Anna Larsson

Court singer Anna Larsson started her musical education already at the age of ten, when she began her studies in Stockholm at the Swedish choir school Adolf Fredriks Musikskola and graduated after nine years, having majored in language and music. At the age of seventeen Anna met her singing teacher Florence Düselius, who was a great and constant inspiration, encouraging her to develop her talents and pursue a professional singing career. They continued to work together until Florence passed away in August 2006.

Anna was trained in Performing Arts Skills for three years at Operastudio -67 before entering the Stockholm College of Opera. There she met Anna Sims, the English Breathing and Voice coach, with whom she continues to work.

Anna Larsson's international debut was made in Mahler's second Symphony with the Berlin Philhamonic Orchestra and Claudio Abbado in 1997 and her opera debut as Erda in Wagner's Das Rheingold at Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin conducted by Daniel Barenboim.

Anna Larsson has, among other roles, achieved international recognition and status as the world's foremost exponent of Erda, with her rich, mellifluous, "dark velvet" voice, in Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, with performances at opera houses in Berlin,Vienna, Munich, Salzburg, Aix-en-Provence, Stockholm and at Teatro alla Scala in Milan. She has successfully created the roles of Waltraute, Orphée, Fricka and Dalilah at theaters including Bayerisches Staatsoper München, Festspiele Salzburg and Aix-en-Provence, Teatro Maggio Musicale Firenze, Palao des Arts Valencia, Royal Opera Copenhagen, Finnish National Opera and Royal Opera Stockholm, with many distinguished conductors- Barenboim, Mehta, Welser- Möst, Rattle, von Dohnany, Segerstam, and Nagano.

In concert, Anna is rightly justifying her position internationally as the premier, and most consumate interpreter of Gustav Mahler's works. She regularly sings with all the great orchestras; Berliner Philharmoniker, Lucern Festival Orchestra, New York Philharmonics, Wiener Philharmoniker, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonics, London Symphony and London Philharmonic orchestras.

She sings almost the entire concert repertoire for contralto and orchestra, with the most illustrious conductors including Abbado, Mehta, Salonen, Rattle, Pappano, Dudamel, Osawa, Masur, Maazel, Gilbert and Harnoncourt. Her extensive repertoire ranges from Handel's Messiah to' Elgars Sea Pictures, Gustav Mahlers all songcycles and Verdi Requiem, to contemporary music.

Anna Larsson has a special interrest in Lieder singing, and she is regularly touring with international accompanists singing her vast repertoire of German, English and Scandinavian songs.

In the last years she has sung recitals in Wigmore Hall, London, Brahms Saal in Musikverein in Vienna and troughout the most important festivals and concerthalls in Sweden.

Anna was nominated for a Grammy 2005 for the recording of R Strauss "Daphne", with Westdeutsche Rundfunks Symphonieorchester conducted by Semyon Bychkov.

In December 2010 Anna Larsson was appointed Court Singer by King Carl XVI Gustaf, and the same year she was awarded The Royal Swedish Academy of Music's Interpretation Prize.

The autumn 2009 Anna Larsson sang Gustav Mahler’s Rückert Lieder on tour with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and Gustavo Dudamel, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with Antonio Pappano and The Orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, and Erda in Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Vienna State Opera.

Her recent engagements include Das Lied von der Erde with Antonio Pappano in Rome, Orphée in Gluck’s Orphée at the Stockholm Royal Opera, Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody with Vladimir Jurowski at Royal Festival Hall and Erda in Das Rheingold at Teatro alla Scala in Milan.
 
Anna Larsson started the season 2010/2011 with Mahler's Symphony no. 3 with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra at Edinburgh International Festival and Lucerne Festival, Berlioz’ Les nuit d’été with HR Sinfonie Orchester and Antonello Manacorda in Frankfurt and Erda in Das Rheingold at Staatsoper unter den Linden in Berlin. In January 2011 she made her debut as Kundry in Parsifal at La Monnaie in Brussels to great acclaim.
 
Recent and future engagements include Erda in Das Rheingold and Siegfried at Wiener Staatsoper, Das Lied von der Erde with Fabio Luisi and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam and Leipzig, and Zia Principessa in Sour Angelica at The Royal Opera in London. 

In the summer 2011 Anna Larsson presents the first season in her own concert house, Vattnäs Concert Barn, in the village Vattnäs near Mora in Dalecarlia.