Malena Ernman

Malena Ernman (born November 4, 1970) is a Swedish opera singer (mezzo-soprano).

Educated at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm, the Music Conservatory in Orléans, France and at the school of the Royal Swedish Opera.

Ernman is a versatile artist in her field, who outside the world of opera and operettas also has performed chansons, cabaret, jazz, appeared in musicals and she is a performer who's declared that she's very much attracted to the attributes of varité theatre and small, intimate stage rooms.

Malena Ernman has sung Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro (Staatsoper Berlin/Daniel Barenboim, Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Staatsoper Berlin, Royal Opera Stockholm, Finnish National Opera), the title role in Carmen (Royal Opera Stockholm), Kaja in Sven-David Sandström’s Staden (Royal Opera Stockholm) and Zerlina in Don Giovanni (Staatsoper Berlin/Barenboim). She has worked with René Jacobs in Berlin, Brussels, Innsbruck, Vienna and Paris in roles like Nerone in Agrippina, Roberto in Scarlatti’s Griselda, Diana in Cavalli’s La Calisto and Nerone in L’incoronazione di Poppea. She has appeared at the Glyndebourne Festival singing Nancy in Albert Herring (summer 2002) and Orlovsky in Die Fledermaus (summer 2003). During the 2003/2004 season Malena Ernman sang Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni at La Monnaie in Brussels and Lichas in Hercules with Les Arts Florissants and William Christie at the Aix-en-Provence Festival (also revived at Opéra National de Paris and at Wiener Festwochen). During the spring and summer of 2005, she created the title role in Boesmans’ Julie at la Monnaie, Wiener Festwochen and in Aix-en-Provence. The spring of 2006 included the title role of Dido and Aeneas in Vienna and Nerone in Agrippina at Oper Frankfurt. Recently she made her debut at the Salzburg Festival as Annio in La Clemenza di Tito under the baton of Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Future engagements include Sesto in Giulio Cesare with René Jacobs in Vienna, Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro with Daniel Harding in Aix-en-Provence and Angelina in La Cenerentola in Stockholm. On the concert platform Malena Ernman’s appearances have included Mozart’s Waisenhausmesse (Salzburg Festspiele/Frans Brüggen, Berio’s Folksongs (Stockholm Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Carlo Rizzi, Verbier Festival/Gustavo Dudamel), Fabian Müller’s Nachtgesänge (Tonhalleorchester Zürich/Zinman – world premiere) and Mozart’s Requiem in Minneapolis with Arnold Östman. During the 2001/2002 season she could be heard in recital in Tokyo, Bach’s St. John Passion in Notre Dame de Paris (Ensemble Orchestral de Paris/John Nelson) and Mozart’s Requiem (Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra/Barenbiom). The 2002/2003 season included Mozart’s c-minor Mass with Orchestre des Champs-Elysées and Philippe Herreweghe on tour in Europe, a Vivaldi concert in Lille with Concerto Italiano and Rinaldo Alessandrini and S-D Sandström’s High Mass with the Gewandhaus Orchestra and Herbert Blomstedt. During the 2004/2005 season she made her Wigmore Hall debut and appeared singing Sea Pictures in Trondheim and Berio’s Folksongs with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Malena Ernman’s discography includes the solo CDs Cabaret (BIS), My Love (BIS), Songs in Season (Nytorp Musik), Nachtgesänge (Col legno) and The High Mass (Deutsche Grammophone). She studied at the Conservatory of Orléans, France, and at the Royal Academy of Music and the University College of Opera in Stockholm.

Malena Ernman is today one of Sweden's most sought after opera performers nationally and internationally. She is married to actor Svante Thunberg.