Norwegian soprano Kristi Anna Isene, born and raised in Haugesund (N), studied at the Grieg Academy in Bergen and at the Institute for Music Theater in Karlsruhe (IMT). In addition, she attended master classes with Susanna Eken, Hilde Zadek and was also intensively coached by Renata Parussel.
In the current season, Kristi Anna Isene can be heard as Trude Minde in Eugen Engels‘ world premiere of Grete Minde, based on the novella by Theodor Fontane at Theater Magdeburg.
In the seasons 2017/18 – 2020/21 Kristi Anna Isene was a member of the ensemble at Theater Münster, singing roles such as Elisabetta in Verdi’s Don Carlo, Harper Pitt in Eötvös‘ Angels in America, Noémi in Cendrillon, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly, Anna Maurrant in Street Scene, Fatamorgana in The Love for the Three Oranges, Amelia in Un ballo in maschera and Contessa in Le nozze di Figaro. As Harper Pitt, Kristi Anna Isene was also a guest at the Theater Freiburg.
Kristi Anna Isene was member of the ensemble at Theater Vorpommern in the 2015/16 and 2016/17 seasons. Here she appeared as Micaëla in Carmen, as the Fox in The Cunning Little Vixen, as Countess Mariza, as Amelia, as Elisabeth in Tannhäuser and as Lucy Harris in Jekyll and Hyde. Further she sang 2016 and 2017 at the Classic Open Air at the Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin and as Elisabeth (Tannhäuser) at the Opera na Zamku in Szczecin (PL).
In the 2014/15 season, Kristi Anna Isene made her debut in the title role in Dvořák’s Rusalka at the Stuttgart State Opera’s Junge Oper, as well as Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così fan tutte at Theater Vorpommern.
Guest engagements led her to Volksschauspiele Ötigheim, Opernbühne Bad Aibling, Pasinger Fabrik Munich, Brandenburg Summer Concerts, Theater Haugesund, Ludwigsburg Festival and Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe.
As an interpreter of contemporary music she sang Sequenza III by Luciano Berio in the opera project Donne Romane of the European Culture Days Karlsruhe, Gunda in the opera Kein Ort. Nirgends by Anno Schreier at the Young Opera Company in Freiburg, the world premieres of Matthias Heep’s Momo at the Young Opera of the Stuttgart State Opera, as well as Die Geschichte vom Fuchs, der den Verstand verlor by Sandra Weckert at the Stadttheater Ingolstadt.
Already during her studies at the IMT, she participated in opera productions such as Hansel and Gretel, Die liebe zu den drei Orangen and L’enfant et les Sortiléges.
Kristi Anna Isene also devotes herself intensively to lieder singing and is a regular guest at home and abroad. For example, she was engaged by the International Hugo Wolf Academy for a Lieder recital at the Liederhalle in Stuttgart.