Maria Bengtsson (born 7 May 1975) is a Swedish operatic soprano, who has appeared in major opera houses in Europe. She is known for roles in operas by

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

and

Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; ; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer and conductor best known for his Tone poems (Strauss), tone poems and List of operas by Richard Strauss, operas. Considered a leading composer of the late Roman ...

Career

Born in

Trelleborg Trelleborg () is a town in Skåne County, Sweden, with 43,359 inhabitants as of 31 December 2015. It is the southernmost town in Sweden located some west from the Smygehuk, southernmost point of Sweden and the Scandinavian Peninsula. It is one ...

, Sweden, Bengtsson grew up in

Höllviken Höllviken is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality situated in Vellinge Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 15,678 inhabitants in 2019. It is located close to both Malmö and the Øresund Bridge which connects Sweden and Denmark. The town is a ...

, taking piano lessons and singing in choirs. She studied voice from 1995 to 2000 with

Beata Heuer-Christen Beata Heuer-Christen (born 27 February 1935) is a Swiss-German soprano concert singer and voice teacher. Life Born in Bern, Heuer-Christen is the daughter of the violinist and member of the Bern Symphony Orchestra, Caesar Christen,August Ludwi ...

at the Musikhochschule Freiburg. She was a member of the

Wiener Volksoper The Vienna Volksoper (''Volksoper'' or ''Vienna People's Opera'') is an opera house in Vienna, Austria. It produces three hundred performances of twenty-five German language productions of opera, operetta, musicals, and ballet, during an annual s ...

from 2000. In 2002,

Kirill Petrenko Kirill Garrievich Petrenko (, Latin script: ; born 11 February 1972) is a Russian-Austrian conductor. He is chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic. Early life Petrenko was born in Omsk, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union, to a violinist father and m ...

engaged her at the

Komische Oper Berlin The Komische Oper Berlin is a German opera company based in Berlin. The company produces operas, operettas and musicals. The opera house is located on Behrenstraße, near Unter den Linden. Since 2004, the Komische Oper Berlin, along with the Be ...

, where she stayed to 2007. She appeared there as Konstanze in Mozart's ''

Die Entführung aus dem Serail ' () (Köchel catalogue, K. 384; ''The Abduction from the Seraglio''; also known as ') is a singspiel in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German libretto is by Gottlieb Stephanie, based on Christoph Friedrich Bretzner's . The plot concer ...

'', staged by

Calixto Bieito Calixto Bieito (Miranda de Ebro, 2 November 1963) is a Spanish theater director known for his radical interpretations of classic operas. Biography Born in the small town of Miranda de Ebro, Bieito moved to Barcelona with his family when he was ...

in a provoking way. She made her debut at the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is a theatre in Covent Garden, central London. The building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. The ROH is the main home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orch ...

in London as Lauretta in Puccini's ''

Gianni Schicchi () is a comic opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano, composed in 1917–18. The libretto is based on an incident mentioned in Dante's ''Divine Comedy''. The work is the third and final part of Puccin ...

''. She has also performed at the

Opéra Bastille The Opéra Bastille (, "Bastille Opera House") is a modern opera house in the 12th arrondissement of Paris, France. Inaugurated in 1989 as part of President François Mitterrand's '' Grands Travaux'', it became the main facility of the Paris N ...

in Paris, the

Bavarian State Opera The Bavarian State Opera () is a German opera company based in Munich. Its main venue is the Nationaltheater München, and its orchestra the Bavarian State Orchestra. History The parent ensemble of the company was founded in 1653, under El ...

and the

Staatsoper Berlin The Staatsoper Unter den Linden ( State Opera under the Lime Trees), also known as the Berlin State Opera (), is a listed building on Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic center of Berlin, Germany. The opera house was built by order of Pr ...

, among others. She has collaborated with conductors such as

Daniel Barenboim Daniel Moses Barenboim (; born 15 November 1942) is an Argentines, Argentine-Israeli classical pianist and conductor based in Berlin, who also has Spain, Spanish and State of Palestine, Palestinian citizenship. From 1992 until January 2023, Bare ...

Bertrand de Billy Bertrand de Billy (born Paris, 11 January 1965) is a French and Swiss conductor. He attended a Jesuit school, but only started serious musical studies when he was around 14–15; he studied piano and violin. CD Opéra https://debilly.com/cd-op ...

Marc Minkowski Marc Minkowski (born 4 October 1962) is a French conductor of classical music, especially known for his interpretations of French Baroque works. Minkowski was musical director of Mozartwoche in Salzburg, Austria, from 2013 to 2017 and was gene ...

Antonio Pappano Sir Antonio Pappano (born 30 December 1959) is an English-Italian conductor and pianist. He is currently music director of the Royal Opera House and chief conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. Early life Pappano was born in Epping, Esse ...

Philippe Jordan Philippe Jordan (born 18 October 1974) is a Swiss conductor and pianist. Biography Born in Zürich, the son of conductor Armin Jordan, he began to study piano at the age of six. At age eight, he joined the Zürcher Sängerknaben. He has ackno ...

and

Vladimir Jurowski Vladimir Mikhailovich Jurowski (;() born 4 April 1972) is a Russian conducting, conductor resident in Germany. He is the son of conductor Michail Jurowski, and grandson of Soviet film music composer Vladimir Michailovich Jurowski. Early life B ...

, and with stage directors such as

Peter Konwitschny Peter Konwitschny (born 21 January 1945 in Frankfurt am Main) is a German opera and theatre director. Biography Peter Konwitschny grew up in Leipzig, where his father Franz Konwitschny was principal conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchest ...

Jonathan Miller Sir Jonathan Wolfe Miller CBE (21 July 1934 – 27 November 2019) was an English theatre and opera director, actor, author, television presenter, comedian and physician. After training in medicine and specialising in neurology in the late 19 ...

and

Hans Neuenfels Hans Neuenfels (; 31 May 1941 – 6 February 2022) was a German writer, poet, film producer, librettist, theatre director, opera director and theatre manager. As a director, he first focused on drama, staged at prominent houses such as the Vien ...

. Among her roles are characters in operas by

: Elettra in ''

Idomeneo (Italian for ''Idomeneus, King of Crete, or, Ilia and Idamante''; usually referred to simply as ''Idomeneo'', Köchel catalogue, K. 366) is an Italian-language opera seria by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto was adapted by Giambattista Vares ...

'', Fiordiligi in ''

Così fan tutte (''Women are like that, or The School for Lovers''), Köchel catalogue, K. 588, is an opera buffa in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was first performed on 26 January 1790 at the Burgtheater in Vienna, Austria. The libretto was written ...

'', Donna Anna in ''

Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; full title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanish legen ...

'', and the Countess in ''

Le nozze di Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' (, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna ...

''. She specializes in roles by

: the title role in ''

Daphne Daphne (; ; , , ), a figure in Greek mythology, is a naiad, a variety of female nymph associated with fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of freshwater. There are several versions of the myth in which she appears, but t ...

'', the Marschallin in ''

Der Rosenkavalier (''The Knight of the Rose'' or ''The Rose-Bearer''), Op. 59, is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from Louvet de Couvrai's novel ''Les amours du cheva ...

'', the Countess in ''

Capriccio Capriccio may refer to: __NOTOC__ Music * Capriccio (music), a piece of music which is fairly free in form * Fantasia in C major (Haydn), "Capriccio", a 1789 piano composition by Joseph Haydn * Capriccio (Janáček), a chamber music composition by ...

'', and the title role of ''

Arabella ''Arabella'', Op. 79, is a lyric comedy, or opera, in three acts by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, their sixth and last operatic collaboration. Performance history It was first performed on 1 July 1933 at the D ...

'', a role which she performed first at the

Oper Frankfurt The Oper Frankfurt (Frankfurt Opera) is a German opera company based in Frankfurt. Opera in Frankfurt am Main has a long tradition, with many world premieres such as Franz Schreker's ''Der ferne Klang'' in 1912, ''Fennimore and Gerda, Fennimore ...

in 2017, and performed at the

Internationale Maifestspiele Wiesbaden The Internationale Maifestspiele Wiesbaden (International May Festival, IMF) is a theater festival in Wiesbaden, Germany. Established in the late 19th century after the Bayreuth Festival, the festival is one of the most distinguished internationa ...

, directed by Uwe Eric Laufenberg and conducted by

Patrick Lange Patrick Lange (; 25 August 1986) is a professional duathlete and triathlete from Germany. He is a three time Ironman World Champion, setting course records in 2017, 2018 and 2024. Lange is also the 2010–2013 German champion in duathlon and ...

. Gerard Hoffmann from Vienna said about the Frankfurt performance that Bengtsson is the quintessential Strauss interpreter, credible and expressive, with "perfect diction and graceful acting". He described her voice as "flexible, warm, rich in colours and nuances, with a slender middle range and splendid piano". In concert, she sang the soprano part in Mendelssohn's ''

Lobgesang ''Lobgesang'' (''Hymn of Praise''), Op. 52 ( MWV A 18), is an 11-movement "Symphony-Cantata on Words of the Holy Bible for Soloists, Choir and Orchestra" by Felix Mendelssohn. After the composer's death it was published as his Symphony No. 2 i ...

'' for the opening of the

Elbphilharmonie The Elbphilharmonie (; "Elbe Philharmonic Hall"), popularly nicknamed Elphi, is a concert hall in the HafenCity quarter of Hamburg, Germany, on the Grasbrook peninsula of the Elbe River. The new construction resembles a hoisted sail, water wave ...

in 2017, conducted by

Thomas Hengelbrock Hans Thomas Hengelbrock (born 9 June 1958) is a German violinist, musicologist, stage director and conductor. Biography Hengelbrock was born in Wilhelmshaven, the son of teachers Günther and Dorothea Elisabeth (Schliefert) Hengelbrock. He stud ...

References

External links

* *
Maria Bengtsson
Operabase
Maria Bengtsson
lewin-management.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Bengtsson, Maria Swedish operatic sopranos 1975 births Living people 20th-century Swedish women opera singers 21st-century Swedish women opera singers People from Trelleborg Musicians from Skåne County Hochschule für Musik Freiburg alumni