Christine Schäfer - Biography

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Christine Schäfer (Soprano)

Biography

Portrait Christine SchäferChristine Schäfer is a graduate of the Berlin Conservatory, where she studied with Professor Ingrid Figur, the late Arleen Augér, Aribert Reimann, the late Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Sena Jurinac. Today she enjoys one of the most successful international opera, concert, recital and recording careers of her generation.

Christine Schäfer’s diverse opera credits include the roles of Lulu, Konstanze, Cherubino and Donna Anna at the Salzburg Festival; Konstanze, Gilda, Sophie and Asteria at Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London; Lulu, Gretel, Sophie, Gilda and Cherubino at the Metropolitan Opera, New York; Messiaen’s St Francois d’Assise, Donna Anna, Cherubino and Traviata at the Opéra National de Paris; Sophie in San Francisco and Lulu at the Glyndebourne Festival. At Theater an der Wien she sang Partenope, Orphélie, and more to come. At Vienna State Opera she debuted as Komponist in Strauss Ariadne auf Naxos. Christine Schäfer was a regular guest at the Staatsoper Berlin, where her roles there include Traviata, Konstanze, Donna Anna, Adele and Cherubino.

In an impressively diverse concert repertoire, Christine Schäfer enjoys a flourishing career with regular appearances on the major stages of Europe and America and collaborations with many of today’s pre-eminent conductors including the late Abbado, Levine, Harnoncourt, Boulez, Eschenbach, Haitink, Harding, Gatti, Mehta, Metzmacher, Thielemann, Dudamel and Rattle. She has appeared with all leading orchestras around the globe.

After a successful 1988 recital début at the Berlin Festival singing Aribert Reimann’s Nachträume, Christine Schäfer has gone on to develop an international recital career, making regular tours of North America and Japan, and frequent appearances at such renowned venues as London’s Wigmore Hall and Vienna’s Musikverein. As part of the inaugural Ruhr Triennale in 2002, Christine Schäfer presented an acclaimed interpretation of Schubert’s Die Winterreise in a staging by Oliver Hermann and accompanied by Irwin Gage.

A much-recorded artist, Christine Schäfer’s discography includes Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail with Les Arts Florissants/Christie (Erato); Mozart and Strauss arias with the Berlin Philharmonic/Abbado, Bach’s Wedding Cantatas with MAK/Goebel, Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire and Boulez’ Pli selon Pli with the Ensemble Intercontemporain/Boulez and a recital disc of Debussy and Chausson, accompanied by Irwin Gage, all for Deutsche Grammophon. Together with Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Christine Schäfer has recorded for Teldec, Bach St Matthew Passion and Mozart Missa Breves, and for BMG Mozart Requiem and Handel Messiah. Christine Schäfer is also featured on Graham Johnson’s acclaimed series of Schubert, Schumann and Brahms Lieder for Hyperion.

On the Capriccio label, Christine Schäfer performs on the multi award-winning Zemlinsky Lyrische Sinfonie (Eschenbach/Orchestre de Paris) and together with the Petersen Quartet, in an Aribert Reimann collection of Mendelssohn/Schumann song transcriptions, ”…. oder soll es Tod bedeuten?”, winner of the 2007 ECHO Klassik Award for Best Lied recording. A more recent collaboration with Onyx Classics has earned her outstanding reviews for Schubert’s Die Winterreise and her highly-personalised collection of Purcell and Georg Crumb, both accompanied by Eric Schneider. Sony presented her first opera album “Christine Schäfer ARIAS” in autumn 2011. The second Sony release “Bach Cantatas” was published in October 2013.

Christine Schäfer has received numerous awards for her artistic achievements such as the “First Class Order of the Federal Republik of Germany” and “Hessischer Staatspreis”. She has been made a member of the Academies of Arts in Berlin and Munich. From autumn 2015 Christine Schäfer has been appointed to be a regular professor at Hanns-Eisler-University in Berlin.

Zuletzt aktualisiert am 31. Aug. 2023

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