A Swedish woman born from the mana of lyrical voices

The astonishing level maintained by the lyrical voices that emerged in Sweden does not have a specific explanation.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
23 August 2022 Tuesday 02:54
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A Swedish woman born from the mana of lyrical voices

The astonishing level maintained by the lyrical voices that emerged in Sweden does not have a specific explanation. Is there a great school of Birgit Nilsson that endures over time? Is it due to language ability, a larger chest dimension and lung resistance... or rather to a policy that gives priority in castings to local or Scandinavian singers?

The last prescription of the Schubertíada is precisely a young Swedish soprano who, after training at the University of Vienna and in the ensemble of the Opera of the same capital -granted by the Nilsson Foundation-, has decided at the age of 29 to return to his land, where he now begins an artistic residency at the Swedish Radio Orchestra. In fact, she has already been Zerlina in Don Giovanni under the baton of the main director of this formation, the British Daniel Harding.

Her will is to establish her base there, but her career as a lyrical soprano has only taken off. Her attractive, intelligent and detailed singing makes her an interesting playwright, a facet in which she – as she explains – finds that intimacy that allows her to grow humanly and artistically and pour what she has learned into the theatrical of the opera. And vice versa.

His debut today in Vilabertran, together with the pianist Malcolm Martineau, has raised expectations: he will sing Schubert, Debussy, Mahler, Grieg and something by his friend, the 19th century Norwegian composer and pianist Agathe Backer Grøndahl. A program chosen by Wallroth herself... "It's a mix of composers, but to a greater or lesser extent they evoke childhood and young love," she says in a telephone conversation.

Her mother was a singer in the choir of the Swedish Opera – “in my childhood I thought that all mothers were” – and she did not want to dedicate herself to the same thing, she was more fascinated by dancing. She, yes, she sang in the choir and played the piano, although she didn't start classical voice until she was 18. Why did she leave dance? “Dancing was harder, and she was never top of the class. So I thought that if she continued she would never be a solo artist and I would have felt frustrated following the group. I'm glad I chose singing."

Regarding the explosion of voices in Sweden, Wallroth believes that “our musical education is not right now to launch rockets. Little money is invested, which is why I went to study in Vienna", he points out. "But maybe it has to do with our language: it is quite melodic, it has a lot of phrasing, and it goes up and down which is good for singing” .

On the other hand, he does not know if there is a de facto projection in the operatic scene of the singers of his country ahead of other foreigners. "It is true that in the opera houses in Sweden there are mostly Swedes. Which is good, singers from the country are given the opportunity, but in the same way there are great Swedish artists who sing in the main operas of the world and never come to sing in Sweden".