Biography
The New York Times described Katherine Ciesinski as "a singer of rare communicative presence, and a musician of discrimination and intelligence." This distinguished American mezzo-soprano has built a comprehensive career, engaging with contemporary composers as well as the classic repertoire of the lyric stage. Her major operatic roles include three productions at the Metropolitan Opera: Judith in Bluebeard's Castle, Nicklausse in Les Contes d'Hoffmann, and most recently Comtesse de Coigny in Andrea Chenier; Cassandre in Les Troyens at Covent Garden; Adalgisa in Norma with Scottish Opera; Laura in La Gioconda, Waltraute in the Ring cycle, and Dulcinée in Don Quichotte with San Francisco Opera; Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier and Hansel in Hansel und Gretel with Dallas Opera; Kabanicha in Katya Kabanova, Mère Marie in Les Carmélites, Adelaide in Arabella, Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro, and Cornelia in Giulio Cesare with Houston Grand Opera; and Xerxes (title role), Diana in La Calisto, Herodias in Salome, Ottavia in L'Incoronazione di Poppea, and Countess Geschwitz in the American premiere of the full three-act Lulu at Santa Fe Opera.
She has garnered critical acclaim for world premieres including Mark Adamo's Little Women (Houston), Dominick Argento's The Aspern Papers (Dallas), Maurice Ohana's La Celestine (title role, Paris Opera), Girolamo Arrigo's Il Ritorno di Casanova (Geneva), and Param Vir's Snatched by the Gods (Amsterdam and Munich). Other notable roles feature Giulietta in Brussels, Brangäne in Toronto, Judith in Frankfurt and Stuttgart, Eboli in Madrid, and La Favorite in Paris. In the past year, she performed the world premiere of Jake Heggie's The End of the Affair with Houston Grand Opera, a production slated for national broadcast on NPR's World of Opera. Additionally, she appeared as Aunt Cecilia March in her sixth staging of Mark Adamo's Little Women (Mexico City), Effie Belle Tate in Carlisle Floyd's Cold Sassy Tree (Opera Omaha), and the Principessa in Puccini's Suor Angelica (Opera Theater of Saint Louis). Recently, she presented song cycles by Prokofiev and Shostakovich in the multimedia concert The St. Petersburg Legacy with Da Camera of Houston at the Bard Music Festival in New York.
Ms. Ciesinski has collaborated with many of the world's premier orchestras, including the Cleveland, Minnesota, and Philadelphia Orchestras; the Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Houston, and Toronto Symphonies; and in Europe with the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics, L'Orchestre de Paris, London Symphony Orchestra, Dresden Staatskapelle, and L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. Her recital appearances span the United States, Paris, Cologne, Zurich, Milan, and festivals such as Aix-en-Provence, Geneva, Spoleto, and Salzburg. Her commitment to contemporary chamber music has led to performances at the Caramoor Festival (New York), Musica Festival (Strasbourg), Ars Musica Festival (Brussels), Festival d'Automne (Paris), Voix Nouvelles (Fondation Royaumont), Schlern International Festival (Italy), and with Ensemble Intercontemporain (Paris).
Her opera recordings include title roles in Ariane et Barbe-Bleue conducted by Armin Jordan (Erato), Regina under John Mauceri (London/Decca), Sapho led by Sylvain Cambreling (Radio France), Siegrune in Die Walküre with the Cleveland Orchestra under Christoph von Dohnanyi (London/Decca), and Sonia in War and Peace conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich (Erato). She earned a Grammy nomination for her portrayal of Paulina in The Queen of Spades with Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony (BMG). Recent recordings feature Aunt Cecilia March in Mark Adamo's Little Women (Ondine), Sofia Ivanova in Tod Machover's Resurrection (Albany), and Alto Soloist in Kurt Weill's Die Bürgschaft (EMI). Her choral and chamber music recordings include Les Noces with Robert Craft, Pribaoutki with the Orchestra of St. Luke's (Music Masters), Carter's Syringa (Bridge), and world premiere recordings of Brian Ferneyhough's On Stellar Magnitudes and Antoine Bonnet's Nachtstrahl in Paris. Lieder recordings encompass Rorem's Women's Voices (CRI), Ravel's Chansons Madécasses (Columbia), and songs by Dvořák, Alma Mahler, and Clara Schumann (Leonarda).
A rare master performer who is also a dedicated educator, Ms. Ciesinski frequently serves as a clinician at the International Symposium on Care of the Professional Voice in Philadelphia. She founded the Vocal Workshop for the International Composition Seminar at the Royaumont Foundation in France and established the Close Encounters vocal chamber institute at the Texas Music Festival. She continues to lecture and serve on the steering committee for the University of Texas School of Public Health's Healthcare and the Arts Series and was recently invited to join the faculty of the third Encuentro Artescenica in Mexico. Currently, she is Professor of Voice and Chair of Voice Studies at the Moores School of Music, University of Houston. Several of her recent students have joined faculties at Michigan State University, the University of California San Jose, and apprentice programs at the Des Moines Metro, Orlando, and Santa Fe Operas.
