CHRISTINA ASCHER, alto, studied voice at the Juilliard Music School (Master of Science) in New York, the city of her birth. A Kathryn Rudd Grant from the Metropolitan Opera enabled her to further her studies. In addition to vocal studies she attended the Herbert Berghoff School of Acting and participated in many cross-over projects, for example at Actors Studio. Her very first professional work in New York included solo vocal parts in stage productions with the choreographers Martha Graham and John Neumeier.
After fulfilling opera contracts at the Lyric Opera in Chicago and at the Dallas Opera, Miss Ascher came to Europe in 1974 where she sang leading roles at the opera houses in Karlsruhe, Zurich, Bonn, Hamburg, Berlin, Munich, Graz, Oldenburg, etc. Until the mid 80's her specialties were Mozart, Rossini, Strauss and occasionally Wagner. Since the mid 80's her main focus has been on contemporary music and modern music theater.
As a dedicated and uncompromising interpreter of modern music and modern music theater Christina Ascher has made an international name for herself. Contemporary composers esteem her thorough, intelligent musicianship, the many colors of her unusually flexible, versatile voice, her feeling for text and drama, her total personal identification in performance and her ability to think creatively. Thus it is not surprising that this artist and her extraordinary talents have very often been the inspiration for new works by composers such as Wolfgang Rihm, Sylvano Bussotti, Volker Heyn, Radu Malfatti, Fernando Grillo, Violeta Dinescu, Bojidar Spassov, Peter Michael Hamel, Sidney Corbett, Bruno Strobl, Charlotte Seither, Meyer Kupferman, Georg Nussbaumer, Tony Völker, Theo Brandmüller, Roland Breitenfeld, Nader Mashayekhi, Ruth Zechlin, Joseph Pehrson, Viera Janárceková, Dan Dediu, Luca Lombardi, Horst Lohse, Michael Denhoff, Bruno Liberda, Ezra Sims, David Graham, Andreas Plüger, Bernd Asmus, Gerhard Rosenfeld, etc.. She collaborated with Peter Ablinger, Klaus Ager, Luna Alcalay, Gerold Amann, Robert C. Bachmann, Michael Bach Bachtischa, Christian Banasik, Luciano Berio, Friedrich Cerha, Gloria Coates, Hans-Christian von Dadelsen, Luigi Dallapiccola, Pascal Dusapin, Gerald Eckert, Wolfgang Florey, Vincent Grüger, Roman Haubenstock-Ramati, Volker Heyn, C. René Hirschfeld, Adriana Hölszky, Klaus Huber, Klaus K. Hübler, Elfriede Jelinek, Georg Katzer, Babette Koblenz, Ernst Krenek, Dieter Kaufmann, Scott Roller, Mia Schmidt, Gunter Schneider, Roger Sessions, Gerhard Stäbler, Alfred Stenger, Vladimir Tarnopolsky, Julia Werntz, Scott Wilson, Gerhard E. Winkler, etc.
In 1986 Ms.Ascher debuted with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and in 1999 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London. She was a guest soloist at the Holland Music Festival, the Wiener Festwochen, the Dresdner Tage fuer zeitgenoessische Musik, the Bonner Tage fuer Neue Musik, the Berliner Festwochen, the Berliner Biennale, the Frankfurter Feste, the Styrian Autumn, Styriarte, the Warsaw Autumn, the Sofia International New Year's Festival, the Darmstaedter Ferienkurse, the Wittener Tage fuer neue Kammermusik, Musica in Strassbourg, the Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen, KaG (Gent) and many others. Recently she has composed and/ or created music concepts for various projects involving dancers and actors (e.g. the live music elements in the dance theater programs "Check-point Babel," "Tonfaelle" and "Wrap me in Eternity" with the Co.Lab.TanzTheater [Frankfurt], the school projects "Fundstueck" and "Fliessende Grenzen" and "Steinschlag" with the Butoh dancer Sabine Seume.
Christina Ascher has been involved in numerous international radio, television and recording productions, including her solo CD, "ONE WOMAN TANGO", CHRISTINA ASCHER: mezzo-soprano and percussion, the CD "100 Ansichten vom Berge Fuji, Buch I/ 11" by Bruno Liberda, , a record of music by Adriana Hoelszky, which was awarded the "Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik," "Salamandrine Voices" by Gerhard Rosenfeld (HT5316), and many others.
Ms.Ascher has given master classes and seminars for singers and composers at New England Conservatory of Music, Boston, Hochschule für Musik und Theater, Rostock, Germany, International Summer Courses for Young Composers, Radziejowice, Poland, University of Birmingham, Music Department, Birmingham, UK, University of Music, Katowice, Poland. She teaches privately at the Voice Studio Christina Ascher in New York and has been a jury member at various competitions for contemporary composition and interpretation.
From 1986 to 2008 Christina Ascher had a private voice studio in Frankurt, Germany. In 2009, upon returning to New York after 34 years of singing in Europe, she now has opened her voice studio in New York. |
