A native of Hofheim am Taunus, soprano Ruth Ziesak studied with Elsa Cavelti at the Frankfurt am Main Music Academy and began her career at the Theater Heidelberg as well as at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein. First prizes at the German Music Competition and at the prestigious Dutch International Vocal Competition ’s-Hertogenbosch soon paved the way to an international career that has brought her to the Munich, Berlin, Vienna, and Dresden Staatsoper houses, La Scala in Milan, Paris Opera, the Royal Opera House in London, and the Metropolitan Opera in New York. While at first such lyrical roles as Pamina (The Magic Flute), Ännchen (Der Freischütz), Marzelline (Fidelio), Ilia (Idomeneo), and Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier) were her focus, she has since expanded her repertoire, singing the Countess in Figaro at the Glyndebourne Festival and Zurich Opera, for example. Ziesak places special emphasis on lieder and vocal music for the concert hall. She has performed with many leading orchestras, collaborating with such conductors as Ivor Bolton, Riccardo Chailly, Daniele Gatti, Riccardo Muti, Kent Nagano, and Jukka-Pekka Sa-raste. In the 2011-12 season she concertized with the Bamberg Symphony under Roger Norrington, the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Herbert Blomstedt, the Israel Philharmonic under Kurt Masur, and the Czech Philharmonic under Manfred Honeck. Her regular partner for lieder projects is pianist Gerold Huber, with whom she recently recorded canzonettas by Haydn and newly discovered settings by Felix Mendelssohn. She has also worked with András Schiff on lieder projects at London’s Wigmore Hall and at the Essen Philharmonie and will additionally appear with Schiff at the Salzburg Festival in 2012.
LUCERNE FESTIVAL debut on 18 August 1996 in Bach’s B minor Mass in a performance with the Academy for Ancient Music Berlin under Marcus Creed.
March 2012