Margareta Hallin

Early life and debut

Hallin was born on 20 February 1931 in Karlskoga. She made her debut during her time as a student at the University College of Opera in 1955 as Rosina in Rossini's Barberaren i Sevilla.

Career

She joined the Royal Swedish Opera as a full-time employee in 1956, where she performed in roles such as Zerbinetta in Ariadne på Naxos by Richard Strauss, the title role of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, Sophie in Rosenkavaljeren by Strauss, Leonora in Verdi's Trubaduren, Amelia in Maskeradbalen, the title role in Aida, and Gilda in Rigoletto. Her last performance at the Opera was in the title role of Cherubini's Médée.

Hallin's voice has been described as a "coloratura soprano". She was considered to have the talent required for the international scene, but she chose to stay in Sweden.

Her opera roles in the 1950s to 1970s included the blind poetess in Karl-Birger Blomdahl's Aniara, Anne Trulove in Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress, the title role in Verdi's La traviata, Therese in Lars Johan Werle's Drömmen om Thérèse, and the Queen Mother in Georg Joseph Vogler's Gustaf Adolf och Ebba Brahe. Hallin also performed in Glyndebourne, Florence, Vienna, Hamburg, Moscow, London and Copenhagen, as well as making a tour in the Soviet Union.

In the mid-1980s, she started composing music. Encouraged by composer Eberhard Eyser, she made her debut in 1986 with poems set to music. The poems were by Nils Ferlin, Harry Martinson, Werner Aspenström and Alf Henrikson – she performed a medley of these in the Drottningholm Palace Church.

She has several works by August Strindberg to music, beginning with a chamber opera based on Fröken Julie (Miss Julie) in 1990. Miss Julie was staged at the Confidence Theatre in 1990, and restaged in 1994. Hallin has also composed music for Strindberg's works Den Starkare (The Stronger One) which was performed in the Rotunda at the Royal Opera in Stockholm in 1991, and Ett drömspel (A Dream Play) in 1992.

In Sundsvall in 2012, Hallin premiered a program, both read and sung, that she had composed based upon Strindberg's letters to Harriet Bosse. At its performance in Kramfors, the production was accompanied by a small exhibition of Hallin's paintings, including a portrait of Strindberg.

Personal life

Hallin has been married twice. Her first marriage was to violinist Inge Boström from 1951 to 1956. The couple has a daughter, born in 1952. Her second marriage was to Bengt Ekerot, with whom she has a son who was born in 1966.

Awards and titles

Plays

Discography