Biography

…excellence, as Dorset recently proved with Turandot, in which Opera Dortmund’s Christine Groeneveld (Pugel) was stupendous, returning to deliver an equally magnificent Santuzza...

Roderic Dunnett: Nov/Dec 2009 issue Opera Now

Born in the Netherlands Christine Pugel studied at the Enschede Conservatorium (the Netherlands) and graduated in June 2003 with excellence. She continued her education at the Opera department of the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt in Weimar (Germany) with Venceslava Hruba- Freiberger.

During her studies she participated in masterclasses with Jard van Nes, Julian Pike, Breda Zakotnik, Kevin Smith, Claudia Eder and Claudio Nicolai. She has sung a number of roles as part of her studies, and also with different theaters and orchestres. She performed Dido in "Dido and Aeneas", the Countess in "Le Nozze di Figaro", Donna Elvira in "Don Giovanni" and Agathe in "Der Freischütz". She is to be heard regularly in lieder recitals and concerts with pianists such as Prof. Christoph Ritter, Prof. Wolf Günther Leidel and Marien van Nieukerken.

In 2002 the auditioning commission awarded her a full grant for the "Europäischen Opernakademie Neumarkt". In 2004 she was invited by the Wagner Society to visit the Bayreuth Festival. While there she also participated in the "Internationale Gesangswettbewerb für Wagnerstimmen" and reached the finals.

In 2007 she was invited by Dorset Opera to make her debut in the United Kingdom and sing the lead role in Puccini´s/Berio´s Turandot. Her Turandot was a spectacular success, Opera Now praised her as „a vocal treat“ and as a „moving, yet stately and almost childlike princes“. In 2009 Christine returned to Dorset Opera to perform with great succes “Santuzza” in Mascagni´s Cavalleria Rusticana.

Christine Pugel sings frequently with Opera Classica Europa, where she performed Amneris and Agathe in 2010. Among her engagements is also the Bayreuther Festspiele.

..Hovering above a steeply raked stage, Groeneveld's Turandot, a portly Lady of Shalott, was a vocal treat. The big scena at her second entry was fabulously delivered...

Opera Now Roderic Dunnett