Anna Larsson

Anna Larsson obtained her music diploma at the University College of Opera in Stockholm, her home town. In 1992 she met the British breathing and vocal coach Anna Sims, with whom she continues to work until today. Anna Larsson sang her opera début in 1996 in Carl Unander-Scharin‘s Tokfursten/ The King of Fools at Vadstena Castle. She went on to draw major international attention in her performance of Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony (No. 2) with the Berlin Philharmonic and Claudio Abbado in 1997.

With her rich, velvety, flowing voice, Anna Larson has made herself a worldwide reputation in the role of Erda in Wagner’s Ring cycle, with performances in the opera houses of Berlin, Vienna, Salzburg, Aix-en-Provence, and Milan. She has also covered the roles of Waltraute, Orphée, Fricka, Dalilah and Zia Principessa in venues such as Stockholm Royal Opera, Bavarian State Opera (Munich), the Palau des Arts (Valencia), and Finnish National Opera, along with the festivals in Salzburg and Aix-en-Provence, collaborating with conductors including Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, Christoph von Dohnányi, and Kent Nagano. In January 2011 she sang her début as Kundry (Parsifal) at the Théâtre de La Monnaie in Brussels.

As a concert vocalist she has collaborated with some of the world’s greatest orchestras, including the Berlin, Vienna, New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, the Chicago Symphony, the LSO, and the LPO. Anna Larson masters practically all the classical repertoire for contralto and orchestra, and has especially made herself a name as an interpreter of Mahler. She also loves to sing Lieder, going regularly tour with internationally renowned pianists in vocal programmes featuring a wide range of German, British and Scandinavian art song repertoire.

In 2010, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden conferred Anna Larsson the title of Royal Court Singer. In 2011, she inaugurated her own concert hall: the Vattnäs Concert Barn in the village of Vattnäs near Mora in the Swedish province of Dalarna.