Cristina Deutekom

Cristina Deutekom, also known as Christine Deutekom and Christina Deutekom (28 August 1931 as Stientje Engel – 7 August 2014, Amsterdam), was a Dutch coloratura soprano opera singer.

She sang with many of the leading tenors of her time, including Carlo Bergonzi, José Carreras, Franco Corelli, Plácido Domingo, Nicolai Gedda, Alfredo Kraus, Luciano Pavarotti, and Richard Tucker.

Deutekom was born in 1931 in Amsterdam as Stientje Engel.

In 1963 she made her debut with the Netherlands Opera as Queen of the Night in Mozart's The Magic Flute. After some lesser roles with the company, she contemplated giving up singing altogether, since her career did not seem to progress.

During a performance of Der Rosenkavalier in Spain – in which she was singing the small role of 'Marianne Leitmetzerin' – Christine was overheard warming up in her dressing room by Elisabeth Schwarzkopf – who was singing the 'Marschallin' in that night's performance – with the difficult 'Queen of the Night' aria. Story has it that Schwarzkopf opened the door and asked: "Child, do you know what you are singing there?" and was shocked to hear that she was not performing this role all over the world. "I do not think much of any impresario, that does not recognize such talent", she said and introduced her to her own manager, Rudi Rothenberg.She then went on to conquer the major opera houses in succession with the 'Queen of the Night'. After her performance at the ROH Covent Garden the authoritative "Opera"-magazine reviewed her performance, saying: "Except for Maria Callas in her prime, we have hardly heard anything of equal quality here before". In 1968 she took to the Metropolitan Opera, New York and was acclaimed by the New York Times to be "the greatest Queen of the Night of our time".In 1974 she opened the Met season as Elena in I vespri siciliani alongside Plácido Domingo.