Artists biographies

Christiane Oelze

Christiane Oelze gained international acceptance both as an interpreter of prominent opera roles and a highbrow lieder and concert repertoire and as a singer of sacred works. She performs at the most renowned opera halls and on the concert stages with the greatest prestige in Europe, the USA and Japan, also working with famous conductors like, e.g. Claudio Abbado, Pierre Boulez, Herbert Blomstedt, Riccardo Chailly, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Christopher Hogwood, Fabio Luisi, Sir Neville Marriner, Kurt Masur, Kent Nagano, Sir Roger Norrington and Sir Simon Rattle.

Christiane Oelze was born in Cologne. She studied with Klesie Kelly-Moog at the local college of music, then later in Frankfurt am Main with Erna Westenberger, and she attended master classes with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf.

Christiane Oelze first distinguished herself as a singer-performer in Mozart operas, e.g. as Pamina in the Magic Flute and as Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro. To this, she added roles in the classical modern field, such as for example Regina in Mathis the Painter by Paul Hindemith and Ann Trulove in The Rake´s Progress by Igor Strawinsky; and she performed Mélisande in Claude Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande.

Christiane Oelze made a brilliant role debut in 2002 as Sophie in Peter Konwitschny’s new production of the Rose Cavalier at the Hamburg State Opera, conducted by Ingo Metzmacher, and she once again knew how to give an impressive performance at the Glyndebourne Festival in 2003 in the role of Ilia in Mozart's Idomeneo, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle and she was equally successful in concertante performances in Berlin and Lucerne with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle in 2003.

At the beginning of 2006, Christiane Oelze will make her debut in Paris at the Opéra Bastille as the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro, produced by Christoph Marthaler and conducted by Silvain Cambreling.

With her extensive concert repertoire, Christiane Oelze is a guest performer at international stages and at festivals, performing, with, among others, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle, the Ensemble Intercontemporain and Pierre Boulez, the German Symphony Orchestra Berlin and Kent Nagano, the MDR Symphony Orchestra as well as the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and Fabio Luisi, the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig and Herbert Blomstedt, the Musica Antiqua Köln and Reinhard Goebel, the Academy of Ancient Music and Christopher Hogwood and with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and Paul McCreesh.

In 2006, Christiane Oelze will continue her successful collaboration with the Cleveland Orchestra and Franz Welser-Möst.

Prior to that, at the turn of the year, she will be on stage with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Simon Rattle at the New Year's Concert 2005/06 at the Berlin Philharmonic Hall which will be broadcast on television.

Christiane Oelze dedicated herself to developing a demanding and versatile lieder repertoire with a commitment similar to that which she displays for her opera and concert roles. In such endeavours, she is accompanied by pianists like, e.g. Eric Schneider, Julius Drake, Rudolf Jansen, Graham Johnson, Malcolm Martineau, Roger Vignoles and Mitsuko Uchida.

Her much noted lieder recitals took and take her to the metropoles of Europe and the USA. Her interpretations of classical and Romanticist songs, lieder by Anton Webern and other representatives of the Vienna School as well as programmes from Hugo Wolf’s Spanisch Song Book were celebrated by audiences and reviewers alike.

Christinae Oelze once again knows how to brilliantly present her current programme with lieder and songs based on Brecht, Eichendorff, Heine and Rilke, set to music by Leonard Bernstein, Johannes Brahms, Hanns Eisler, Frank Martin, Robert Schumann and Kurt Weill, thus impressively reaching her audience on an emotional level.

For many years, Christiane Oelze has maintained a wide-ranging repertoire of sacred music from Bach to Brahms, accompanied by conductors like Sir Roger Norrington (Haydn’s Seasons and Hector Berlioz, L´Enfance du Christ), Philippe Herreweghe (German Requiem by Johannes Brahms), Ludwig Güttler and Enoch zu Guttenberg (Bach’s Christmas Oratorio), Kent Nagano (St. John’s Passion) and Fabio Luisi with masses by Bruckner and Beethoven, oratorios by Mendelssohn and the Brahms Requiem. Christiane Oelze’s discography is an impressive representation of all the facets her opera and concert performances, lieder interpretations and performances of sacred music have to offer, such as for example songs and cantatas by Anton Webern, Carmina Burana with Christian Thielemann; The Magic Flute (Pamina) with Sir John Eliot Gardiner (Deutsche Grammophon/archive production); the St. Matthew’s Passion with Helmuth Rilling published by Hänssler and with Seiji Ozawa in a publication by Philips; the St. John’s Passion as well as Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with Ludwig Güttler published by Berlin Classics, Goethe Lieder by Eisler, Schubert, Schumann and others with Eric Schneider and songs by French and Spanish composers with Rudolf Jansen; Hugo Wolf’s Italian Song Book with Hans Peter Blochwitz and Rudolf Jansen (Berlin Classics), Mozart’s Mass in c minor and the Brahms Requiem with Philippe Herreweghe (Harmonia Mundi); The Gypsy Baron with Nikolaus Harnoncourt (Teldec), chamber music by Paul Hindemith and Arnold Schönberg (Dabringhaus & Grimm).

Among her most recent recordings is the Fauré Requiem with the Limburg Symphony Orchestra/Ed Spanjaard (Pentatone Music) as well as Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with the Thomas-Christian-Ensemble (Dabringhaus & Grimm).

Since autumn 2003, Christiane Oelze has been teaching at the Robert Schumann College in Düsseldorf as a professor of song.