Expertise:
Music management; Recognizing vocal talent; Business management; All aspects of leadership and voice development
Major Product/SVS:
Services for performance artists
Favorite Business Publication:
Opera
Hobbies/Sports:
Tennis; Walking; Travel; Music
Education Degrees:
Graduate Diploma in Music, University of Adelaide
Affiliations Awards:
Honorary Fellow, Trinity College, London; Music Supervisor, ABC, South Australia, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Member, Opera Panel, Music Board, Australia Council; Board of Directors, Australian Opera; Board Member of the Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra
Work History:
Voice Teacher, Trinity College, London; Moorhead State University, Minnesota USA; Conservatoria of Tasmania, Adelaide and Queensland; Voice Staff, University of Queensland
Career Achievements:
Opera Director, Thomas' Mignon for the West Australian Opera Company ; Orchestral Conductor, ABC West Australian Symphony Orchestra; Opera Singer, (Papa Germont in Verdi's la Traviata); Recitalist, Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Number Of Years In Profession:
55
Extended Bio Profile:
Mr. Christiansen, widely known as singer, teacher and conductor, is one of Australia's most versatile musicians.
As an opera singer, he has been principal baritone with the Blyndebourne Touring Co; the Wexford Festival, Eire; the St. Paul Opera USA (Of Mice and Men, Summer and Smoke, The Crucible); and in Australia with the Victoria State Opera, The Western Australian Opera Co, Opera Queensland and the State Opera of South Australia (Don Alfonso in Cosi Fan Tutte, Prus in The Makropoulos Case, La Roche in Capriccio, Scrooge in The Christmas Carol, Sharpless in Madam butterfly, the title role in Falstaff and Scarpia in Tosca). ABC-TV operas included The Yeomen of the Guard and Malcolm Williamson's the Violins of St. Jacques, Australia's first color-TV opera production. As a Concert Artist, he is well-known throughout Australia for his many appearances as recitalist and soloist for the ABHE. He has also sung for the BBC, Radio Zurich and West German Radio. He has appeared with the Zurich Kammermusiker in Europe and the Minnesota Orchestra in the U.S. He has recorded for EMI, RCA and Chandos in the U.K. and Australia as singer and conductor.
Since the age of 17, he has conducted choirs and choruses, including the ABC Adelaide Singers, his most recent appointment being Chorus Master of Opera Queensland. He prepared the large chorus for the Edgley Aida Spectacular in Brisbane in 1997. In 1999-2000, the acclaimed OQ Chorus starred in its own right in an opera concert to a sell-out Lyric Theatre, and for the first time joined with the QSO in very successful concerts. In 2001, he prepared the huge chorus from all over Queensland for the Centenary of Federation celebration concerts in Brisbane. In 2003, he prepared the OQ Chorus for Riverfestival's West Side Story, and was an adjudicator for the Sutherland Aria competition for the Noosa Federation of the Arts.
Position Responsibilities and Duties:
Performing and teaching opera