KIRSTEN SOLLEK
Contralto
Kirsten Sollek has been called “…an appealingly rich alto” and “…true contralto” by The New York Times, and a singer with “elemental tone quality” by The Philadelphia Inquirer. Concert appearances include Handel’s Dixit Dominus and Duruflé’s Requiem with Saint Thomas 5th Avenue, Handel’s Resurrezione with the Helicon Foundation, Mahler’s Third Symphony with Kevin Noe and the MSU Symphony Orchestra, and Vivaldi’s Stabat Mater and Duruflé’s Requiem with Kent Tritle and Great Music in a Great Space, Brahms’s Alto Rhapsody with the String Orchestra of Brooklyn, Bach’s Matthäus-Passion and Bach cantatas with Bach Collegium Japan, Haydn Masses (recorded for Naxos) with Jane Glover and Trinity Wall Street, Bach’s Matthäus-Passion, masses, and cantatas with Andrew Parrott and the New York Collegium, an all-Bach program with Helmuth Rilling and the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Vivaldi’s Gloria with the Seattle Baroque Orchestra, Mozart’s Coronation Mass with Tafelmusik, Bach’s Weinachts-Oratorium with Eric Milnes and the Trinity Consort, Handel’s Messiah with Bach Collegium Japan, Kansas City Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic, Virginia Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Pacific Symphony, and the Dallas Bach Society. She has also appeared at the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center, Boston Early Music Festival, Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music, the Virginia Arts Festival, and the Carmel Bach Festival.
In 2011 Ms. Sollek covered the role of Rinaldo in Handel’s Rinaldo for the Glyndebourne Festival. Other opera credits: Rosmira in Handel’s Partenope with Boston Baroque, Bradamante in Handel’s Alcina with Teatro Municipal de Santiago in Chile, Mamma Lucia in Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana with the String Orchestra of Brooklyn, Juno in Handel’s Semele with Music in the Somerset Hills, and Lucretia in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia with the Eastman Opera Theatre. She appeared as the Death Knight in Amy Beth Kirsten’s Quixote, premiered at Montclair State University’s Peak Performances in 2017. Ms. Sollek is featured in the role of The Dying Cow in Lisa Bielawa’s serial, made-for-television opera, Vireo: The Spiritual Biography of a Witch’s Accuser. The Dying Cow appears in three of the opera’s twelve episodes, available for online streaming at https://www.kcet.org/shows/artbound/projects/vireo.
Very active in contemporary music, she has worked extensively with composer John Zorn, premiering his music in the US, Europe, Australia, and Israel. She has sung at the June in Buffalo, Ojai, and Big Ears music festivals performing works by Steve Reich, and has recorded Reich’s The Desert Music and Tehillim with Alarm Will Sound for Cantaloupe and Music for 18 Musicians with Ensemble Signal for Harmonia Mundi. Ms. Sollek was a guest artist at the 2017 Bang on a Can residency at Mass MoCA, coaching and singing with the vocal fellows. She has collaborated with Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble ACJW for performances of John Adams’ Grand Pianola Music and Louis Andriessen’s De Staat. 2018/19 engagements include Bach’s Magnificat with Musica Angelica Baroque in Los Angeles, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass with the York Symphony, Pierre Boulez’s Le Marteau Sans Maître with Novus New York at Trinity Wall Street, Claude Vivier’s Kopernikus at the Planetario Galileo Galilei in Buenos Aires, and music by John Zorn at National Sawdust, the Chicago Art Institute, the Frick Collection, the Guggenheim, and Jazz Fest Sarajevo. Upcoming 2019: Performances with the San Francisco Girls Chorus and Hannah Lash’s new chamber opera, Desire at the Miller Theater in NYC.