Krisztián Cser

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 Miklós Cser was a conductor. His mother Andrea Balló is a painter. He has 5 siblings. One of his brothers, 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 (Hungary) 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.^[1]

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. His first lead role at the Hungarian State Opera was Pomádé in Ránki's King Pomádé's New Clothes. He has sung under the baton of renowned Hungarian and foreign conductors such as Pierre Cao, Péter Eötvös, Helmuth Rilling, Peter Schreier, Muhai Tang, 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.^[2][3][4] 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.^[5]

• 1998: first professional appearance as an oratorio soloist | J. S. Bach: St John Passion
• 2002: graduate as physicist at the University of Szeged
• 2006: graduate at the College of Music in Szeged
• 2008: graduate at the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest
• 2008: debut as Don Magnifico | Rossini: La Cenerentola | Italy (Spoleto)
• 2008: the first lead at the Hungarian State Opera: Pomádé | Ránki: King Pomádé's New Clothes
• 2010-: guest artist of the Hungarian State Opera
• 2014: Bluebeard | Béla Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle | China, Ukraine (Kyiv)
• 2014: debut as Figaro | Mozart : The Marriage of Figaro, Hungary (Budapest)
• 2014: Kossuth | Iván Fischer: The Red Heifer,
• 2014: tour in Germany with the Budapest Festival Orchestra
• 2015: Bluebeard | Béla Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle, Italy (Milan)
• 2016: Sarastro | Mozart: The Magic Flute | Royal Festival Hall, United Kingdom (London)^[6][7][8] | Konzerthaus Berlin, Germany, Concertgebouw - Netherlands (Amsterdam) | Concertgebouw, Bruges, Belgium
• 2017: Bluebeard | Béla Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle | Royal Festival Hall, United Kingdom (London)^{[9][10][11][12]} | Concert Hall, Poland (Katowice) | Concertgebouw, Bruges, Belgium^[13]
• 2018: debut as Wotan | Wagner: The Rhinegold | Germany (Chemnitz)^[14][15]
• 2019: debut as Alvise Badoero / Ponchielli: La Gioconda, Hungary (Budapest)
• 2019: tour with the Budapest Festival Orchestra | Bluebeard | Béla Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle | Elbphilharmonie, Germany (Hamburg)^[16] | Philharmonie de Paris, Paris-Grande salle Pierre Boulez, France (Paris)^[17] | Philharmonie Luxembourg, Luxemburg (Luxembourg) | Carnegie Hall, United States of America (New York City)^{[18][19][20][21]}
• 2019: debut as Don Pizarro | Beethoven: Fidelio, Germany (Chemnitz)
• 2019: Wotan | Wagner: The Rhinegold | Sala Nezahualcoyotl, Mexico, (Mexico City)
• 2020: debut as Philip II | Verdi: Don Carlos | National Theatre of Miskolc, Hungary (Miskolc)

• 4th Simándy József National Singing Competition | 2nd category - Winner (2004)
• Montserrat Caballe Singing Competition | Finals (2008)
• Geneva International Music Competition - Special Prize (2009)

• (in English) Official site of the artist
• (in English) Site of Hungarian State Opera