__NOTOC__ Erika Sunnegårdh (born March 11, 1966) is a Swedish

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

tic

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical 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 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

. She lived for many years in New York, where she made a much reported debut at the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...

in 2006.

Early life and education

Erika Sunnegårdh was born in

Danderyd Danderyd Municipality (; ) is a municipality north of Stockholm in Stockholm County in east central Sweden. It is one of the smallest municipalities of Sweden, but the most affluent. Its seat is located in Djursholm and it is located within Sto ...

in Stockholm County. Her parents were both prominent voice teachers: her father, Arne Sunnegårdh, worked with

Birgit Nilsson Märta Birgit Nilsson (17 May 1918 – 25 December 2005) was a Swedish dramatic soprano. Although she sang a wide repertoire of operatic and vocal works, Nilsson was best known for her performances in the operas of Richard Wagner and Richard St ...

and

Jussi Björling Johan Jonatan "Jussi" Björling ( , ; 5 February 19119 September 1960) was a Swedish tenor. One of the leading operatic singers of the 20th century, Björling appeared for many years at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City and less frequentl ...

and was chorus master at the

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

Ole Rothenborg
"Rösten som bara växte och växte"
''

Dagens Nyheter (, ), abbreviated ''DN'', is a daily newspaper in Sweden. It is published in Stockholm and aspires to full national and international coverage, and is widely considered Sweden's newspaper of record A newspaper of record is a major nationa ...

'', September 11, 2004 and a professor at the

Stockholm Conservatory The Royal College of Music, Stockholm () is the oldest institution of higher education in music in Sweden, founded in 1771 as the conservatory of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. The institution was made independent of the Academy in 1971, and ...

, and her mother, Margareta Backer-Sunnegårdh, was a

coloratura soprano A coloratura soprano () is a type of operatic soprano voice that specializes in music that is distinguished by agile run (music), runs, leaps and Trill (music), trills. The term ''coloratura'' refers to the elaborate ornamentation of a melody, whi ...

.Clas Barkman
"Sopranen som misstror det perfekta"
''Dagens Nyheter'', July 16, 2006 Her half-brother Thomas Sunnegårdh is a tenor. As a student in Sweden Erika Sunnegårdh attended

Adolf Fredrik's Music School Adolf Fredrik's Music School () is a general municipal junior high school () in Stockholm, Sweden with a focus on choral music, and highly competitive admission based on audition in singing and musical ability. The school has two campuses and thr ...

in Stockholm. She lived in the U.S. for 23 years starting in 1985;Marcus Boldemann
"Skönsång"
''Dagens Nyheter'', February 7, 2007 she moved there at 19 to dance, graduated from the

Manhattan School of Music The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private music conservatory A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music a ...

in 1992 and earned an M.A. from the

Aaron Copland School of Music The Aaron Copland School of Music is one of the oldest departments at Queens College at the City University of New York, founded when the College opened in 1937. The department's curriculum was originally established by Edwin Stringham, and a la ...

Queens College Queens College (QC) is a public college in the New York City borough of Queens. Part of the City University of New York system, Queens College occupies an campus primarily located in Flushing. Queens College was established in 1937 and offe ...

, and worked as a waitress, caterer and tour guide in New York, singing at recitals and as a

cantor A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. Cantor as a profession generally refers to those leading a Jewish congregation, although it also applies to the lead singer or choir director in Christian contexts. ...

.Daniel J. Wakin
"Stepping Onstage as a Waitress, She May Exit the Met as a Star"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', April 1, 2006.

Career

Sunnegårdh made her operatic debut in September 2004 at the

Malmö Opera Malmö Opera () is an opera house in Malmö, Sweden. An opera company of the same name presents seasons of opera in this house. Built 1933-1944 by architect Sigurd Lewerentz and, until 1992, known as the Malmö City Theatre accommodating sever ...

in Puccini's ''

Turandot ''Turandot'' ( ; see #Origin and pronunciation of the name, below) is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. Puccini left the opera unfinished at the time of his death in 1924; it ...

''. She subsequently sang ''Turandot'' again in Sweden, gave orchestral concerts there, and performed the title role in Beethoven's ''

Fidelio ''Fidelio'' (; ), originally titled ' (''Leonore, or The Triumph of Marital Love''), Opus number, Op. 72, is the sole opera by German composer Ludwig van Beethoven. The libretto was originally prepared by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of ...

'' with the Florentine Opera in Milwaukee. Having already signed a contract with the

in May 2004, she made her debut there at short notice at a Saturday matinee on April 1, 2006, singing the title role in ''Fidelio'' as a substitute for

Karita Mattila Karita Marjatta Mattila (born 5 September 1960) is a Finnish operatic soprano. Mattila appears regularly in the major opera houses worldwide, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House in London, Théâtre du Châtelet, Opéra Bastil ...

. The performance was broadcast in the live

Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts The Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts are a regular series of weekly broadcasts on network radio of full-length opera performances. They are transmitted live from the stage (theatre), stage of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. The Me ...

series,

Anthony Tommasini Anthony Carl Tommasini (born April 14, 1948) is an American music critic and author who specializes in classical music. Described as "a discerning critic, whose taste, knowledge and judgment have made him a must-read", Tommasini was the chief c ...

"Pressure Abounds as Determined Soprano Makes Debut"
''The New York Times'', April 2, 2006, revised April 9, 2006. and she appeared on

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's ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * The current day and calendar date ** Today is between and , subject to the local time zone * Now, the time that is perceived directly, present * The current, present era Arts, entertainment and m ...

'' show the following morning.Lennart Pehrson
"Sopranen från ingenstans"
''Dagens Nyheter'', April 2, 2006 She was also understudy for Elsa in Wagner's ''

Lohengrin Lohengrin () is a character in German Arthurian literature. The son of Parzival (Percival), he is a knight of the Holy Grail sent in a boat pulled by swans to rescue a maiden who can never ask his identity. His story, which first appears in Wo ...

'' that season and was engaged to sing in the ''Ring'' cycle that season, in Mozart's ''

The Magic Flute ''The Magic Flute'' (, ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. It is a ''Singspiel'', a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue. The work premiered on ...

'' the following season, and then in spring 2007 as joint lead in ''Turandot'' and again in ''Fidelio''. In the event she first sang ''Turandot'' there a few weeks in advance of her first scheduled appearance, stepping in for Andrea Gruber.

Bernard Holland Bernard Peabody Holland, III (born 1933) is an American music critic. He served on the staff of ''The New York Times'' from 1981 until 2008 and held the post of chief music critic from 1995, contributing 4,575 articles to the newspaper. He then b ...

"A Substitute No More, a Soprano Gets Her Own Spotlight"
''The New York Times'', April 24, 2007. In Europe, Sunnegårdh sang ''Turandot'' at the

Deutsche Oper The Deutsche Oper Berlin is a German opera company located in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin. The resident building is the country's second largest opera house (after Munich's) and also home to the Berlin State Ballet. Since 2004, the ...

in Berlin in January–March 2012, and has performed several times in the title roles in Puccini's ''

Tosca ''Tosca'' is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1 ...

'', including as a replacement at the Royal Swedish Opera, and R. Strauss' ''

Salome Salome (; , related to , "peace"; ), also known as Salome III, was a Jews, Jewish princess, the daughter of Herod II and princess Herodias. She was granddaughter of Herod the Great and stepdaughter of Herod Antipas. She is known from the New T ...

'', as

Lady Macbeth Lady Macbeth is a leading character in William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Macbeth'' (). As the wife of the play's tragic hero, Macbeth (a Scottish nobleman), Lady Macbeth goads her husband into committing regicide, after which she becomes quee ...

, including at

Glyndebourne Glyndebourne () is an English country house, the site of an opera house that, since 1934, has been the venue for the annual Glyndebourne Festival Opera. The house, located near Lewes in East Sussex, England, is thought to be about six hundre ...

,George Hall
"Macbeth: Glyndebourne, Sussex"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', July 15, 2010. and at the Malmö Opera in the title role in Janáček's ''

Jenůfa ''Její pastorkyňa'' (''Her Stepdaughter''; commonly known as ''Jenůfa'' ) is an opera in three acts by Leoš Janáček to a Czech libretto by the composer, based on the Play (theatre), play ''Její pastorkyňa'' by Gabriela Preissová. It was ...

''. She made her singing debut in her hometown of Stockholm as Turandot at the Royal Swedish Opera in autumn 2013. She has also continued to give concert recitals, including of contemporary music such as

Carl Unander-Scharin Carl Unander-Scharin (born 1964) is a Swedish opera singer, composer, professor, and researcher. Early years He was born in Stockholm in 1964 and studied at the Royal College of Music and at the University College of Opera, Stockholm, where he ...

's ''The world as I see it'', to texts by

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...

, with the percussion ensemble Kroumata. In summer 2006 Sunnegårdh was a host on the P1 '' Sommar'' program. In the fall of 2013 Sunnegårdh

crowdfunded Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance, to fund projects "without standard financial ...

her debut solo album with the

Malmö Symphony Orchestra The Malmö Symphony Orchestra () is a Swedish orchestra, based in Malmö. Since 2015, it has been resident at the Malmö Live Concert Hall. The orchestra has a complement of 94 musicians. History The orchestra was founded in 1925 with Walther ...

directed by

Will Humburg Will Humburg (born 1957) is a German conductor. He was born in Hamburg, and studied there with Horst Stein and Christoph von Dohnányi. After appointments at the Theater Bremen and Theater Hagen and guest appearances in Italy he was appointed dire ...

Critical assessments

Sunnegårdh has a powerful voice that she has described as "like a wild horse"; coaching from her mother was important in enabling her to gain control of it. Her first appearance at the Metropolitan Opera was greeted warmly by the audience and most of the press, although writing for ''

'',

found her hesitant, especially in Act One. The following year,

wrote of her first scheduled appearance in ''Turandot'' that she "should be pleased with herself" and that " e is the rare Turandot who both sings like an object of hopeless desire and looks like one".

Personal life

Since 2011 Sunnegårdh has lived in Vienna, also the home of her voice teacher Glenys Linos, a retired Greek mezzo-soprano."Brunch for Erika Sunnegardh"
''

Nordstjernan Nordstjernan () is a Swedish investment company. Nordstjernan is a fourth-generation family company controlled by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation. The origin is the shipping company Nordstjernan, which was founded in 1890. Hist ...

'', July 18, 2011 In 1999 she founded ''In time with Music'', a community outreach program benefiting school children in

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

, New York."Erika Sunnegårdh"
, Oper Frankfurt artist portrait season 2013/2014, retrieved December 22, 2013.

Discography

* Mahler, ''Symphony 8'', conducted by

Riccardo Chailly Riccardo Chailly (, ; born 20 February 1953) is an Italian conductor. He is currently music director of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and of La Scala. Prior to this, he held chief conducting positions at the Gewandhausorchester (2005–20 ...

. DVD. 2011, Accentus Music. * ''Who might sing in all the muted woods?'' Erika Sunnegårdh sings songs created by Joel Mandelbaum. 2002. Capstone. * Title role in Leoš Janáček's '' Jenufa''. Malmö Opera. Dir. Marko Ivanovic. DVD. Arthaus 101665. * Helmwige in Richard Wagner's ''

Die Walküre (; ''The Valkyrie''), Wagner-Werk-Verzeichnis, WWV 86B, is the second of the four epic poetry, epic music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's Literary cycle, cycle ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (English: ''The Ring of the Nibelung''). It was ...

''. Festival d'

Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence, or simply Aix, is a List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, city and Communes of France, commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. A former capital of Provence, it is the Subprefectures in France, s ...

Grand Théâtre de Provence The Grand Théâtre de Provence (GTP) is a venue located in the new Aix-en-Provence in district "Sextius Mirabeau". A symbol of the Aix region was used for the design of the volumes of this room: the Montagne Sainte-Victoire, recalled in particul ...

. conducted by

Simon Rattle Sir Simon Denis Rattle (born 19 January 1955) is a British conductor with German citizenship. He rose to international prominence during the 1980s and 1990s, while music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (1980–1998). Rat ...

. 2007. DVD. BelAirClassiques BAC034. * Excerpts from ''

'', ''

Tannhäuser Tannhäuser (; ), often stylized "The Tannhäuser", was a German Minnesinger and traveling poet. Historically, his biography, including the dates he lived, is obscure beyond the poetry, which suggests he lived between 1245 and 1265. His name ...

'', ''

Der fliegende Holländer ' (''The Flying Dutchman''), Wagner-Werk-Verzeichnis, WWV 63, is a German-language opera, with libretto and music by Richard Wagner. The central theme is redemption through love. Wagner Conducting, conducted the premiere at the Königliches Hofthe ...

'' and ''

''; Strauss’s ''

Four Last Songs The ''Four Last Songs'' (), Op. posth., for soprano and orchestra were composed in 1948 when Strauss was 84. They are – with the exception of the song "Malven" (Mallows), composed later the same year – the final completed works of Richard ...

'', with the Malmö Symphony Orchestra conducted by Will Humburg.

References

External links

*
Erika Sunnegårdh

Operabase Operabase is an online global database for audiences and professionals. It lists details on opera performances, opera houses and companies, and performers as well as their agents. It was founded in 1996 by English software engineer and opera love ...

Sources

* Ulrika Junker Miranda (ed.). ''Bonniers uppslagsbok''. Stockholm: Bonniers, 2007. . p. 965. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sunnegardh, Erika Living people 1966 births Singers from Stockholm Swedish operatic sopranos Swedish expatriates in the United States Manhattan School of Music alumni Queens College, City University of New York alumni Swedish expatriates in Austria Singers from New York City 20th-century American women opera singers 21st-century American women opera singers 20th-century Swedish women opera singers