Ziese was born in
Aschersleben. Her teachers were the pedagogues Gottlieb Zeithammer and Josef-Maria Hausschild in
Leipzig. In 1949, she won the
International Concours of Prague and in 1950, the third prize at the
International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition in
Leipzig. She made her stage debut in 1947 at the
Leipzig Opera as Hänsel in the opera
Hänsel und Gretel and was then a member of this Opera house until 1951 and again from 1954 to 1977, but at the same time gave guest performances at the
Berlin State Opera and Dresden as well as at the
Komische Oper Berlin. In 1952-1954, she was engaged at the
National Theatre in Weimar. Guest performances at the
Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, at the
Deutsche Oper am Rhein, the Düsseldorf-Duisburg, at the opera houses of Hamburg, Hanover, Zurich, Brno and Nice followed. Her large, expressive soprano voice achieved its best performances in the highly dramatic
repertoire. She sang among others the part of Leonore in
Fidelio, Santuzza in
Cavalleria rusticana,
Salome,
Aida,
Tosca,
Carmen,
Turandot by Puccini, Senta in
the Flying Dutchman,
Isolde, Venus in
Tannhäuser. She was awarded the title of
Kammersängerin. After finishing her stage career in 1977, she devoted herself especially to the training of young singers. ==Death==