Anne Sofie von Otter

Anne Sofie von Otter is one of the most distinguished singers in her field. Born in Stockholm on May 9, 1955, the mezzo-soprano initially studied at the conservatory in her hometown before moving to Erik Werba in Vienna and then to Vera Rosza and Geoffrey Parsons in London in 1981. Her profound education was followed by musical years of apprenticeship and travel, which first led her to the Drottningholm Opera and then to Basel. There, she proved her mettle in roles such as Cherubino in Mozart's "Le Nozze Di Figaro," Orpheus in Gluck's "Orphée et Eurydice," and Sextus in Mozart's "La Clemenza di Tito." From then on, her career progressed rapidly, first to Aix-en-Provence, then to Geneva, Cologne, Berlin, and Covent Garden. In 1984, she debuted under Giuseppe Sinopoli at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome. When she won the Maria Callas Foundation Prize in 1986, a wider audience finally took notice of her. In the same year, von Otter performed Cherubino at La Scala, and step by step, she ascended to the pinnacle of the international singing scene. In 1991, she sang the title role of La Cenerentola for the first time at the Royal Opera House, and in January 1994, she graced the Vienna State Opera as Idamante (Idomeneo). Her audience, from the USA to Japan, grew steadily, and festivals increasingly sought out von Otter. In 1992, she made her debut at the Salzburg Easter Festival with Hugo Wolf's Spanisches Liederbuch and returned to the Summer Festival in the same year to sing Ramiro in Mozart's La finta giardiniera. Since then, she has been a regular presence there, for example, in the summer of 1994 in Mozart's "Mass in C minor" under John Eliot Gardiner and the English Baroque Soloists, or two years later with a Strauss recital. She has since worked with a multitude of important musical personalities, from Elvis Costello to Pierre Boulez to Thomas Quasthoff, and boasts a discography that stands out for its diversity and openness. Since 1985, Anne Sofie von Otter has been a core artist for Deutsche Grammophon. As a Lied interpreter, she quickly gained recognition with recordings of works by Wolf and Mahler, the multi-award-winning recording of Zemlinsky Lieder, and Brahms Lieder (Grand Prix International du Disque 1991). With Bengt Forsberg, her preferred piano partner, she ventured into a program of songs by Edvard Grieg in 1993 (Gramophone Award 1993 "Record of the Year," "Best Vocal Recording"; Prix Caecilia 1993; Edison Award 1994; Record Academy Award 1994). This was followed by recordings of Schumann's Frauenliebe und Leben, Lieder by Mahler and Zemlinsky (under John Eliot Gardiner), as well as Wings in the Night (Diapason d’Or 1995/96, Echo Klassik Award 1997), La Bonne Chanson (Edison Award 1997, Grand Prix du Disque 1997), and Schubert Lieder (Echo-Klassik 1998), also with Bengt Forsberg. In these years, she received four Grammy Awards: in 1999 for Mahler's "Des Knaben Wunderhorn" with Claudio Abbado and Thomas Quasthoff, and simultaneously for Stravinsky's "The Rake's Progress" under the direction of John Eliot Gardiner; in 2003 for Schubert's "Lieder with Orchestra," also with the Abbado/Quasthoff team, and furthermore for her participation in Pierre Boulez's interpretation of Mahler's "Symphony No. 3." However, Anne Sofie von Otter does not limit herself to the classical and romantic repertoire but regularly turns to other eras as well. For Archiv Produktion, she made recordings of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo, Bach's St. Matthew Passion and Christmas Oratorio, Handel's Messiah, and Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. Over the past five years, she has ventured into cross-genre projects such as "Folksongs" (2000) and the album "For The Stars" (2001) with songwriter Elvis Costello, and sang rarities by Beethoven/Meyerbeer/Spohr (Lieder, 2001), Jacques Offenbach (Arias & Scenes, 2002), and Handel (Hercules, 2002). With other projects, she turned to Baroque melodies (Music For A While, 2004) and even Christmas carols (Home For Christmas, 1999). It is clear: Anne Sofie von Otter is one of the most versatile and important singers of her generation. 6/2005