Birgit Nordin (22 February 1934 – 7 April 2022) was a Swedish operatic

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

. She was a member of the

Royal Swedish Opera Royal Swedish Opera ( sv, Kungliga Operan) is an opera and ballet company based in Stockholm, Sweden. Location and environment The building is located in the center of Sweden's capital Stockholm in the borough of Norrmalm, on the eastern side ...

from 1958 to 1986, and regularly appeared at the Drottningholm Festival where she performed twelve major Mozart roles, including Susanna in '' Le nozze di Figaro'' and Pamina in ''

The Magic Flute ''The Magic Flute'' (German: , ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a ''Singspiel'', a popular form during the time it was written that inclu ...

''. She also performed internationally, appearing in the Edinburgh International Festival, Glyndebourne Festival, Copenhagen and others. She became known as the Queen of the Night in '' Trollflöjten'',

Ingmar Bergman Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film director, screenwriter, Film producer, producer and playwright. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time, his films are known ...

's film adaptation of Mozart's opera.

Life and career

Born in

Sangis Sangis () is a locality situated in Kalix Municipality Kalix Municipality (, ) is a municipality in Norrbotten County in northern Sweden. Its seat is located in Kalix. In 1924 Töre Municipality was detached from Nederkalix Municipality, for ...

Norrbotten Norrbotten (), known in English as North Bothnia, is a Swedish province (''landskap'') in northernmost Sweden. It borders south to Västerbotten, west to Swedish Lapland, and east to Finland. Administration The traditional provinces of Swede ...

, Nordin attended school in

Haparanda Haparanda (; fi, Haaparanta, , aspen shore or bank) is a locality and the seat of Haparanda Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden. It is adjacent to Tornio, Finland. Haparanda had a population of 4,856 in 2010, out of a municipal total of 10,2 ...

. She attended the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

from 1956 to 1958, studying under Britta von Vegesack. Later she trained with

Lina Pagliughi Lina Pagliughi (27 May 1907 – 2 October 1980) was an Italian-American opera singer. Based in Italy for the majority of her career, she made a number of recordings and established herself as one of the world's finest lyric coloratura sopranos of ...

in Italy. Nordin joined the company of the

in Stockholm, where she worked from 1958 to 1986. Her debut was as Oscar in Verdi's ''

Masked Ball A masquerade ball (or ''bal masqué'') is an event in which many participants attend in costume wearing a mask. (Compare the word "masque"—a formal written and sung court pageant.) Less formal "costume parties" may be a descendant of this tra ...

'' on 21 October 1958 and she was part of the company that visited London and the Edinburgh International Festival in 1960. Starting in 1960, she regularly appeared at the Drottningholm Festival where she performed twelve major Mozart roles, including Susanna in '' Le nozze di Figaro'' and Pamina in ''

''. In 1968, she participated in the world premiere of Franz Berwald's '' Drottningen av Golconda'', with Elisabeth Söderström in the title role. Abroad, Nordin appeared at the 1968 Glyndebourne Festival as Blonde in Mozart's '' Die Entführung aus dem Serail''. She performed the role of Jenny Smith in '' Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny'' in Copenhagen in 1970, and appeared on Danish television as '' Lulu'', also singing in Bach's

St Matthew Passion The ''St Matthew Passion'' (german: Matthäus-Passion, links=-no), BWV 244, is a '' Passion'', a sacred oratorio written by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1727 for solo voices, double choir and double orchestra, with libretto by Picander. It sets ...

in Berlin that year. Other roles included Gilda in Verdi's '' Rigoletto'', Rosina in Rossini's '' Il barbiere di Siviglia'' and Mélisande in Debussy's '' Pelléas et Mélisande''. Nordin held the Christina Nilsson Fellowship twice, and was appointed a Hovsångerska (court singer) in 1973. She appeared in the 1975 film ''Trollflöjten'', Mozart's opera film adaption of Mozart's opera sung in Swedish, directed by

as the Queen of the Night. After retiring from the stage, Nordin undertook some teaching and stage direction.

Private life

Since 1977, Nordin was married to the Swedish bass–baritone (1939–2007). She died on 7 April 2022 at age 88.

Recordings

* * * * * *

Compilations

* * *

Video

References

External links

* archived on 2013-06-10 * *
Birgit Nordin
(recordings) muziekweb.nl {{DEFAULTSORT:Nordin, Birgit 1934 births 2022 deaths Swedish operatic sopranos People from Kalix Municipality Royal College of Music, Stockholm alumni 20th-century Swedish women opera singers