Biography
Praised by the Leipziger Volkszeitung for her lush sound and powerful expression, soprano Christine Moore Vassallo is a versatile performer with equal command in opera, recital, and contemporary music. The Sacramento, California native counts among her many opera roles Mimi in La Bohème, the title role Madama Butterfly, Alice Ford in Falstaff, Micäela in Carmen, the title role in Suor Angelica, Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro, Judith in Bluebeard's Castle, Leonora in Il Trovatore (described as "velvety and luscious" by SongWordSight Magazine), the title roles in Aida and Ariadne auf Naxos with such companies as the Leipzig Opera, Central City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Chautauqua Institute, Utopia Opera, Create Opera, the Aldeburgh Summer Festival, Sacramento Opera, the Amato Opera and Lyric Artists of New York. She was a regional finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and First Prize winner of the Sacramento Opera Competition. Oratorio performances include Barber's Knoxville-Summer of 1915, Handel's Messiah, Beethoven's 9th Symphony, Rossini's Stabat Mater, Mendelssohn's Elijah, and the Verdi Requiem with the New York Choral Society and Orchestra Amadeus. In 2013 she made her Italy debut at the Narnia Music Festival in a concert celebrating the 200th birthday of Verdi. That same year she curated and performed in the first ever concert of Arab composers, entitled "Nearer to East: Chamber Music from the Arab World" at the Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center, which concert was lauded by the Library as one of the outstanding of the year.
Christine speaks five languages and sings in ten, and has given numerous solo recitals featuring works of all genres of repertoire and languages, including in Granada and Madrid with Festival de Canción Española, Trinity Concert Series in New York, the Library at Lincoln Center, Merkin Concert Hall, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and the Old Stone House, Brooklyn. She made her UK debut in 2005 at the Paxton Chamber Music Festival in Scotland with Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire (praised by the Glasgow Herald) and has performed many new works by living composers, including the premiere at Merkin Hall NYC of Richard Thompson's song cycle The Shadow of Dawn as well as the NYC premiere of his opera The Mask in the Mirror, Andrew Rudin's Masha's Arias, and works by Michael Rose, Kareem Roustom, Halim El-Dabh, Richard Cameron-Wolfe, Steve Gerber and Zaid Jabri with the Brooklyn New Music Collective. In 2008 she performed the world premiere of Mohammed Fairouz's Tahwidah written for her and clarinetist Kinan Azmeh. Radio appearances include WNYE and WBAI (New York City) and KRZA (New Mexico). In 2006 she released her first recording, Christine Moore - Arias with the Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra (Musical Concepts). In 2016 she founded the singers collective Lyric Artists of New York, producing operas and concerts in the New York area. In addition to performing, she leads an active teaching schedule with a private studio and has been a summer Teaching Artist at the Lunigiana International Music Festival and American Voices' YES Academy since 2018. In 2023 she made her Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall debut, and 2024 saw the release of her new CD, From Al-Andalus to the Americas - An Odyssey of Spanish Song on Meridian Records. She is currently collaborating on a project with composer and pianist Patricio Molina set to premiere in 2025 of his songs set to Arab women poets of the Andalus period.