Wagnerian Bass-Baritone Norman Bailey, Kristine resided the UK for more than a decade.  During this time she sang often at the English National Opera including 4 David Pountney productions:  Dvorak’s ‘Rusalka’ (Foreign Princess); Verdi’s ‘Macbeth’(Lady Macbeth);  Berg’s ‘Wozzeck’ (Marie), and Kurt Weill’s ‘Street Scene’ (Mrs. Maurrant).  Two major ENO productions included the famous Joachim Herz ‘Salome’ production and a newer ‘Salome’ production. Other UK performances took place with Scottish Opera, Mozart’s ‘Don Giovanni’ (Donna Anna) and Weill’s ‘Street Scene’ (Mrs. Maurrant); Opera North, Berlioz’s ‘Les Troyens’ (Cassandra) and Wagner’s ‘Flying Dutchman’ (Senta), Welsh National Opera, Puccini’s ‘Tosca’ and Berlioz’s ‘Les Troyens’(Cassandra);  Glydenbourne Janacek’s  ‘Makropulos Case’ (Emilia Marty).   Concert work included Bartok’s ‘Bluebeard’ with the Halle Orchestra and Janacek’s Glagolithic Mass at the Prom’s Concerts both conducted by Sir Simon Rattle.  Kristine also starred in the BBC television hour-long drama/documentary titled “The Secret Life of Alban Berg”.

Over her career now spanning more than forty years, Kristine has always enjoyed performing recitals, concerts and chamber music with such renowned organizations as:  Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society; Kennedy Center Artists Series; University of Pennsylvania Collegium Musicum; Grand Teton Music Festival; Salzburg Festival; Newport Music Festival; Aspen Music Festival; Caramoor Festival; Cape Cod Music Festival; Spoletto USA and Italy Festival; The Cleveland Orchestra, concerts conducted by Lorin Maazel and Leornard Bernstein; and the Phillips Art Gallery artist Series.

Kristine has had the unique and marvelous opportunity to sing numerous duet concerts with her sister, internationally renowned mezzo-soprano, Katherine Ciesinski.  Their repertoire ranges from the much lesser known duet compositions of the most well known masters:  Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Mozart, Tchaikowsky, Berlioz, Schütz, Schein, Purcell, Monteverdi, Chopin, to name but a few, to many contemporary renowned composers.   The sisters collaborated with two of the great 20^th century composers, Lee Hoiby and Ned Rorem.  Lee Hoiby’s ‘Bermudas’ was composed for and dedicated to Kristine and Katherine.  Kristine made a recording with Lee Hoiby accompanying his own works, and often performed in recitals with Lee Hoiby and Ned Rorem at the piano.  The sisters have performed duet concerts in all the major NYC concert venues, Lincoln Center, Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall (main concert hall), 92^nd Street Y, as well as the Kennedy Center, and internationally in the UK at the South Bank Concert Hall-Purcell Room, and many venues in France, Germany and The Netherlands.  Operatically, they performed the ‘sisters’ in Mozart’s ‘Cosi fan Tutte’ in several productions: Grand Teton Music Festival, Louisville Opera, and The Taipei Opera in Taiwan.

Kristine first gained international recognition when she won the “Gold Medal” in the Geneva International Competition, first place in the Salzburg International Competition (Sängerförderungspreis) and was one of twelve national finalists in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions all in the same year 1977-78.

Kristine has a second career and passion, Aviation.  She is a glider pilot/instructor at Teton Aviation, where she instructs and gives scenic flights over the magnificent Grand Teton Mountains.  She is appearing in the up and coming soaring-movie “Cloudstreets”, to be released in the spring of 2014.  She is also a commercial single engine pilot and has been Captain of the local Civil Air Patrol Squadron and has flown search and rescue as well as towed gliders.

Kristine now resides in the beautiful Teton Mountains with her husband Norman Bailey with their 2 wonderful dogs.

Kristine is a highly successful voice teacher with many of her students winning competitions and going on to graduate studies with scholarships.  She has been on the Voice Faculty of Brigham Young University, Idaho – 1998-2011 and Florida State University – 2011-2012 , and currently maintains a private Studio of 27 students. (Quelle: http://www.kristineciesinski.com/biography/)