Kristian Fredrikson
Encyclopedia
Kristian Fredrikson was a New Zealand
-born Australia
n stage and costume designer working in ballet, opera and other performing arts. His work was acclaimed for its sumptuous, jewel-like quality, and a sensuous level of detail.
Fredrikson was born in Wellington
as Kristian Adrian Sams, the son of Fredrik Sams, a Danish merchant seaman. His mother, an Englishwoman, was born Iris Pointon. He began his career as a newspaper critic and journalist before studying art. His first stage design was for The Wintergarden in 1963. He had a long association with the Royal New Zealand Ballet
, the Australian Ballet and Opera Australia
. He designed operas including Lucrezia Borgia
for productions starring Dame Joan Sutherland
. He also worked on the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics
opening ceremony.
In 2005 he realised a long-held ambition to design all three of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
's ballets. He designed The Nutcracker
for the Royal New Zealand Ballet, Swan Lake
for the Houston Ballet, and The Sleeping Beauty for the Australian Ballet. This last work was the Australian Ballet's largest ever production, requiring 300 costumes and four major sets, and was still touring at the time of Fredrikson's death.
Once a heavy smoker, Fredrikson's lungs were weakened by emphysema
. He died of lung failure, at about age 65, following complications from pneumonia
.
His aesthetic sense was cultivated at school by two nuns. The mother superior gave him, he said, a "sexy, sensual, erotic, decadent book about the pleasure of the flesh, the pleasure of colour, of jewels, of life. She gave it all to me and said 'You can read that, but don't tell anyone."
Fredrikson said his art work had "grown out of my most private sexual being. Translated, I suppose that means that's how I ran into Tchaikovsky
." His deep love for the music of Tchaikovsky coloured his life. Dame Peggy van Praagh
, who commissioned his first design for the Australian Ballet, told him he had to spend a weekend with an older male designer who lived in Sydney's Blue Mountains. Fredrikson said she told him: "The first thing is, he'll throw you on the carpet and rape you." He did, and Fredrikson believed it was "all part of the deal. It seemed to be like part of the Mephistophelean code. That's what you do."
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
-born Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n stage and costume designer working in ballet, opera and other performing arts. His work was acclaimed for its sumptuous, jewel-like quality, and a sensuous level of detail.
Fredrikson was born in Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
as Kristian Adrian Sams, the son of Fredrik Sams, a Danish merchant seaman. His mother, an Englishwoman, was born Iris Pointon. He began his career as a newspaper critic and journalist before studying art. His first stage design was for The Wintergarden in 1963. He had a long association with the Royal New Zealand Ballet
Royal New Zealand Ballet
The Royal New Zealand Ballet is based in Wellington, New Zealand.The Royal New Zealand Ballet is a company of 32 dynamic dancers, performing an eclectic repertoire of outstanding dance, for national and international audiences, whilst continuing to build a style that is ultimately unique to the...
, the Australian Ballet and Opera Australia
Opera Australia
Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder of its time spent in the The Arts Centre in Melbourne...
. He designed operas including Lucrezia Borgia
Lucrezia Borgia
Lucrezia Borgia [luˈkrɛtsia ˈbɔrʤa] was the illegitimate daughter of Rodrigo Borgia, the powerful Renaissance Valencian who later became Pope Alexander VI, and Vannozza dei Cattanei. Her brothers included Cesare Borgia, Giovanni Borgia, and Gioffre Borgia...
for productions starring Dame Joan Sutherland
Joan Sutherland
Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, OM, AC, DBE was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano noted for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s....
. He also worked on the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics
2000 Summer Olympics
The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
opening ceremony.
In 2005 he realised a long-held ambition to design all three of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
's ballets. He designed The Nutcracker
The Nutcracker
The Nutcracker is a two-act ballet, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto is adapted from E.T.A. Hoffmann's story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King". It was given its première at the Mariinsky Theatre in St...
for the Royal New Zealand Ballet, Swan Lake
Swan Lake
Swan Lake ballet, op. 20, by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, composed 1875–1876. The scenario, initially in four acts, was fashioned from Russian folk tales and tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's curse. The choreographer of the original production was Julius Reisinger...
for the Houston Ballet, and The Sleeping Beauty for the Australian Ballet. This last work was the Australian Ballet's largest ever production, requiring 300 costumes and four major sets, and was still touring at the time of Fredrikson's death.
Once a heavy smoker, Fredrikson's lungs were weakened by emphysema
Emphysema
Emphysema is a long-term, progressive disease of the lungs that primarily causes shortness of breath. In people with emphysema, the tissues necessary to support the physical shape and function of the lungs are destroyed. It is included in a group of diseases called chronic obstructive pulmonary...
. He died of lung failure, at about age 65, following complications from pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
.
Personality
An intensely private, solitary figure, Fredrickson spent the last years living alone in a small dark flat in Kings Cross, Sydney. He felt he had been a 'goth' long before they were fashionable. As a child, he and his mother had been physically attacked in Christchurch for being Catholic in a Protestant area, and the experience had contributed to his feelings of alienation from mainstream society.His aesthetic sense was cultivated at school by two nuns. The mother superior gave him, he said, a "sexy, sensual, erotic, decadent book about the pleasure of the flesh, the pleasure of colour, of jewels, of life. She gave it all to me and said 'You can read that, but don't tell anyone."
Fredrikson said his art work had "grown out of my most private sexual being. Translated, I suppose that means that's how I ran into Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
." His deep love for the music of Tchaikovsky coloured his life. Dame Peggy van Praagh
Peggy van Praagh
Dame Margaret "Peggy" van Praagh, DBE had a long and distinguished career in ballet as a dancer, choreographer, teacher, producer, advocate and director.-Dancing:...
, who commissioned his first design for the Australian Ballet, told him he had to spend a weekend with an older male designer who lived in Sydney's Blue Mountains. Fredrikson said she told him: "The first thing is, he'll throw you on the carpet and rape you." He did, and Fredrikson believed it was "all part of the deal. It seemed to be like part of the Mephistophelean code. That's what you do."
External links
- Kristian Fredrikson is strongly represented in the Performing Arts CollectionPerforming Arts CollectionThe Performing Arts Collection at the Arts Centre, Melbourne is the largest specialist performing arts collection in Australia, with over 450,000 items relating to the history of circus, dance, music, opera and theatre in Australia and of Australian performers overseas.- Highlights of the...
at Arts Centre, MelbourneMelbourneMelbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, with an extensive collection of costume designs, constumes, scrapbook and sketchbooks. - Australia Dancing biography for Kristian Fredrikson
- Rosalie Higson. The stage mourns a shy genius, The Australian, November 12, 2005
- Jo Roberts. Australia loses theatrical luminary, The Age, November 12, 2005
- Opera~Opera Tribute