Miah Persson (born 27 May 1969 in

Örnsköldsvik Örnsköldsvik (; ), often shortened to just Ö-vik, is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Örnsköldsvik Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden, with 32,953 inhabitants in 2017. Its natural harbour and archipelago is in th ...

) is a Swedish soprano, active internationally and in recordings.

Career

Miah Persson grew up in

Hudiksvall Hudiksvall () is a cities of Sweden, city and the seat of Hudiksvall Municipality, in Hälsingland, Gävleborg County, Sweden with 16,792 inhabitants as of 2024. Hudiksvall is also known as Glada Hudik (), a term that originated in the 19th centur ...

, singing in choirs and taking part in amateur drama productions. After studying social sciences and law at university in Stockholm, she undertook musical studies at the Kulturama, Operastudio 67 and, from 1996, at the

University College of Opera The University College of Opera () was until 2014 a Swedish institution in Stockholm offering higher education in the field of opera music and related arts. Since 1 January 2014, it has been fully integrated as part of the Stockholm Universit ...

also in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

.Morrison R. A most superior Persson. The Times, 13 April 2007.
/ref> She made her operatic debut as Susanna 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 ...

'' at

Confidencen Confidencen, or Ulriksdal Palace Theatre (), is a theatre in the park of Ulriksdal Palace in Solna, in the Swedish capital Stockholm. Built in the 1750s and restored from the late 20th century, it is the oldest Rococo theatre in Sweden. History ...

in 1998. As a member of the

Royal Swedish Opera Royal Swedish Opera () is an opera and ballet company based in Stockholm, Sweden. Location and environment The building is located in the centre of Sweden's capital, Stockholm, in the borough of Norrmalm (borough), Norrmalm, on the eastern si ...

her roles have included Barbarina and Susanna in ''

'', Pamina in ''

The Magic Flute ''The Magic Flute'' (, ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. It is a ''Singspiel'', a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue. The work premiered on ...

'' (Mozart), Sandrina in ''

La finta giardiniera ' ("The Pretend Garden-Girl"), Köchel catalogue, K. 196, is an Italian-language opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart wrote it in Munich in January 1775 when he was 18 years old and it received its first performance on 13 January at the in M ...

'', Dorinda in ''

Orlando Orlando commonly refers to: * Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States Orlando may also refer to: People * Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name * Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...

'' (Handel), Tebaldo in ''

Don Carlos ''Don Carlos'' is an 1867 five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French-language libretto by Joseph Méry and Camille du Locle, based on the 1787 play '' Don Karlos, Infant von Spanien'' (''Don Carlos, Infante of Spain'') by Fried ...

'' (Verdi), Frasquita in ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the O ...

'' (Bizet), Gabrielle in '' La Vie parisienne'' (Offenbach), Gretel in ''

Hansel und Gretel "Hansel and Gretel" (; ) is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 as part of ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' (KHM 15). Hansel and Gretel are siblings who are abandoned in a forest and fall into the hands of a witch ...

'' (Humperdinck) and Sophie 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 ...

'' (Richard Strauss).Biografier, Sangsolister och dirigenter, Kungliga Operan Stockholm, Hösten 2002. In addition to these roles, at other opera houses Miah Persson has sung Brigida in Cimarosa's ''Gli sposi per accidenti'' (Studio Lirico, Cortina, Italy), Hero in Berlioz's ''

Béatrice et Bénédict ''Béatrice et Bénédict'' (''Beatrice and Benedick'') is an ''opéra comique'' in two acts by French composer Hector Berlioz. Berlioz wrote the French libretto himself, based in general outline on a subplot in Shakespeare's ''Much Ado About Noth ...

'' (Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Paris and Baden-Baden), Costanza in Scarlatti's '' La Griselda'' (Staatsoper, Berlin), Nannetta in Verdi’s ''

Falstaff Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare and is eulogised in a fourth. His significance as a fully developed character is primarily formed in the plays ''Henry IV, Part 1'' and '' Part 2'', w ...

'' (Aix-en-Provence), and Governess in Britten's ''

The Turn of the Screw ''The Turn of the Screw'' is an 1898 gothic horror novella by Henry James which first appeared in serial format in '' Collier's Weekly'' from January 27 to April 16, 1898. On October 7, 1898, it was collected in ''The Two Magics'', publis ...

'' (Frankfurt). Other recent roles include ''

Arianna in Creta ''Arianna in Creta'' ("Ariadne in Crete", HWV 32) is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel. The Italian language, Italian-language libretto was adapted by Francis Colman from Pietro Pariati's ''Arianna e Teseo'', a text previously ...

'' in 2009, and in 2010 she sang her first Anne Trulove at Glyndebourne. She made her concert debut at the Salzburg Festival in 2003 and her operatic debut there in 2004 (Sophie in ''Der Rosenkavalier'') and returned in 2005 (Sifare in '' Mitridate''). Her

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 ...

Covent Garden debut was in 2006 (Susanna) and the same year at

Glyndebourne Festival Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an annual opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England. History Under the supervision of the Christie family, the festival has been held annually since 1934, e ...

sang 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 ...

''. In 2009 she made her

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...

debut as Sophie in ''

''. She has also appeared with the London Gabrieli Consort and Players and at the

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...

New York, San Francisco Opera, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. At the Proms she has sung in the Brahms'

Requiem A Requiem (Latin: ''rest'') or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead () or Mass of the dead (), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the souls of the deceased, using a particular form of the Roman Missal. It is ...

, ''

'' and Mahler's Symphony No. 2, and has also given song recitals at the

Wigmore Hall The Wigmore Hall is a concert hall at 36 Wigmore Street, in west London. It was designed by Thomas Edward Collcutt and opened in 1901 as the Bechstein Hall; it is considered to have particularly good building acoustics, acoustics. It specialis ...

in London. Her broadcasts on

Swedish Radio Sveriges Radio AB (; "Sweden's Radio") is Sweden's national publicly funded radio broadcaster. Sveriges Radio is a public limited company, owned by an independent foundation, previously funded through a licensing fee, the level of which is dec ...

include Britten's ''

Les Illuminations ''Illuminations'' is an incomplete suite of prose poems by the French poet Arthur Rimbaud, first published partially in ', a Paris literary review, in May–June 1886. The texts were reprinted in book form in October 1886 by Les publications de L ...

'', songs by Grieg and Sibelius, songs and arias by Mozart, and Respighi's ''Christmas Cantata''. She created the role of the woman in ''Blank Out'' by

Michel van der Aa Michel van der Aa (; born 10 March 1970) is a Dutch composer of contemporary classical music. Early years Michel van der Aa was born 10 March 1970 in Oss. He trained as a recording engineer at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, and stud ...

at the Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam in March 2016, alongside

Roderick Williams Roderick Gregory Coleman Williams OBE (born 1965) is a British baritone and composer. Biography Williams was born in North London to a Welsh father and a Jamaican mother. He attended Christ Church Cathedral School in Oxford and Haberdashers' ...

. In 2018 Persson sang her first Countess Madeleine 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 ...

'' at Garsington, and followed this in June 2021 with her first Marschallin in ''Rosenkavalier'', one critic commending her "moments of self-reflection" and "burnished quality of old gold in the lyrical passages, with plenty of stamina for the taxing high lines of the Act 3 trio" and felt that "she recalls the great Viennese Marschallins of the 1950s, most of them, like her, graduates from Sophie.

Personal life

Persson's husband is Jeremy Ovenden, a tenor. They have a daughter and a son.Canning H. People 382: Miah Persson. ''

Opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

'', August 2010, 924-9.

Awards

*2010: appointed Hovsångerska by H.M. the King of Swedenhttp://www.kungahuset.se/royalcourt Swedish Royal Court official home page

Recordings

Miah Persson's discography includes Mahler Symphony No. 4 with

Ivan Fischer Ivan () is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John) from Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. The earliest person known to bear the name was the ...

and the

Budapest Festival Orchestra The Budapest Festival Orchestra ( Hungarian: ''Budapesti Fesztiválzenekar'') was formed in 1983 by Iván Fischer and Zoltán Kocsis, with musicians "drawn from the cream of Hungary's younger players", as described by ''The Times''. Its aim was t ...

, Mozart Mass in C minor KV427, ''Le nozze di Figaro'', ''Cosi Fan Tutte'', ''Mitridate'', Rossini songs, Haydn's The Creation and The Seasons, the Requiems of Fauré and Duruflé, Handel's ''

Rinaldo Rinaldo may refer to: *Renaud de Montauban (also spelled Renaut, Renault, Italian: Rinaldo di Montalbano, Dutch: Reinout van Montalbaen, German: Reinhold von Montalban), a legendary knight in the medieval Matter of France * Rinaldo (''Jerusalem Lib ...

'', Bach Magnificat and Cantatas BMV 105, 179 & 186, Michael Haydn Sancti Hieronymi, Fernström's Songs of the sea, and songs by Rangström, Stenhammar, Sjögren, Nystroem.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Persson, Miah 1969 births Living people People from Örnsköldsvik People from Hudiksvall Swedish operatic sopranos 21st-century Swedish women opera singers Musicians from Västernorrland County