Called ” …an appealingly rich alto” by The New York Times and “…an ideal Bach alto” with “elemental tone quality” by The Philadelphia Inquirer, Kirsten Sollek is maintaining an increasingly busy performance schedule on the concert and opera stage. She made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2004 with André Thomas and the New York City Chamber Orchestra in Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass. Concert appearances include Matthäus-passion and several Bach cantatas with Masaaki Suzuki and Bach Collegium Japan, Haydn Masses (Thereseinmesse, Schöpfungsmesse and Harmoniemesse) performed and recorded with Jane Glover and Trinity Wall Street for Naxos, Bach’s Matthäus-passion 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, Vivaldi’s Stabat Mater with Kent Tritle and Sacred Music in a Sacred Space, Duruflé’s Requiem with John Scott at St. Thomas Fifth Avenue, Handel’s Messiah with Bach Collegium Japan, Minnesota Orchestra, Pacific Symphony, and the Dallas Bach Society. Festival performances include 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 include the role of Bradamante in Handel’s Alcina with Teatro Municipal de Santiago in Chile, the role of Juno in Handel’s Semele with Music in the Somerset Hills, premiering the role of Beauty in Blood Rose, the Naumburg prize-winning new opera by Hannah Lash (written for Ms. Sollek), and the role of Lucretia in Britten’s Rape of Lucretia with the Eastman Opera Theatre.
Very active in new music as well, she has appeared at the June in Buffalo and Ojai Music Festivals performing works by Steve Reich, and has recorded Reich’s The Desert Music and Tehillim with Alarm Will Sound and Music for 18 Musicians with Signal. She can also be seen on Alarm Will Sound’s Reich at the Roxy, a DVD featuring live performances of Reich’s music. She has worked extensively with composer John Zorn, premiering his music in New York, Milan and Paris. She has collaborated with Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble ACJW for performances of John Adams’ Grand Pianola Music, Jeffrey Milarsky conducting; and Louis Andriessen’s De Staat, John Adams conducting. She is a founding member of Open Gate, who made their debut at Weill Hall at Carnegie in 2007, with chamber music by Gregory Mertl.
Highlights in 2012/2013 include Messiah with the Kansas City Symphony and at Carnegie Hall with Musica Sacra, John Zorn’s new work The Holy Visions with New York City Opera’s Vox series, and the premiere of Hannah Lash’s Requiem For Extinct Birds.
Ms. Sollek holds performance degrees from Indiana University and the Eastman School of Music.