The Dutch mezzo-soprano Christianne Stotijn was born in Delft and studied violin and voice at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. After obtaining her solo violin diploma, she continued her vocal studies with Udo Reinemann, Jard van Nes and Dame Janet Baker. Over the years, Christianne has won numerous awards, including the prestigious ECHO Rising Stars Award, the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award, and the Nederlands Muziekprijs. In 2007, she was selected as a BBC New Generation Artist. Christianne is a passionate interpreter of art songs. Accompanied by the pianists Joseph Breinl and Julius Drake, she has appeared in the world’s leading concert venues. The conductor Bernard Haitink has had a profound influence on Christianne’s career. Under his direction, she has performed with orchestras including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and London Symphony Orchestra. Christianne has also worked with world-class conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Ivan Fischer, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Andris Nelsons, Gustavo Dudamel, Vladimir Jurowski and Jaap van Zweden, performing works by Brahms, Berlioz, Elgar, Britten, Mussorgsky, Mahler and many others. Christianne also appears regularly on the operatic stage. She has sung at major opera houses and festivals such as the Paris Opera, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, the Dutch National Opera, Teatro Arriaga in Bilbao, Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels and the Opéra du Rhin in Strasbourg. Since 2013 Christianne Stotijn is the artistic director of the Udo Reinemann International Masterclasses, based in Brussels. Since 2021, she teaches as Professor für Gesang at the Hochschule für Musik, Würzburg. This is her first appearance with the IPO.