Nina Stemme is one of the most prestigious sopranos of our time, celebrated for her interpretations of the Wagnerian repertoire.
She is particularly renowned for her roles as Brünnhilde in The Ring of the Nibelung and Isolde in Tristan und Isolde, where her powerful voice and exemplary technique are widely recognized. Stemme made her debuts at the Royal Opera House in London and the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where her performances were acclaimed for their precision and intensity. In 2013, she was honored with the Opera Critics’ Prize for her roles in Die Meistersinger der Nürnberg.
She is also acclaimed for her portrayal of the Valkyrie in Die Walküre, where her ability to convey the power and emotional complexity of the character was particularly noted. Her international career continues to flourish, cementing her status as an opera icon. In addition to her Wagnerian repertoire, she has also shone in works by Strauss, Verdi, and Puccini, demonstrating a versatility rare among sopranos of her generation. Her captivating stage presence and mastery of dramatic singing make her a must-see artist on opera stages around the world.
Biography
A wise Stockholm academic who takes singing lessons, this is the discreet debut of Nina Stemme, a Swede who went from the Stockholm Opera Studio to Cortona in Italy in the role of Cherubino in Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro" in 1989. Even more promising debuts opened up to her in 1993, during the first edition of the Operalia Placido Domingo competition, of which she became a laureate, and at the Cardiff Singer of the World, where she sang Debussy's "The Prodigal Son". Finally, her strong and clear voice would seduce beyond all hope an audience who elected her forever the new "Isolde", a role she played for the first time in 2003 in Wagner's opera "Tristan und Isolde" at the Glyndebourne Opera Festival.
In the early years of her career, Nina Stemme played a very wide variety of heroines. She then defended the famous roles of the composer Puccini such as Mimi in "La Bohème" and "Madame Butterfly". She demonstrated great audacity at this time, notably in 2001 during her brilliant interpretation of "Lady Macbeth" in Geneva, an opera by Shostakovich. Her supple and naturally deep voice initially bordered on the mezzo. A little later her carnal timbre, and her increasingly controlled and equal vibrato would earn her the renowned soprano she is today. International recognition, meanwhile, came with Isolde at the Glyndebourne Festival in 2003, then with Verdi's Aida at the Zurich Opera in 2006. She received, among others, the Kammersängerin of the Vienna Opera in 2012.
The most admirable feats attributed to Nina Stemme remain accentuated in her successive incarnations of Wagner's operas. She first sang with exaltation, but nuance, Brünnhilde in Die Walküre, then continued to reinvent Isolde in "Tristan und Isolde" which she would perform with Placido Domingo in 2006, the year in which she was also called to become a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. She also recorded with the Covent Garden Orchestra a recital based on the work Richard Strauss, conducted by Antonio Pappano, in 2007. In 2013 and 2014 she reprised Pucini in "Fanciulla del West", and it is another great success that she will embody, among others, at the Opéra Bastille.
Married to the scenographer Bengt Gomer with whom she has three children, Nina Stemme still lives in Stockholm.