Awful news: International soprano is killed in glider crash

The soprano Kristine Ciesinski has been identified as the pilot of  glider that crashed yesterday in Grand Teton National Park.

Kristine was 65.

The name of the other casualty has not yet been released. Kristine was named as pilot of the glider.

Kristine sang at most major houses. Her roles included Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk’ (Katerina) at La Scala, Paris Opera Bastille, Frankfurt Staatsoper; ‘Salome’ (18 productions) including Munich, Dresden, ENO (English National Opera) in London, Bellas Artes in Mexico City, Teatro Carlo Felice in Genova, San Diego Opera, Canadian Opera company, Toronto; ‘Wozzeck’ (Marie) in Frankfurt, Bonn, Hamburg, ENO, Buenos Aires Teatro Colon; the double bill ‘Bluebeards Castle/Erwarturg’in Leipzig and Basel; Bluebeard’s Castle in Tokyo; Verdi’s ‘Macbeth’ (Lady Macbeth) at the Festival de Vichy, at ENO in London, the ENO tour to the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow and the Marinsky Theater in St. Petersburg and in the prize winning (Bayerische Theaterpreis) production in Bremen; and Janacek’s ‘Makropulos Case’ (Emilia Marty) at the Glyndebourne Festival, at La Monnaie in Brussels, the Statsopera in Hamburg, at the Maastrict Opera, Netherlands and at the Netherlands National Opera in Amsterdam.

Married to the British bass-baritone Norman Bailey, she lived in the UK for many years before moving to the Teton mountains.

UPDATE: Her brother-in-law, the conductor Mark Powell, writes:

It is my sad task to inform you all that Katherine’s sister, Kristine, was killed yesterday in a glider crash just inside the south boundary of the Grand Teton National Park. The helicopter pilot who located the wreckage noted a detached, inverted wing, so the questions will compound for some time. Kris was a twenty year flight veteran, a flight instructor, and a Civil Air Patrol captain, in addition to one of the finest Salome’s I’ve ever heard.

We are overwhelmed with the love and condolences coming in from, quite literally, everywhere and I cannot assemble words adequate to thank you all. Please know that we, all of us, appreciate your thoughts. It has been an horrendous fourteen hours.