Christine Rice

mezzo-soprano

A lyrical mezzo of balanced contrasts, modulations and beautiful expression.

Opera Magazine (Ruggiero in Handel’s Alcina at Teatro Real, Madrid, October 2015)

Christine Rice studied at the Royal Northern College of Music.

At the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, her many roles have included the title roles in Carmen and The Rape of Lucretia, Judith (Bluebeard’s Castle), Giulietta (The Tales of Hoffman), Concepción (L’heure espagnole), Maddalena (Rigoletto), and two world premieres: Ariadne in Harrison Birtwistle’s The Minotaur, and Miranda in Thomas Adès’s The Tempest. For English National Opera she has sung Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Arsace (Partenope), Nero (Agrippina), Zenobia (Radamisto), Marguerite (The Damnation of Faust), Nicklausse (The Tales of Hoffmann) and Dorabella (Così fan tutte). Other roles include her debut as Béatrice (Béatrice et Bénédict) at the Opéra Comique in Paris; Diana/Destino (La Calisto) for the Grand Théâtre de Genève; and Almaltea in Rossini’s Mosè in Egitto for Welsh National Opera and Teatro di San Carlo. She has also appeared at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, the Teatro Real Madrid, the Seattle Opera, the Opéra national de Bordeaux, Frankfurt Opera and Glyndebourne Festival Opera. She made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera, New York as Hansel, and returned as Giulietta (The Tales of Hoffman – also for Dutch National Opera) and Blanca (Adès’s The Exterminating Angel).

Christine’s concert appearances include Verdi’s Requiem with The Philadelphia Orchestra under Yannick Nézet-Séguin at New York’s Carnegie Hall, Wagner’s Das Rheingold under Simon Rattle, Handel’s Messiah with the Handel and Haydn Society under Harry Christophers, Bach’s St Matthew Passion at the SaintDenis Festival with John Nelson, and the world premiere of John Harbison’s Closer to My Own Life with the New York Metropolitan Opera Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. She sang Annio in La clemenza di Tito at the Edinburgh Festival under Charles Mackerras, which was recorded for Deutsche Grammophon. Other recordings include English song recitals with Iain Burnside and an EMI recital disc with Roger Vignoles.

Recent and future engagements include Bach’s St John Passion with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Simon Rattle; Bersi (Andrea Chénier) at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Marguerite (La damnation de Faust) with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Edward Gardner; Juno/Ino (Semele) with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra; Federica (Luisa Miller) at English National Opera; Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the BBC Symphony Orchestra; Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Orchestre de Paris and Daniel Harding; Marchesa (Verdi’s Un giorno di regno) at Garsington Opera; and further returns to Covent Garden.

Please note change of artist from originally advertised.