Christine Rice was born and educated in Manchester. She read physics at Balliol College, Oxford before entering the Royal Northern College of Music to study with Robert Alderson. Here she was a Peter Moores Foundation scholar, and the Foundation also funded a trip to Italy to study the roles of Rosina and Leoncavallo’s Musetta. Her operatic roles at the RNCM included a highly acclaimed Charlotte (Werther) and Lucretia (The Rape of Lucretia). She subsequently made her debuts at the Glyndebourne Festival as Girl’s Mother (Lulu), at English National Opera as Hermia (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and at The Royal Opera as Suzy / Lolette (La Rondine) and Flora (La traviata). She sang Polinesso (Ariodante) with the Early Opera Company at the Covent Garden Festival and Giacinta (La finta semplice) at the Buxton Opera Festival. As a Company Principal at English National Opera her roles have included Olga (Eugene Onegin), Suzuki (Madam Butterfly), Marta (Mephistopheles), Maddalena (Rigoletto), Messenger (Orfeo), Bradamante (Alcina, conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras), Musetta (Leoncavallo’s La bohème) and Rosina (The Barber of Seville). Christine Rice’s concert appearances include Messiah, Mozart’s Krönungsmesse, Vivaldi’s Gloria, The Dream of Gerontius, Melanto in Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, and Mrs Noah (Noye’s Flood). Recordings include Elgar’s Sea Pictures, Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’été, Guilhen in Vincent d’Indy’s Fervaal under Jean-Yves Ossonce, and a series of English song recitals with Iain Burnside for Radio 3.