Nina Maria Stemme (born Nina Maria Thöldte on 11 May 1963) is a Swedish dramatic soprano opera singer.
Stemme "is regarded by today's opera fans as our era's greatest Wagnerian soprano".[1] In 2010, Michael Kimmelman wrote of one of Stemme's performances in Richard Wagner's opera Die Walküre, "As for Brünnhilde, Nina Stemme sang gloriously. It's hard to recall anyone's sounding more commanding or at ease in the part, and that includes Kirsten Flagstad".[2]
Early life and education
Born in Stockholm, the young Stemme played piano and viola. She attended Adolf Fredrik's Music School (Swedish: Adolf Fredriks Musikklasser), a high-profile song-and-chorus school in Stockholm.[3][4] During a year as an exchange student at Langley High School in McLean, Virginia, she joined the school chorus, sang solos and won awards.[5]
Parallel to her studies of business administration and economics at the University of Stockholm, Stemme followed a two-year course at the Stockholm Operastudio. Her debut as Cherubino in Cortona, Italy, in 1989 made Stemme decide to follow a professional singer's career; her studies at the University College of Opera in Stockholm were completed in 1994. In addition to two minor roles at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm, she also sang Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus), Mimì (La bohème), Euridice in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, and Diana (La fedeltà premiata by Haydn).[4][6]
Her roles[11] include Rosalinde, Mimì in La bohème, Cio-Cio San in Madama Butterfly, Turandot, Tosca, Manon Lescaut, Suor Angelica, Euridice, Katerina in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro, Marguerite, Agathe, Marie, Nyssia (König Kandaules), Jenůfa, Marschallin, Eva, Elisabeth, Elsa, Senta, Sieglinde, Elisabeth in Tannhäuser and Isolde. This last brought her critical acclaim at Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 2003, on disc for EMI Classics with Plácido Domingo, Antonio Pappano and the chorus and orchestra of the Royal Opera, Covent Garden released in 2005 and most recently at the Bayreuth Festival in 2005 and again in 2006. In 2007 Stemme returned in the role of Isolde to Glyndebourne Festival Opera where she made her debut in the role.[12]
In 2006, Stemme sang Maria in the premiere of Sven-David Sandström's Ordet – en passion, on March 24 in Stockholm.[13] She also made her role debut in the title role of Aida in a new production at Zürich Opera[14] and recorded her first album of Richard Strauss's Four Last Songs and final scenes. On the concert platform in 2006–07, she appeared in recital with Antonio Pappano (piano) in Barcelona and Dresden, in concert performances of Salome in Strasbourg and Paris and in recital at the Zürich Opera.[15]
2014: received the ninth annual Opera News Award "paying tribute to five superb artists who have made invaluable contributions to the art form: director Patrice Chéreau, tenor Juan Diego Flórez, mezzo-soprano Christa Ludwig, bass-baritone James Morris and soprano Nina Stemme"[31]
2014: awarded Stockholms Stads Hederspris 2014 (City of Stockholm Honorary Prize 2014)[32]
Victoria and She/soprano in Ingvar Lidholm, A Dream Play (Swedish: Ett drömspel) : opera with prelude and two acts. With Håkan Hagegård. Caprice CAP 22029:1–2. (2 CD)
^Berit Nygren (May 28, 2009). "Stor festival för Adolf Fredrik 70". Sveriges Radio (Swedish Government radio broadcaster). Archived from the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
^ abcdeCollin, Lars (February 18, 2013). "En vanlig stjärna". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved February 1, 2014.
Liese, Kirsten, Wagnerian Heroines. A Century Of Great Isoldes and Brünnhildes, English translation: Charles Scribner, Edition Karo, Berlin, 2013. OCLC844683799
