BIOGRAPHY
Swedish soprano Hanna Husáhr studied at Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and continued as a trainee at the Finnish National Opera. With repertoire ranging from Händel and Mozart to Donizetti’s Lucia and Adams’ Pat Nixon she has sung with opera companies and orchestras throughout the world.
Hanna Husáhr’s upcoming engagements include Gilda in Rigoletto and the title role in the first performance of Mats Larsson Gothe’s opera The Promise conducted by Alan Gilbert, both at the Royal Opera in Stockholm, as well as Mozart’s Requiem/Malta Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Lawrence Renes.
Highlights in recent seasons include Ein deutsches Requiem by Brahms/Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra at Pisa Cathedral under the baton of Daniel Harding, First Niece in Peter Grimes/Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra at the Norwegian National Opera and Royal Festival Hall in London conducted by Edward Gardner, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte at the Royal Opera in Stockholm, Mater Gloriosa in Mahler’s Symphony no. 8 at Edinburgh International Festival, Sophie in Werther by Massenet at Bergen National Opera, Woglinde in Das Rheingold at the New Opera in Esbjerg, Céphise in Pygmalion at Drottningholm Court Theatre as well as Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel at the Malmö Opera.
Hanna Husáhr won great acclaim for her portrait of the role of Pat Nixon in John Adams’ Nixon in China at the Royal Opera in Stockholm. She went on tour with Bach’s St John Passion with Les Musiciens du Louvre and sang the role of Xenia in Boris Godunov in concert and recording with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra led by Kent Nagano. Husáhr has previously sung Romilda in Serse at Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro at Drottningholm Court Theatre (Minkowski) as well as Helena in a Midsummer Night's Dream and Zerlina in Don Giovanni, both at Bergen National Opera. She has also sung the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor at the Latvian National Opera and at Opera på Skäret in Sweden. She performed Frasquita in Carmen at Kilden Opera in Kristiansand Norway, Grethe in Peters Bryllup at the Musikfestspiele at Potsdam Sanssouci and The Cunning Little Vixen in Bergen. Husáhr made her operatic debut in 2009 as Leïla in Bizet’s Les pêcheurs de perles at Folkoperan.
Hanna Husáhr is often engaged as a concert singer with repertoire ranging from early baroque to contemporary. She has worked with such leading conductors as Herbert Blomstedt, Edward Gardner, Leif Segerstam, Pinchas Steinberg, Kent Nagano, Lawrence Renes, Stefano Ranzani, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Mikko Franck, Daniel Harding, Jonathan Cohen, Marc Minkowski, Manfred Honeck, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Tobias Ringborg.
A few highlights in Husáhr’s concert repertoire include Nielsen’s Symphony no. 3 (Herbert Blomstedt), Bach’s St John passion (Daniel Harding) and Leino Songs by Kaija Saariaho at the Polar Music Prize ceremony with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra at Stockholm Concert Hall.
Other concert engagements include Händel’s Messiah/Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Haydn’s Paukenmesse (Honeck) and Mater Gloriosa in Mahler’s Symphony no. 8/Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Harding). She has sung Symphony No. 3 by Nielsen at Stockholm Concert Hall, Berwaldhallen and Gothenburg Concert Hall, and Romilda in Serse at Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid, the Royal opera of Versailles and Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow. Husáhr has performed at Bergen International Festival and in 2013 she sang at Berlin Philharmonie in works by Schubert and Kraus with L’arte del mondo.
Hanna Husáhr studied at Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, the Opera School in Gothenburg and Stockholm Opera Studio. She continued as a trainee at the Finnish National Opera singing roles such as Adina in L’elisir d’amore and First Blumenmädchen/Knappe in Parsifal.
Scholarships that Hanna Husáhr has received include the Birgit Nilsson Scholarship (2017), the Håkan Mogren Award (2017) and the Royal Opera Friends Scholarship (2017). She has also been awarded the Drottningholm Scholarship (2016), Christina Nilsson Scholarship (2013) and the Jussi Björling Award (2011). In 2016 Hanna Husáhr won the Mozart Prize in the Wilhelm Stenhammar International Music Competition.