Since her critically acclaimed operatic debut in 2004 in the role of Turandot at the Malmö Opera, Swedish-American soprano Erika Sunnegårdh has been establishing herself not only as one of the most versatile and exciting sopranos on the world stage, but also earning a reputation for her fearless and emotionally nuanced characterizations, and her intelligent and consummate musicianship.!
Ms. Sunnegårdh has been particularly successful singing music of Strauss, Beethoven and Puccini, performing the roles of Chrysotemis at the Grand Teâtre Genève; Salome with the Bayerische Staatsoper, Teatro Communale di Bologna, Welsh National Opera, the Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona, the New International Theatre in Tokyo, and with Florentine Opera in Milwaukee; Leonore in Fidelio at Oper Frankfurt, the Metropolitan Opera, Oper Köln and the Florentine Opera; Tosca at the Oper Frankfurt, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Royal Stockholm Opera, Oper Köln and Nashville Opera; and Turandot with the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Metropolitan Opera, and in Sweden at the Malmö Opera and Norrlandsoperan using the Berio-ending.
Other notable interpretations include Senta in Der Fliegende Holländer with Oper Köln and Atlanta Opera; and Jenufa by Janacek, and Paulina in the world premiere of Jonas Forssell’s Death and the Maiden in Malmö. In Wagner’s Die Walküre, Ms. Sunnegårdh has sung Helmwige (Aix-en-Provence/Salzburg) and Gerhilde (Met Tour/Japan), as well as Isabella in Das Liebesverbot with the Münchener Rundfunk.In concert she has performed with the Berlin Philharmonic, Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig, the RAI Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonic, Danish Philharmonic, Gothenburg Symphony, Malmö Symphony, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, Milwaukee Symphony, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Symphony, and the percussion ensemble Kroumata; singing repertore incuding the Verdi Requiem, Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, Rossini Stabat Mater, Zemlinsky’s Lyric Symphony and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, as well as opera in concert and newly commissioned works.
Erika has had the pleasure and privilege of working with Marco Armiliato, Giordano Bellincampi, Semyon Bychkov, Paolo Carignani, Riccardo Chailly, Myung Wun Chung, James Conlon, Andreas Delfs, Gustavo Dudamel, Christoff Eschenbach, Adam Fischer, Hartmut Haenchen, Lothar Koenigs, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Fabio Luisi, Nicola Luisotti, Alan Gilbert, Gianandrea Noseda, Kirill Petrenko, Sir Simon Rattle, Stefan Soltesz, Thomas Søndergaard, Mario Venzago and Steven White.
During her education she attended the Israel Vocal Arts Institute, Tanglewood Music Center, the Britten-Pears School for Advanced Musical Studies, The International Institute of Vocal Arts, as well as the undergraduate program at the Manhattan School of Music; all on scholarship.
In 1999 Erika completed her Master of Arts degree at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College after two profoundly inspiring and healing years there – an experience to which she credits much of her present success.
During her education, Ms. Sunnegårdh was a recipient of the annual Cultural Award of the American Scandinavian Society, for the promotion of Scandinavian Culture in the United States. She also founded In time with Music, a community outreach program which benefited hundreds of public school children in Queens, New York.