Wikipedia:
Anne Sofie von Otter (born 9 May 1955) is a Swedish mezzo-soprano.
Biography
Von Otter was born in Stockholm, Sweden. Her father was the diplomat Göran von Otter and she grew up in Bonn, London and Stockholm. After studying in Stockholm and Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, she was engaged by the Basel Opera, where she made her operatic début in 1983 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 1988 as Cherubino.
She has had notable success in roles of Mozart, Handel, and Monteverdi. In recitals, she excels in the music of Mahler, Brahms, Grieg, Wolf and Sibelius. In 2001 she released an album with Elvis Costello, for which she won an Edison Award. Among the conductors she has worked with repeatedly are William Christie, Marc Minkowski, Claudio Abbado, John Eliot Gardiner, and Myung-Whun Chung. Most of her recitals and many of her recordings have been collaborations with Swedish pianist Bengt Forsberg. In 2003 Von Otter was awarded a Rolf Schock Prize in the musical arts category.
In 2006, von Otter sang the Evangelist in the premiere of Sven-David Sandström's Ordet - en passion, on 24 March in Stockholm.
In 2007, she released a highly-praised 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 explained that the material has special personal meaning for her as her father, a Swedish diplomat in Berlin during World War II, had attempted unsuccessfully during the war to spread information that he had received from SS officer Kurt Gerstein about the Nazi death camps.
She is married to Benny Fredriksson, an actor and theatre director, and has two children.
Recordings
Lieder and songs
Alban Berg: 7 frühe Lieder & Der Wein conducted by Claudio Abbado (1995) Deutsche GrammophonHector Berlioz: Mélodies with Cord Garben (piano) (1994) and Les nuits d'été conducted by James Levine (1995) Deutsche GrammophonHector Berlioz: Les nuits d'été conducted by Marc Minkowski (2011) NaïveJohannes Brahms: Lieder with Bengt Forsberg (piano) (1990) Deutsche GrammophonCécile Chaminade: Mots d'amour with Bengt Forsberg (piano) (2001) Deutsche GrammophonEdvard Grieg: Songs/Lieder with Bengt Forsberg (piano) (1993) Deutsche GrammophonErich Korngold: Rendezvous with Korngold with Bengt Forsberg (piano) & Friends (1999) Deutsche GrammophonIngvar Lidholm: Songs and Chamber Music conducted by Björn Sjögren (1996) Caprice RecordsGustav Mahler: Des Knaben Wunderhorn with Thomas Quasthoff conducted by Claudio Abbado (1999) Deutsche GrammophonGustav Mahler: Kindertotenlieder conducted by Pierre Boulez (2004) Deutsche GrammophonMaurice Ravel: Shéhérazade conducted by Pierre Boulez (2002) Deutsche GrammophonArnold Schoenberg: Gurre-Lieder conducted by Simon Rattle (2002) EMIFranz Schubert: Lieder, with Bengt Forsberg (piano) (1997) and Lieder with Orchestra conducted by Claudio Abbado (2003) Deutsche GrammophonRobert Schumann: Frauenliebe und -leben with Bengt Forsberg (piano) (1995) Deutsche GrammophonJean Sibelius: Anne Sofie von Otter sings Sibelius with Bengt Forsberg (piano) BISKurt Weill: Speak Low: Songs by Kurt Weill conducted by John Eliot Gardiner (1994) Deutsche GrammophonHugo Wolf: Spanisches Liederbuch with Olaf Bär (baritone) and Geoffrey Parsons (piano) (1995) EMIvarious: Boldemann Gefors Hillborg conducted by Kent Nagano (2008) Deutsche Grammophonvarious: La Bonne chanson - French Chamber Songs with Bengt Forsberg (piano) and others (1996) Deutsche Grammophonvarious: Brahms / Schumann with Barbara Bonney (soprano), Kurt Streit (tenor), Olaf Bär (baritone), Helmut Deutsch and Bengt Forsberg (piano duet) (1994) EMIvarious: Folksongs with Bengt Forsberg (piano) (2000) Deutsche Grammophonvarious: Lieder / Mélodies by Beethoven Meyerbeer Spohr with Melvyn Tan (fortepiano) (2001) Archivvarious: Lieder by Wolf and Mahler with Ralf Gothoni (piano) (1989) Deutsche Grammophonvarious: Love's Twilight - Late Romantic Songs by Berg Korngold Strauss with Bengt Forsberg (piano) (1994) Deutsche Grammophonvarious: Mahler Zemlinsky Lieder conducted by John Eliot Gardiner (1996) Deutsche Grammophonvarious: Mozart - Haydn: Songs & Canzonettas with Melvyn Tan (fortepiano) (1995) Archivvarious: Music for a While - Baroque Melodies (2004) Deutsche Grammophonvarious: Terezín / Theresienstadt with Bengt Forsberg (piano), Christian Gerhaher, Gerold Huber (piano) and others (2007) Deutsche Grammophonvarious: Watercolours - Swedish Songs with Bengt Forsberg (piano) (2003) Deutsche Grammophonvarious: Wings in the Night - Swedish Songs with Bengt Forsberg (piano) (1996) Deutsche Grammophon Complete Operas
Béla Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle conducted by Bernard Haitink (1996) EMIHector Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust conducted by Myung-Whun Chung (1998) Deutsche GrammophonGeorges Bizet: Carmen conducted by Philippe Jordan (2003) BBC/Pro ArteChristoph Willibald Gluck: Alceste conducted by John Eliot Gardiner (1990) PhilipsChristoph Willibald Gluck: Iphigénie en Aulide conducted by John Eliot Gardiner (1990) EratoChristoph Willibald Gluck: Orphée et Eurydice conducted by John Eliot Gardiner (1989) EMIGeorg Handel: Agrippina conducted by John Eliot Gardiner (1997) PhilipsGeorg Handel: Ariodante conducted by Marc Minkowski (1999) ArchivGeorg Handel: Giulio Cesare conducted by Marc Minkowski (2003) ArchivGeorg Handel: Hercules conducted by Marc Minkowski (2002) ArchivGeorg Handel: Serse by conducted by William Christie (2004) Virgin ClassicsEngelbert Humperdinck: Hänsel und Gretel conducted by Jeffrey Tate(1989/1990) EMIJules Massenet: Werther conducted by Kent Nagano (1997) ElektraClaudio Monteverdi: L'incoronazione di Poppea conducted by John Eliot Gardiner (1996) ArchivClaudio Monteverdi: L'Orfeo conducted by John Eliot Gardiner (1987) ArchivWolfgang Mozart: La clemenza di Tito conducted by John Eliot Gardiner (1993) Deutsche GrammophonWolfgang Mozart: Così fan tutte conducted by Georg Solti (1996) DeccaWolfgang Mozart: Idomeneo conducted by John Eliot Gardiner (1991) Deutsche GrammophonWolfgang Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro conducted by James Levine (1992) Deutsche GrammophonHenry Purcell: Dido and Aeneas conducted by Trevor Pinnock (1989) ArchivSergei Rachmaninov: Aleko conducted by Neeme Järvi (1997) Deutsche GrammophonRichard Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos conducted by Giuseppe Sinopoli (2002) Deutsche GrammophonRichard Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier conducted by Bernard Haitink (1991) EMIRichard Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier conducted by Carlos Kleiber (1995) Deutsche Grammophon DVD onlyIgor Stravinsky: The Rake's Progress conducted by John Eliot Gardiner (1999) Deutsche GrammophonPyotr Tchaikovsky: Eugen 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 Chicago Symphony, Sir Georg Solti; Kiri Te Kanawa, Anne Sofie von Otter, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Tom Krause, Hans Peter Blochwitz, Glen Ellyn Children's Chorus, Chicago Symphony ChorusBeethoven: 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 GardinerMaurice Duruflé: "Requiem", conducted by Michel Plasson - EMIElgar: "The Dream of Gerontius, with Alastair Miles and David Rendall, conducted by Sir Colin DavisHandel: Messiah, with Arleen Auger, Michael Chance, Howard Crook and John Tomlinson, with Trevor Pinnock and the English ConcertHandel: Messiah, with Sylvia McNair, Michael Chance, Jerry Hadley and Robert Lloyd, with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields conducted by Sir Neville MarrinerMauricio Kagel: "Sankt-Bach-Passion", conducted by the composer - NaïveMahler: Symphony no. 3, conducted by Pierre Boulez - Deutsche GrammophonMozart: Requiem:: Barbara Bonney, Anne Sofie von Otter, English Baroque Soloists, Monteverdi Choir, conducted by John Eliot Gardiner - ArchivMozart: Great Mass in C minor:: Barbara Bonney, Anne Sofie von Otter, English Baroque Soloists, Monteverdi Choir, conducted by John Eliot Gardiner*Franz Schubert: "Rosamunde" with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, conducted by Claudio Abbado Other music
For The Stars, a collection of rock and pop songs (by the likes of Brian Wilson and Lennon–McCartney), with Elvis Costello and Svante Henryson - Deutsche GrammophonLove Songs, with Brad Mehldau (2010) NaïveOttorino Respighi "Il tramonto, with the Brodsky Quartet - VanguardPeter Sculthorpe "Island Dreaming", with the Brodsky Quartet - Challenge Records"Noel", classical Christmas music with Bengt Forsberg - Deutsche Grammophon"Home For Christmas", classical works and popular tunes for Christmas - Deutsche GrammophonI Let the Music Speak - Songs of Abba including "Money, Money, Money" and "The Winner Takes It All" - Deutsche Grammophon
