Cristina Deutekom

Cristina Deutekom (born Christine (Stientje) Engel, 28 August 1931 in Amsterdam) is a Dutch opera singer. Renowned for her coloratura technique, she is also known as Christine Deutekom and Christina Deutekom.

Her voice was that of a dramatic coloratura, although lirico spinto, with a coloratura technique would probably be more accurate.

She sang with virtually all the leading tenors of her time. They included Carlo Bergonzi, José Carreras, Franco Corelli, Plácido Domingo, Nicolai Gedda, Alfredo Kraus, Luciano Pavarotti, and Richard Tucker.

Career

After some smaller roles, her breakthrough came in 1963, portraying the Queen of the Night in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte at De Nederlandse Opera. She then sang the same role at all major European opera houses and also at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1968. In 1974 she opened the MET season as Elena in I vespri siciliani alongside Plácido Domingo.

Meanwhile she had been extending her repertoire. Besides the Queen of the Night, her Mozart roles included Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte and Vitellia in La clemenza di Tito. She also scored triumphant successes in Italy in the great bel canto roles of that era's composers, including Rossini, specifically Armida; in Bellini's Norma and I puritani; and in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor.

She went on to achieve international fame in a repertoire which also embraced the great dramatic Verdi roles including Abigaile in Nabucco, Lady Macbeth, Leonora in Il trovatore, Amelia in Un ballo in maschera, and Elena in I vespri siciliani. Other roles which were captured in commercial recordings include Giselda in I Lombardi and Odabella in Attila.

Finally, she sang the title role in Puccini's Turandot.

Cristina Deutekom's stage career ended in 1986, when she suffered a heart attack. She turned to giving master classes internationally.

She made a return in November 1996 at the Concertgebouw “Operafeest”, at the age of 65 singing the Bolero from I vespri siciliani and Anna Elisa’s aria Liebe, du Himmel auf Erden from the operetta Paganini, reportedly "bringing the house down". ^[1] As of 2001, she was a guest teacher at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, but after suffering a stroke in 2004, she retired from public life.

Additional operatic repertoire

Honors

Personal life

She married Jaap Deutekom, a boxer, in 1952 and they had a daughter, Irma Deutekom, in 1955.

References

External links

• Watch Cristina Deutekom on YouTube