Anne Sofie von Otter and Brooklyn Rider: Kate Bush “Pi” (arr. Kyle Sanna; NY Premiere)
Biography
Von Otter was born in Stockholm, Sweden. Her father was the diplomat Göran von Otter, a Swedish diplomat in Berlin during World War II. She grew up in Bonn, London and Stockholm. She studied in Stockholm and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where her teachers included Vera Rozsa. She made her professional operatic début in 1983 at the Basel Opera, as Alcina in Haydn's Orlando paladino. She made her Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, début in 1985 and her La Scala debut in 1987. Her Metropolitan Opera début was in December 1988 as Cherubino.
Her recording of Grieg songs won the 1993 Gramophone Record of the Year, the first time in the award's history that it had gone to a song recording. In 2001, she released her album with Elvis Costello, For the Stars, for which she won an Edison Award. She is a regular recital and recording partner with Swedish pianist Bengt Forsberg.
In 2006, von Otter sang the Evangelist in the premiere of Sven-David Sandström's Ordet – en passion. Other work in contemporary music has included singing the role of The Woman in Senza Sangue of Péter Eötvös. In other media, she appeared in the film A Late Quartet.
In 2007, she released an album of music written by composers imprisoned in the Nazi "model" ghetto of Theresienstadt concentration camp (also known as Terezin) prior to their transportation to the death camp of Auschwitz. She collaborated on this project with Christian Gerhaher (baritone) and chamber musicians. She has stated that the material has special personal meaning for her as her father had attempted unsuccessfully during the war to spread information that he had received from SS officer Kurt Gerstein about the Nazi death camps.
Von Otter is married to Benny Fredriksson, an actor and theatre director. The couple has two children and lives in Stockholm.
Awards and honours
1995: appointed Hovsångerska by H.M. the King of Sweden
2003: Rolf Schock Prize in the musical arts category
2013: Honorary Degree, University Pierre and Marie Curie, Paris
Selective charting albums
(Peak positions in Sverigetopplistan, the Swedish national record chart)
Lieder and songs
Alban Berg: Sieben frühe Lieder & Der Wein conducted by Claudio Abbado (1995) Deutsche Grammophon
Hector Berlioz: Mélodies with Cord Garben (piano) (1994) and Les nuits d'été conducted by James Levine (1995) Deutsche Grammophon
Les nuits d'été conducted by Marc Minkowski (2011) Naïve
Johannes Brahms: Lieder with Bengt Forsberg (piano) (1990) Deutsche Grammophon
Cécile Chaminade: Mots d'amour with Bengt Forsberg (piano) (2001) Deutsche Grammophon
Edvard Grieg: Songs/Lieder with Bengt Forsberg (piano) (1993) Deutsche Grammophon
Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Rendezvous with Korngold with Bengt Forsberg (piano) & Friends (1999) Deutsche Grammophon
Ingvar Lidholm: Songs and Chamber Music conducted by Björn Sjögren (1996) Caprice Records
Gustav Mahler: Des Knaben Wunderhorn with Thomas Quasthoff conducted by Claudio Abbado (1999) Deutsche Grammophon
Kindertotenlieder conducted by Pierre Boulez (2004) Deutsche Grammophon
Maurice Ravel: Shéhérazade conducted by Pierre Boulez (2002) Deutsche Grammophon
Arnold Schoenberg: Gurre-Lieder conducted by Simon Rattle (2002) EMI
Franz Schubert: Lieder, with Bengt Forsberg (piano) (1997) and Lieder with Orchestra conducted by Claudio Abbado (2003) Deutsche Grammophon
Robert Schumann: Frauenliebe und -leben with Bengt Forsberg (piano) (1995) Deutsche Grammophon
Jean Sibelius: Anne Sofie von Otter sings Sibelius with Bengt Forsberg (piano) BIS
Kurt Weill: Speak Low: Songs by Kurt Weill conducted by John Eliot Gardiner (1994) Deutsche Grammophon
Hugo Wolf: Spanisches Liederbuch with Olaf Bär (baritone) and Geoffrey Parsons (piano) (1995) EMI
Various: Boldemann Gefors Hillborg conducted by Kent Nagano (2008) Deutsche Grammophon
La Bonne chanson – French Chamber Songs with Bengt Forsberg (piano) and others (1996) Deutsche Grammophon
Brahms / Schumann with Barbara Bonney (soprano), Kurt Streit (tenor), Olaf Bär (baritone), Helmut Deutsch and Bengt Forsberg (piano duet) (1994) EMI
Douce France – classical French songs (disc 1) and chansons (disc 2) with Bengt Forsberg (piano) and others (2013) Naive
Folksongs with Bengt Forsberg (piano) (2000) Deutsche Grammophon
Lieder / Mélodies by Beethoven Meyerbeer Spohr with Melvyn Tan (fortepiano) (2001) Archiv
Lieder by Wolf and Mahler with Ralf Gothóni (piano) (1989) Deutsche Grammophon
Love's Twilight – Late Romantic Songs by Berg Korngold Strauss with Bengt Forsberg (piano) (1994) Deutsche Grammophon
Mahler Zemlinsky Lieder conducted by John Eliot Gardiner (1996) Deutsche Grammophon
Mozart – Haydn: Songs & Canzonettas with Melvyn Tan (fortepiano) (1995) Archiv
Music for a While – Baroque Melodies (2004) Deutsche Grammophon
Terezín / Theresienstadt with Bengt Forsberg (piano), Christian Gerhaher, Gerold Huber (piano) and others (2007) Deutsche Grammophon
Watercolours – Swedish Songs with Bengt Forsberg (piano) (2003) Deutsche Grammophon
Wings in the Night – Swedish Songs with Bengt Forsberg (piano) (1996) Deutsche Grammophon
Complete operas
Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle conducted by Bernard Haitink (1996) EMI
Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust conducted by Myung-whun Chung (1998) Deutsche Grammophon
Bizet: Carmen conducted by Philippe Jordan (2003) BBC/Arte
Gluck: Alceste conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner (1990) Philips
Iphigénie en Aulide conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner (1990) Erato
Orphée et Eurydice conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner (1989) EMI
Handel: Agrippina conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner (1997) Philips
Ariodante conducted by Marc Minkowski (1999) Archiv
Giulio Cesare conducted by Marc Minkowski (2003) Archiv
Hercules conducted by Marc Minkowski (2002) Archiv
Serse by conducted by William Christie (2004) Virgin Classics
Humperdinck: Hänsel und Gretel conducted by Jeffrey Tate(1989/1990) EMI
Massenet: Werther conducted by Kent Nagano (1997) Elektra
Monteverdi: L'incoronazione di Poppea conducted by John Eliot Gardiner (1996) Archiv
L'Orfeo conducted by John Eliot Gardiner (1987) Archiv
Mozart: La clemenza di Tito conducted by John Eliot Gardiner (1993) Deutsche Grammophon
Così fan tutte conducted by Georg Solti (1996) Decca
Idomeneo conducted by John Eliot Gardiner (1991) Deutsche Grammophon
Le nozze di Figaro conducted by James Levine (1992) Deutsche Grammophon
Purcell: Dido and Aeneas conducted by Trevor Pinnock (1989) Archiv
Rachmaninoff: Aleko conducted by Neeme Järvi (1997) Deutsche Grammophon
Richard Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos conducted by Giuseppe Sinopoli (2002) Deutsche Grammophon
Der Rosenkavalier conducted by Bernard Haitink (1991) EMI
Der Rosenkavalier conducted by Carlos Kleiber (1995) Deutsche Grammophon DVD only
Igor Stravinsky: The Rake's Progress conducted by John Eliot Gardiner (1999) Deutsche Grammophon
Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin conducted by James Levine (1988) Deutsche Grammophon
Aria recordings
Anne Sofie von Otter sings Offenbach, conducted by Marc Minkowski – Deutsche Grammophon
Baroque Arias by Handel, Monteverdi, Roman and Telemann, with the Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble – Proprius
Ombre de mon amant, French baroque arias conducted by William Christie – Archiv
Opera Arias by Gluck, Haydn and Mozart, conducted by Trevor Pinnock – Archiv
Oratorios, symphonies, etc
Bach: St Matthew Passion English Baroque Soloists, Sir John Eliot Gardiner
St Matthew Passion Chicago Symphony, Sir Georg Solti; Kiri Te Kanawa, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Tom Krause, Hans Peter Blochwitz, Glen Ellyn Children's Chorus, Chicago Symphony Chorus
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9, with Luba Orgonasova, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Gilles Cachemaille, the Monteverdi Choir and the Orchestre Revolutionaire et Romantique, conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner
Maurice Duruflé: "Requiem", conducted by Michel Plasson – EMI
Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius, with Alastair Miles and David Rendall, conducted by Sir Colin Davis
Handel: Jephtha, with Michael Chance, Lynne Dawson and Stephen Varcoe, with the English Baroque Soloists conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner
Messiah, with Arleen Auger, Michael Chance, Howard Crook and John Tomlinson, with Trevor Pinnock and The English Concert
Messiah, with Sylvia McNair, Michael Chance, Jerry Hadley and Robert Lloyd, with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields conducted by Sir Neville Marriner
Mauricio Kagel: Sankt-Bach-Passion, conducted by the composer – Naïve
Mahler: Symphony No. 3, conducted by Pierre Boulez – Deutsche Grammophon
Mozart: Requiem: Barbara Bonney, Anne Sofie von Otter, English Baroque Soloists, Monteverdi Choir, conducted by John Eliot Gardiner – Archiv
Great Mass in C minor: Barbara Bonney, Anne Sofie von Otter, English Baroque Soloists, Monteverdi Choir, conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner
Franz Schubert: Rosamunde with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, conducted by Claudio Abbado
Other music
Home for Christmas, classical works and popular tunes for Christmas (1999) Deutsche Grammophon
For the Stars, a collection of rock and pop songs (by the likes of Brian Wilson, Andersson–Ulvaeus and Lennon–McCartney), with Elvis Costello and Svante Henryson (2001) Deutsche Grammophon
Peter Sculthorpe: Island Dreaming, with the Brodsky Quartet (2001) Challenge Records
I Let the Music Speak – Songs of ABBA including "Money, Money, Money" and "The Winner Takes It All" (2006) Deutsche Grammophon
Noel, classical Christmas music with Bengt Forsberg (2006) Deutsche Grammophon
Love Songs, with Brad Mehldau (2010) Naïve
Ottorino Respighi: Il tramonto, with the Brodsky Quartet – Vanguard
