Born at Hofheim im Taunus, the soprano Ruth Ziesak studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt with Elsa Cavelti and began her professional career in 1988 as a member of the Stadtstheater Heidelberg. She then spent the 1990/91 season as a member of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, going on to win several international prizes, including first prize (Lied) at the famous ’s-Hertogenbosch competition. She rose immediately to international prominence by singing Pamina with Sir Georg Solti at the 1991 Salzburg Festival and was subsequently launched on a career that now encompasses opera, concert, recital and recording engagements at the highest international level.
Between 1992 and 1995 as Pamina, Ruth Ziesak made her débuts at La Scala, the Bayerische Staatsoper, Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, Semper Oper in Dresden, Stuttgart Opera, at the Teatro Comunale, Florence and at the Vienna State Opera. In 1993 she made her Paris début at the Bastille as Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro and at the Hamburg State Opera as Baronin in Lortzing’s Der Wildschütz and it was the 1996/97 season which brought her impressive Covent Garden début as Ighino in Pfitzner’s Palestrina, conducted by Christian Thielemann and presented in the same season at the Metropolitan Opera.
Ruth Ziesak enjoys a busy concert schedule working regularly with orchestras in Paris, Milan, Vienna, Munich, Leipzig, Amsterdam and London. She has appeared at the Salzburg, Berlin, Luzern, Schleswig-Holstein, BBC Proms and Frankfurt Festivals and performed as far afield as Japan. As a recitalist she made her highly successful début at the Konzerthaus in Vienna in 1991 and has continued to sing regularly in major capitals and festivals. She has sung under conductors including Herbert Blomstedt, Daniele Gatti, Riccardo Muti, Kent Nagano, Riccardo Chailly, Heinz Holliger, Jun Märkl and Lothar Zagrosek and appears in song recitals throughout the world with Ulrich Eisenlohr and Gerold Huber. Her distinguished recordings include major operatic rôles, concert arias and Lieder.