Christine Schäfer

These days Christine Schäfer is no longer the well-kept secret of the younger singing generation. Born in Frankfurt am Main, she studied under Ingrid Figur in Berlin and attended lieder classes given by Aribert Reimann and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. She also took part in a masterclass given by Arleen Augér. In 1988 she gave her first recital – Reimann's Nacht-Räume – during the Berlin Festival Weeks.Ever since her USA debut in 1993, playing Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier in San Francisco, Christine Schäfer has appeared on stages all over the world. Directly after her debut there followed an invitation from the Boston Symphony Orchestra to perform in Boston and New York under the direction of Seiji Ozawa.Christine Schäfer enjoys close professional ties with conductors such as Helmuth Rilling, Uwe Gronostay, Wolfgang Schäfer, Leopold Hager, Helmut Müller-Brühl, Eric Ericson, Karl-Friedrich Beringer, and Reinhard Goebel. Audiences and critics alike have enthusiastically received her appearances as an opera singer in Brussels, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Berne, Amsterdam, and in the USA. In 1995 she sang the part of Lulu at the Salzburg Festival. She appeared at the Bastille Opera in Paris in 1998 as the Infanta in Alexander Zemlinsky's “Der Zwerg” (The Dwarf).Besides her opera and concert engagements, Christine Schäfer is also in demand as a lieder singer. She regularly gives lieder recitals at major festivals – in Frankfurt, London, Paris.