Soloist

Réka Kristóf

Hungarian soprano Réka Kristóf studied singing with Krisztina Laki and Thomas Mohr in Bremen. She completed her master’s degree at the Bavarian Theatre Academy August Everding in Munich with Fenna Kügel-Seifried. She attended masterclasses with Michelle Breedt, Angelika Kirchschlager, Malcom Martineau and Éva Marton, among others. In 2017, she won the Hungarian Radio talent competition »Virtuózok« and in the same year received scholarships from the Richard Wagner Association Bremen e. V. and the German Stage Association. In 2018, she won first prize at the International Anton Rubinstein Competition and was a semi-finalist in the singing competition »Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg«. In 2022, she was awarded the »Harmony« prize, the only musical award given to the Hungarian minority in Slovakia.

Réka Kristóf gained her first stage experience as a student, making her debut as the milliner in »Der Rosenkavalier« and as Charlotte in Krenek’s »Der Diktator« at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. From 2018 to 2021, the soprano was a member of the ensemble at the Theater Trier, where she appeared as Donna Elvira (»Don Giovanni«), Frau Fluth (»Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor«), Mimì (»La bohème«) and the Countess (»Le nozze di Figaro«), among others. She also made guest appearances as Marzelline (»Fidelio«) at the Landestheater Bregenz and as the First Lady (»Die Zauberflöte«) at the St. Margarethen Opera Festival. Working as a freelancer from 2021 to 2025, she appeared as Arminda (»La finta giardiniera«) at the Staatstheater Karlsruhe, the Aalto Theatre Essen, the Landestheater Salzburg and the Staatstheater Mainz, as Zsuzsika (»Hochzeit im Fasching«) and Susanna (»Le nozze di Figaro«) at the Hungarian State Opera in Budapest, as Agathe (»Der Freischütz«) at the Theater Koblenz, as the Countess at the Wuppertal Opera, as Micaëla (»Carmen«) at the State Opera in Banská Bystrica, as Mimì on tour in Japan and as Viclinda (»I Lombardi«, including CD recording) at the Prinzregententheater in Munich. She made her debut at the Gärtnerplatztheater in 2023 as Donna Elvira and returned in 2024 as Micaëla. She has been under contract here as a member of the ensemble since 2025.

As a lieder and concert singer, Réka Kristóf works with leading conductors and orchestras in Hungary and Europe. Her concert repertoire includes the soprano parts in Haydn’s »Die Jahreszeiten« and »Nelson Mass«, Orbán’s, Brahms’ and Mozart’s »Requiem« and Mahler’s Symphony No. 4. A highlight of her career to date was a solo recital at Carnegie Hall in New York in 2018. The soprano also devotes herself to early music. In 2017, for example, she sang the title role of Farnace in Franz Xaver Sterkel’s opera of the same name at the Stadttheater Aschaffenburg with the original sound ensemble Accademia di Monaco. This production was recorded by Bayerischer Rundfunk. With the same ensemble, her debut CD »In furore« was released in 2019, featuring sacred motets by Antonio Vivaldi and George Frideric Handel, which was nominated for the German Record Critics’ Award in the category »Classical Lied / Vocal Recital«.