One of the most celebrated dramatic sopranos of today, Iréne Theorin is a regular guest at opera houses and concert venues across the world. Particularly associated with German dramatic repertoire, she has garnered huge acclaim for her intense musicality, engaging performances, and vocal flexibility.
The Swedish soprano Iréne Theorin... was splendid in the crucial 30-minute scene with Siegfried that ends this very long opera. Her gleaming tone […] Her impassioned intensity and the nobility of her phrasing […]. A born actress, she movingly conveyed Brünnhilde’s transition from a warrior maiden mortified by the loss of her godhood to a vulnerable woman hopelessly in love.
New York Times
“Irene Theorin has established herself as one of the best dramatic sopranos of the last two decades; with a round velvet sound, a potent voice whose timbre is equal throughout the whole register, and unbelievable top ringing notes."
Operawire
“Swedish soprano Iréne Theorin, the valkyrie Brünnhilde burst onto the stage in a torrent of magnificent sounds... Mme. Theorin brought the fiercely thrilling high notes of an Amazon warrior together with a richly warm, very feminine lower voice. With her significant use of piano and pianissimo tones this richness distilled her determined devotion to her father. But never far away were the forte’s[sic] of an emotional strength to be reckoned with.”
Opera Today, June 2018
One of the most celebrated dramatic sopranos of today, Iréne Theorin is a regular guest at opera houses and concert venues across the world. Particularly associated with German dramatic repertoire, she has garnered huge acclaim for her intense musicality, engaging performances, and vocal flexibility. A graduate of the Music Academy and Royal Opera School in Copenhagen, Theorin has performed at Teatro alla Scala, Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Berliner Staatsoper, Wiener Staatsoper, Salzburg Festival, Bayerische Staatsoper, Opéra national de Paris, Semperoper Dresden and at the Bayreuther Festspiele.
In the 2023/24 season she returns to two of her signature roles at Staatsoper Stuttgart: Die Färberin in David Hermann’s new production of Die Frau ohne Schatten and the title role of Elektra, both under the musical direction of Cornelius Meister. Further engagements include her return to Müpa Budapest, where she triumphed last season as Brünnhilde in Die Walküre and Götterdämmerung; much anticipated concert performances of Elektra with Kirill Petrenko and the Bergen Philharmonic; Strauss Vier letzte Lieder at the Auditorium of the Diputación de Alicante; excerpts from Götterdämmerung with the Royal Philharmonic and Vasily Petrenko; as well as the Victoria de los Angeles Centenary Gala Concert at the Gran Teatre del Liceu.
Highlights from last season include her much acclaimed debut as Judith Bluebeard’s Castle with Bryn Terfel in a concert performance with Gran Teatre del Liceu at Opera de Paris; Tristan und Isolde Act II at Tonhalle Düsseldorf; and Brünnhilde in Die Walküre and Götterdämmerung at Müpa Budapest. Theorin also joined Lise Davidsen and Waltraud Meier at the Gran Teatre del Liceu for a spectacular 175th anniversary concert featuring music by Wagner and Strauss, under the baton of Josep Pons.
Other recent highlights include Brünnhilde in new productions of both Die Walküre and Götterdämmerung at Bayreuther Festspiele; a double appearance as Ortrud Lohengrin at Deutsche Oper Berlin and Staatsoper Berlin, as well as in a new production by David Alden at Opera Vlaanderen; The Ring Cycle under the baton of Daniel Barenboim at Staatsoper Berlin; the title role in Elektra at Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia; Brünnhilde Die Walküre at the Royal Swedish Opera and Teatro di San Carlo in Naples; the title role of La Gioconda at Gran Teatre del Liceu; and the title role of Turandot in new productions at Teatro Real Madrid, Gran Teatre del Liceu and New National Theatre Tokyo.
On the concert platform, she performed semi-staged performances of Die Walküre with the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra under Eva Ollikainen; Mahler Symphony No. 8 with the Oslo Philharmonic and Mikko Franck; a concert performance of Die Walküre in Bayreuth as part of its reduced 2021 season; Götterdämmerung for Oper Leipzig and concerts of Tristan und Isolde Act II with the Norwegian National Opera and Edward Gardner; Die Walküre with Sir Simon Rattle and the Bayerische Rundfunk - which was also released as a CD recording; a concert performance of ‘Liebestod’ Tristan und Isolde under Marek Janowski and the Monte Carlo Philharmonic; Schoenberg Gurrelieder with Orchestra of the Opéra national de Paris and Philippe Jordan; as well as recitals in Barcelona at the Gran Teatre del Liceu and Victoria de Los Angeles Foundation.
Her DVD recordings include Elektra from Salzburg Festival and Götterdämmerung from the Teatro alla Scala, both released by Arthaus, Tristan und Isolde from Bayreuth on Opus Arté and the award-winning Ring Cycle from Copenhagen on Decca. In March 2015, she was awarded singer of the year in Spain for her interpretation of Brünnhilde in Die Walküre in Barcelona 2014, and she has been knighted in the Order of the Dannebrog by Queen Margrethe II of Denmark.
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