Berit Barfred-Christensen
Soprano
Berit Barfred-Christensen was born in Copenhagen, Denmark and made her first appearance on stage as Belinda in Dido and Aeneas by Purcell in a high school performance which led the way to singing lessons and a passion for the stage. She studied at the University of Music in Vienna, as well as post-graduate at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen.
During her University years in Vienna she made her professional debut in the Carinthischer Summer in Austria (2005) and she sang St. Matthew’s Passion by Bach at the Musikverein and gave a Mozart concert at the Konzerthaus Wien. She performed many roles at the Vienna Chamber Opera and recorded many masses for the Austrian radio Ö1.
From 2006 to 2011 Berit Barfred-Christensen was a soloist in the ensemble of the Badisches Staatstheater in Karlsruhe, Germany. There she sang Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Susanna in The marriage of Figaro, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Gretel in Hänsel and Gretel, Despina in Così fan tutte, Najade in Ariadne auf Naxos, Frasquita in Carmen, Fraarte in Radamisto, Vespetta in Pimpinone by Telemann and Marzelline in Fidelio. With roles like Mi in Das Land des Lächelns, Anna in Das Feuerwerk and Isabella in Boccaccio she also appeared in German operettas as well as in musical comedies, i.e. singing Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors.
Her concert repertoire includes St John’s Passion, St Matthew’s Passion, Christmas Oratorio and many other works by J.S.Bach, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Handel’s Messiah as well as many Handel-Cantatas, The Creation and Nelsonmass by Haydn, Mozart’s Requiem, Missa solemnis and Coronation Mass, Vivaldi’s Gloria. In addition, she sang Le Roi David by Honegger; Oratorio de Noël by Saint-Saëns; Fauré’s Requiem and Mahler’s 4th Symphony, Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem as well as the Liebesliederwalzer and Neue Liebesliederwalzer. Berit Barfred-Christensen has sung many solo concerts and Lieder recitals in Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Poland and Austria.
At the renowned Handel Festival in Karlsruhe she sang several opera and concert performances with the Deutsche Händelsolisten Orchestra under the baton of Peter van Heygen, Nicol Matt and Christophe Rousset. She has sung at the Handel Festival in Halle, with the Heidelberger Sinfoniker Orchestra with Thomas Fey, with the Georgian Chamber Orchestra and Ariel Zuckermann.
Since 2016 Berit has been living in Copenhagen, Denmark and she has sung with the Danish Chamber Orchestra, The Danish Sinfonietta, Aalborg Symphony Orchestra and Odense Symphony Orchestra under the baton of David Riddell, at the Danish National Opera, Copenhagen Opera Festival, Århus Summer Opera, Nordic Opera, with the Danish Operetta Company, as well as with the Danish National Philharmonic Orchestra, Dessau Opera, with the Bochumer Philharmonic, at the St Magnus International Festival in Orkney, Scotland, at the Aalborg Opera Festival and with Aalborg Symphony Orchestra at the Promenade Concert.
Berit Barfred-Christensen received the Leonié Sonning-Scholarship, the Inga Nielsen Remembrance-Scholarship, as well as The Aalborg Opera Prize 2018.
Video and Audio
"No word from Tom ... I go to him" from The Rake's Progress by Igor Stravinsky
"Luci belle, vaghe stelle" by G. F. Händel
"Solveigs sang"from Peer Gynt by Edward Grieg
"Se infelice al mondo vissi" by G. F. Händel
"Giunse alfin il momento ... Deh vieni, non tardar" from Le nozze di Figaro by
W. A. Mozart
"Bella mia fiamma"
by W. A. Mozart
Calendar
Opera Greatest Hits concert
with Ellen Refstrup, Piano
Rødovre Kirkes Sognehus
March 13
Oh, Champs Elysees
French chansons with Niels Rindorf
Rødovre Kirkes Sognehus
April 3
The Magic Flute
with The Little Opera Company
Randers, May 4
Concert at the Organfestival
With Niels Rindorf
June 7
Concert at the Chamber musik festival
with Ellen Refstrup, piano
Octobre 2
The Magic Flute
with The Little Opera Company at the
Chamber music festival in Rødovre
Octobre 4
Bach's Christmas Oratory
The Danish Sinfonietta, David Riddell
Randers
December 20
Coming up 2025:
Repertoire
Composer - Opera - Role
Beethoven - Fidelio - Marzelline
Bizet - Carmen - Frasquita
Burkhard - Das Feuerwerk - Anna
Donizetti - Don Pasquale - Norina
Gluck - Orfeo ed Euridice - Euridice
B. Gunge - Grænsemageren - Astrid
Händel - Ariodante - Ginevra
- Radamisto - Fraarte
Humperdinck - Hänsel und Gretel - Gretel, Taumännchen
Lehár - Land des Lächelns - Mi
- Die Lustige Witwe - Valencienne
Menken - Little Shop of Horrors - Audrey
Menotti - The old Maid and the Thief - Laeticia
Mozart - Cosi fan tutte - Despina
- Die Zauberflöte - Pamina, Papagena
- Don Giovanni - Zerlina
- Le nozze di Figaro - Susanna
Mozart / Oliver - L’oca del Cairo - Auretta
A. Pärt - Der Weg / L’Abbé Agathon - Soproansolo
Puccini -Tosca - Shepherd
Purcell - Dido and Aeneas - Belinda
R. Strauss - Ariadne auf Naxos - Najade
- Frau ohne Schatte - 1. Dienerin,
- Stimme der ungeborenen Kinder
Suppé - Boccaccio - Isabella
J. Tavener - Mary of Egypt - Mary
Telemann - Pimpinone - Vespetta
Verdi - Don Carlos, 5. Acts, Italian - Tebaldo, Voce di ciel
Weyse - Et Eventyr i Rosenborg Have - Christine
Concert:
J. S. Bach:
Johannespassion (BWV 245)
Matthäuspassion (BWV 244)
Magnificat (BWV 243)
Weihnachtsoratorium (BWV 248)
Jauchzett Gott in allen Landen (BWV 51)
Bauernkantate (BWV 212)
Gloria in excelsis Deo (BWV 191)
J. Brahms:
Ein deutsches Requiem Op. 45
Liebeslieder- und neue Liebesliederwalzer Op. 52+ 65
H. Distler:
Geistliche Konzerte Op. 17
A. Dvorak:
D-Dur Messe Op. 86
G. Fauré:
Requiem
G. F. Händel:
Messias (HWV 56)
L’ Allegro, il Pensieroso ed il Moderato (HWV 55)
Agrippina condotto a morire (HWV 110)
Notte placida e cheta (HWV 142)
Alpestre Monte (HWV 81)
Armida abbandonata (HWV 105)
Dalla guerra amorosa (HWV 102b)
J. Haydn:
Die Schöpfung (H. 21:2)
Nelson-Messe (Missa in Augustiis H. 22:11)
Se ogni giorno (Cantata secular H.24a:4)
Paukenmesse (H. 22:9)
Kleine Orgelsolomesse (H. 22:7)
Nicolaimesse (H. 22:6)
A. Honegger:
Le roi David (H. 37)
G. Mahler:
4. Symphonie “Wir geniessen die himmlischen Freuden”
F. Mendelsohn-Bartholdy:
Lobgesang Op. 52
W. A. Mozart:
Requiem (KV 626)
Krönungsmesse (KV 317)
Missa solemnis (KV 337)
Spatzenmessen (KV 220/196b)
Grosse Credomesse (KV 257)
Vesperae solennes de Dominica (KV 321)
Litaniae Lauretanae (KV 195 / 186d)
A. Pärt:
L’abbé Agathon
G. B. Pergolesi
Stabat mater
C Saint-Saëns:
Oratorio de Noël
F. Schubert:
B-dur Messe (D 324)
Der Hirt auf dem Felsen
R. Schumann:
Dichterliebe Op 48
H. Schulz:
Kleine Geistlische Konzerte (SWV 282, 283, 285)
A. Vivaldi:
Gloria in D (RV 589)
Nulla in mundo pax sincera
J. D. Zelenka:
Missa votiva (ZWV 18)
Miserere c-moll (ZWV 57)
As well as many songs by Grieg, Fauré, Mozart, Purcell, Schubert, Schumann, Schweikert, Sibelius and Wolf
