Christine Rice - Mezzo Soprano Print E-mail
Christine Rice was born and educated in Manchester and read physics at Balliol College, Oxford before entering the Royal Northern College of Music to study with Robert Alderson.

Photograph by Rob MooreAt The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden her many roles have included Giulietta (‘Les Contes d’Hoffman’), Concepcion (‘L’Heure Espagnol’), Emilia (‘Otello’), Suzuki (‘Madama Butterfly’), the title role in ‘The Rape of Lucretia’, Siebel (‘Faust’), Sonyetka (‘Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk’), Judith (‘Duke Bluebeard’s Castle’), and two world premieres: Ariadne in Birtwistle’s ‘The Minotaur’(nominated for an Oliver Award for best opera in 2009) and Miranda in Ades’ ‘The Tempest’. For the English National Opera she has sung Nero (‘Agrippina’), Hermia (‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’), Olga (‘Eugene Onegin’), Bradamante (‘Alcina’), Arsace (‘Partenope’)(Received an Oliver Award for Best Opera in 2009) and Rosina (‘Il Barbiere di Siviglia’); for La Monnaie Brussels, Varvara (‘Kát’a Kabanová’); for De Vlaamse Opera the title roles in ‘Ariodante’ and ‘Rinaldo’; for the Glyndebourne Festival, Mercedes (‘Carmen’); and for Glyndebourne Touring Opera, the title roles in ‘Carmen’ and ‘La Cenerentola’ and Irene in ‘Theodora’. She has appeared at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich as Ariodante, Rinaldo and Dorabella; at the Teatro Real Madrid as Hermia (‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’), at Seattle Opera as Dorabella and at Frankfurt Opera as Penelope (‘Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria’).

Photograph by Rob Moore Christine's concert appearances include Elgar’s ‘Sea Pictures’ and Debussy’s ‘La Damouiselle Elue’ with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra; Wagner’s ‘Das Rheingold’ with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under Sir Simon Rattle; ‘The Dream of Gerontius’ with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. She sang Annio in ‘La Clemenza di Tito’ at the Edinburgh Festival under Sir Charles Mackerras, which was recorded for Deutsche Grammophon. For the BBC she has recorded De Falla’s ‘El Amor Brujo’, Elgar’s ‘Sea Pictures’, Berlioz’s ‘Les Nuits D’Ete’, and a series of English song recitals with Iain Burnside including Wolf’s ‘Spanisches Liederbuch’. Christine has recorded an EMI debut recital disc with Roger Vignoles, the role of Annio in ‘La Clemenza di Tito’ under Sir Charles Mackerras with Deutsche Grammophon, Respighi's 'Il Tramonto' under Antonio Pappano with EMI Classics and she joins Bryn Terfel in his acclaimed 'Tutto Mozart' album with Deutsche Grammophon and Sir Charles Mackerras.

Future operatic engagements include Concepcion and Hansel for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Penelope in ‘Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria’ for the Teatro Real in Madrid; Dorabella in Munich; and her debut in Paris as Béatrice at the Opéra Comique. She was nominated in February 2009 for an Olivier Award for outstanding achievement in opera.

Photographs by Rob Moore.
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