Nina Stemme

Swedish soprano NINA STEMME found her entrée into opera as a choral singer, and made her solo debut singing Cherubino in Cortona, Italy. After winning First Prize in Plácido Domingo’s Operalia Competition in 1993, she appeared in concert with the renowned tenor in Paris and Munich. The following year she made her Bayreuth Festival debut as Freia in Das Rheingold. Originally singing as a lyric soprano, she gradually built up her dramatic repertoire and went on to appear as Senta in The Flying Dutchman at both the Vienna State Opera and the Metropolitan Opera and as the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier at Zurich Opera. In the spring of 2003 Nina Stemme made her debut in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde at the Glyndebourne Festival. ”I thought my fi rst offer of Isolde was a joke” she commented at the time ”but a seed was planted. I went away and studied the role and realised it would be possible.” This Glyndebourne premiere and the subsequent performances at the Bayreuth Festival, Zurich Opera and Covent Garden in London proved Stemme to be one the leading Isolde’s of the 21st century. Following Isolde came the legendary role of Brünnhilde (Siegfried) which Stemme first performed at the Vienna Staatsoper in 2008 and more recently at the opening of the La Scala season in 2010 (Walküre). She returns to La Scala this autumn to perform Siegfried, appears this summer at the Munich Staatsoper in Götterdämmerung and has meanwhile completed her first Ring Cycle at San Francisco Opera in 2011 and will do the same in Vienna in 2013. Although particularly famed for her Wagnerian roles, Nina Stemme is not one to be stereotyped. Alongside regular performances of roles she has performed extensively throughout her career Stemme continually expands her repertoire. In December 2011 she made her debut in La Fanciulla del West at the Stockholm Opera where she returns in Spring 2013 for her debut as Turandot. In concert this year she made her Carnegie Hall debut singing Salome with the Cleveland Orchestra and appears at the Royal Opera House in London with her mentor and friend, Plácido Domingo. On disc Nina Stemme’s recent releases have included Fidelio with Jonas Kaufmann, the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and Claudio Abbado (Decca); Tristan und Isolde with Placido Domingo, the Royal Opera House orchestra conducted by Antonio Pappano (EMI) and Strauss’ Four Last Songs (EMI). DVD releases of staged performances include La Forza del Destino (Vienna State Opera), Die Meistersinger (Bayreuth Festival), Tristan und Isolde (Glyndebourne Festival), Jenufa (Barcelona), Aida and Der Rosenkavalier (Zurich). This Spring Nina Stemme was bestowed the illustrious title “Österreischische Kammerersängerin” and in 2010 she was awarded the Laurence Olivier Award for her performance in Tristan und Isolde at Covent Garden. She is also a Royal Swedish Court Singer and a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. http://www.artistsman.com/home/artist_list/soprano/nina-stemme/biography/ Community Page created and managed by Hugo De Pril: https://www.facebook.com/operagoer