Christiane Oelze

Born: October 9, 1963 - Cologne, Germany

The German soprano, Christiane Oelze, studied with Klesie Kelly-Moog, attended master classes given by Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, and received further instruction from Erna Westenberger. The lied figures prominently in her artistic endeavours as can be seen from the awards that have been conferred on her, notably at the Hugo Wolf Competition in 1987 and at the German Intercollegiate Competition for Song Duos in 1988 (first prize).

Christiane Oelze was subsequently invited to take part in international festivals (including Lake Constance and Berlin). She has toured Europe, the USA, South America and Japan. Performing a repertoire ranging from the baroque period to contemporary works, she has made guest appearances in all major concert halls of Europe with conductors such as Sir Neville Marriner, Frans Brüggen, Pierre Boulez, Horst Stein and Sir Colin Davis.

Since 1990-1991 Christiane Oelze has taken part in opera productions, notably as Despina (Cosi fan tutte in Ottawa), Constanze (Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Salzburg Festival and in Zurich) and Pamina (The Magic Flute in Leipzig under the baton of Sir Yehudi Menuhin).

CD releases on the Berlin Classics label include Lieder on poems by Goethe (various composers), Jephtha by Georg Frideric Handel and concert arias by Mozart. Christiane Oelze, distinguished by a large repertoire, has already sung the soprano voice in Helmuth Rilling’s recording of the Mass in C minor and the Requiem by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as well as in J.S. Bach’s St Matthew Passion (BWV 244). Together with the young aspiring alto Birgit Remmert, she has also recorded Bach’s paraphrase of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Tilge Höchster meine Sünden BWV 1083.