Tove Dahlberg, mezzo soprano

Born in Stockholm, Sweden, TOVE DAHLBERG studied jazz performance at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm before completing her studies at the University College of Opera in Stockholm in 2002. Allied with her luminous voice and flexible musicianship, her engaging stage presence makes her a strongly communicative artist in repertoire ranging from Mozart to contemporary art song and jazz, while her compelling acting ability has won lavish plaudits.

Already in her final year at the Opera College she made her debut at the Royal Swedish Opera singing Cherubino in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro. As a member of the Vilar Young Artist’s Programme (2002-2004) she made her Royal Opera House debut singing Laura in Verdi’s Luisa Miller and went on to sing the role of Fyodor in Boris Godunov to great critical acclaim. Andrew Clark wrote in the Financial Times: ‘…Tove Dahlberg’s radiant Fyodor nearly steals the show.’

During her time at the Royal Opera House she worked with conductors such as Semyon Bychkov, Antonio Pappano and Sir Charles Mackerras. Other opera engagements have included Dorabella (Così fan tutte) for Opéra de Lyon with William Christie, a role she also performed at Chicago Opera Theater with Jane Glover. At Opera de Lyon under William Christie she came back with the role of Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro).

Tove made her Glyndebourne debut as Mélisande in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande for Glyndebourne on Tour in 2004, a role for which she was awarded the GOT Promise Award. Opera Magazine said: ‘…Mélisande, Tove Dahlberg…was not a fey creature, but acted the role as a passionate woman, torn between affection for her husband and undeniable love for his half-brother. The scene of their final meeting had an almost unbearable intensity, it being impossible to separate singing from drama.’

In 2005 she played the title role in a new opera, Julie, based on Strindberg’s Miss Julie, composed by Philippe Boesmans for La Monnaie, Brussels and the Aix-en-Provence Festival conducted by Kazushi Ono. She made her Italian debut at the Maggio Musicale in Florence singing Fyodor, again with Semyon Bychkov.

At the Royal Opera House’s Linbury Theatre she sang Hermia in Britten’s A Midsummer Night's Dream, conducted by Richard Hickox. In 2006 Tove performed the same role in the classic sir Peter Hall production at the Glyndebourne Festival.

In her home country Tove has performed several roles written especially for her, among others Lisa Stina in Jonas Forsell’s Trädgården (The Garden) at the Drottningholm Court Theatre outside Stockholm, Calypso, Eurykleia and Helen of Troy in Reine Jönsson’s “Strändernas svall” (Return to Ithaka) and the main role in Paula af Malmborg Ward’s one-act opera Vill ni ha ett frostigt päron? (Would you like a frosty pear?) all of them at the Vadstena Festival.

Her extensive concert and oratorio repertoire includes Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, B Minor Mass and St John’s Passion; Mozart’s Requiem; Rossini’s and Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater and Vivaldi’s Gloria.

In 2005 she made her New York debut at Lincoln Center at the Mostly Mozart Festival singing in Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with Louis Langree, a work she has also sung with the Hallé and Mark Elder. Other highlights include Mozart’s Davidde Penitente with the Orquestra Nacional do Porto and Yves Abel, as well as with I Pomeriggi Musicali, Milan under Antonello Manacorda; appearances and recordings with the Drottningholm Baroque Orchestra and also several other recordings for Swedish Radio and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg conducted by Emmanuel Krivine.

She is an accomplished recitalist and her work in this field has included a BBC Radio 3 Voices recital with the pianist Julius Drake. BBC Two invited her as one of the soloists for Holocaust: A Music Memorial Film from Auschwitz, a production awarded with an Emmy as the Best Arts Production in 2005.

At the Edinburgh Festival she has sung the role of Mère Marie in excerpts from Les Dialogues des Carmélites under Stéphane Denève. In Norway, she has performed Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, Haydn’s Paukenmesse and Bach’s St John’s Passion with the Symphony Orchestra of Kristiansand, and Bach’s B Minor Mass with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra in Oslo. In Scotland, she has sung Haydn’s Harmoniemesse with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Thierry Fisher, and she has performed the alto part in Handel’s Messiah with San Fransisco Symphony.

Last season, she sang the role of Valencienne in Die Lustige Witwe at Folkoperan in Stockholm, and the title role of Il Tigrane by Alessandro Scarlatti at Saarländisches Staatstheater in Saarbrücken under George Petrou. She also performed the mezzo part in Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang with Charles Olivieri-Munroe and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in Prague, and the alto solos in Bach’s B Minor Mass in Chicago with Music of the Baroque.

Recently, she sang Haydn's Nelson Mass with Academy of Ancient Music in Macao, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with the Handel and Haydn Society in Boston and Harry Christophers, as well as Bach's Christmas Oratory with Collegium Musicum in Bergen. Future engagements include Così fan tutte at Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania, conducted by Hubert Soudant, Sièbel in Faust at Folkoperan in Stockholm, another Messiah with the San Fransico Symphony and the revival of both Così fan tutte and Le nozze di Figaro at Opéra National de Lyon.

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