Tina Sarsøe Kiberg (born 30 December 1958) is a Danish operatic soprano who has gained international success, thanks in particular for her leading roles in the operas of

Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...

and

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

. In addition to performances at the Royal Theatre in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, she has sung in

Bayreuth Bayreuth (, ; bar, Bareid) is a town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtelgebirge Mountains. The town's roots date back to 1194. In the 21st century, it is the capital of U ...

and at the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Biography

Born in 1958 in the Frederiksberg district of

, Tina Sarsøe was the daughter of the opera singer Claus Lembek (1929–2010) and the singing pedagogue Birgit Sarsøe. On 11 February 1990, she married the opera singer Stig Fogh Andersen (born 1950). She was brought up in

Birkerød Birkerød () is a town in Rudersdal Municipality in the northern outskirts of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is surrounded by several lakes and small woodlands. Birkerød station is located on the Hillerød radial of the S-train suburban network. Hist ...

together with her mother and her husband, Erling Kiberg, and her three half sisters. She did not meet her biological father until her early 20s. From 1975, she attended the Royal Danish Conservatoire where she took singing lessons in parallel with her high school education in Birkerød Gymnasium where she matriculated in 1977. From 1981 to 1985, she continued her training at the Royal Theatre's Opera Academy. While there, she made her début in 1983 as Leonora in Carl Nielsen's ''

Maskarade ''Maskarade'' (''Masquerade'') is an opera in three acts by Carl Nielsen to a Danish libretto by Vilhelm Andersen, based on the comedy by Ludvig Holberg. It was first performed on 11 November 1906 at Royal Danish Theatre, Copenhagen. ''Maskarade' ...

''. The following year she was placed second and won a gold medal at the Benson and Hedges international voice competition in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. In 1988, as a guest in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

, she took the role of Agathe in Carl Maria von Weber's ''

Der Freischütz ' ( J. 277, Op. 77 ''The Marksman'' or ''The Freeshooter'') is a German opera with spoken dialogue in three acts by Carl Maria von Weber with a libretto by Friedrich Kind, based on a story by Johann August Apel and Friedrich Laun from their 181 ...

''. Her Wagnerian roles have included Else in '' Lohengrin'' which she has performed in Copenhagen,

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, Zurich,

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

and a number of cities in Germany. In the 1990s, she played Elisabeth in ''

Tannhäuser Tannhäuser (; gmh, Tanhûser), often stylized, "The Tannhäuser," was a German Minnesinger and traveling poet. Historically, his biography, including the dates he lived, is obscure beyond the poetry, which suggests he lived between 1245 and 1 ...

'', Sieglinde in '' Die Walküre'' and Eva in '' Die Meistersinger''. In 1995, she was the first female Danish opera singer to appear at New York's Metropolitan Opera when she sang Pamina in ''

The Magic Flute ''The Magic Flute'' (German: , ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a ''Singspiel'', a popular form during the time it was written that inclu ...

''. In 2010, she was diagnosed with throat cancer. She thought it could put a stop to her singing career. After several months' treatment, she slowly began to recover but it was not until May 2012 that she returned to the stage appear in '' Parsifal''. By 2014, she was appearing regularly at the Royal Theatre.

Awards and honours

In 1993, Kiberg was awarded the

Tagea Brandt Rejselegat The Tagea Brandts ''Rejselegat'' (Travel Scholarship) is a Danish award to women who have made a significant contribution in science, literature or art. The grant, which is given without application, was created and endowed by Danish industrialist ...

. After being honoured as a

Knight of the Dannebrog The Order of the Dannebrog ( da, Dannebrogordenen) is a Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single class known ...

in 1993, she received the Knights First Class medal in 2001. In 2010, she was honoured with the prestigious Kongelige Kammersanger.

References

External links

Interview with Tina Kiberg
2 December 1993 {{DEFAULTSORT:Kiberg, Tina 1958 births Living people Knights First Class of the Order of the Dannebrog Danish opera singers People from Frederiksberg Danish operatic sopranos