Krisztián Cser


Krisztián Cser is a Hungarian operatic and concert singer and physicist, the soloist of the Hungarian State Opera.

Biography

Krisztián Cser was born in 1977, in Szeged, Hungary. He grew up in a family of musicians. His grandmother Tímea Cser was a soprano, grandfather Gusztáv Cser was a composer-conductor, father :hu:Cser Miklós|Miklós Cser was a conductor. His mother Andrea Balló is a paintress. He has 5 siblings. One of his brothers, :hu:Cser Ádám|Ádám Cser is a musician too, he is a composer-conductor. He grew up in Szeged, Hungary, where he began his musical studies by playing the piano in his early childhood. After leaving high school, he graduated in physics at the University of Szeged in 2002 and began to work as a PhD student at the Institute of Biophysics of the Szeged Biological Research Centre. But his artistic roots proved strong, science was replaced by music in his life. He studied classical singing at the University of Szeged, where his vocal trainer was István Andrejcsik, then he attended the Department of Vocal and Opera Studies at the Liszt Academy, where the famous operatic singer Éva Marton was his professor and studied stage movement and acting with Balázs Kovalik.
Krisztián Cser succeeded in several Hungarian and international singing competitions, either he got into the finals, got a special prize, or even won.
He came out as an oratorio soloist in J. S. Bach’s Saint John Passion in 1998. His repertoire includes a wide range of musical styles from early baroque to contemporary music. In opera roles he appeared first in 2008, since when he has been a member of the Hungarian State Opera. He has sung under the baton of renowned Hungarian and foreign conductors such as Pierre Cao, Péter Eötvös, Helmuth Rilling, Peter Schreier, Muhai Tang, :hu:Hollerung Gábor|Gábor Hollerung, Kirill Karabits, Zoltán Kocsis, Ádám Fischer, Iván Fischer, Zoltán Peskó, György Vashegyi, Ken'ichiro Kobayashi, Zsolt Hamar and Tamás Vásáry. During the years, his title-role singing in Béla Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle became emblematic, he sings it in many Hungarian and international performances successfully with the contribution of renowned conductors. In some of the countries during his tour around the world, the audience could listen to and watch this opera for the first time in his performance. Above all, on the CD published in 2018 for the centenary of the Bluebeard’s Castle premiere, Krisztián Cser sings Bluebeard.
Besides Bartók’s opera, he has played other remarkable roles on opera stages. He frequently sings the bass roles of Mozart's operas as Figaro, Leporello and Sarastro, and authentically plays the protagonists in Verdi and Wagner's operas, such as The Grand Inquisitor and Philip II in Don Carlos or Wotan in The Rhinegold. His other leading roles have included Colline in Puccini's La bohème and Don Basilio in Rossini's The Barber of Seville. His ever-expanding repertoire includes more than 60 operas and nearly 80 roles.
He regularly performs on Hungarian opera and concert stages. He gave recitals also at the Royal Festival Hall in London, at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg and many more famous concert hall. He has debut as Wotan in Wagner's The Rhinegold in 2018, and as Don Pizarro in Beethoven's Fidelio at the Opernhaus Chemnitz. In 2019 he sang the role of Bluebeard with the Budapest Festival Orchestra conducted by Iván Fischer, at Carnegie Hall in New York City. He also sang the role of Wotan in the fall of 2019 in Mexico City, where the 150th anniversary of the staging of Wagner's The Rhinegold was celebrated.

Career

Opera

Oratorio, song

Filmography

Opera film

Concert film

Opera roles