[6][7] Born in Newark, Delaware, Ciesinski studied opera at Boston University and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Other early roles with the WCO included Marenka in Smetana's The Bartered Bride and Fiordiligi in Mozart's Così fan tutte.
[9] In 1985 she joined the roster of resident artists at Theater Bremen, Germany, where she remained for over a decade as a leading dramatic soprano.
[9] In 1989 Ciesinski made her debut at the English National Opera (ENO) as Ann Maurrant in Kurt Weill’s Street Scene.
[9] In 1988 and 1999 she appeared in San Francisco Opera's production of the Ring cycle as Gerhilde in Die Walküre and the Third Norn and Gutrune in Götterdämmerung.
[9] Her repertoire included Countess Almaviva in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Emilia Marty in Janáček's The Makropulos Affair, Eva in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Judith in Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle, Katerina in Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Leonore in Beethoven's Fidelio, Marguerite in Gounod's Faust, Roxanne in Szymanowski's King Roger, Senta in Wagner's The Flying Dutchman, and the title roles in Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride, Catalani's La Wally, Puccini's Manon Lescaut, and Cherubini's Médée.