​Ann Hallenberg wins Tidskriften Opera award

Ann Hallenberg has been announced as the winner of the 2019 Opera Prize, which is awarded annually by Tidskriften Opera. The mezzo-soprano was chosen by the magazine’s readers for her Ariodante at Drottningholms Slottsteater last summer. The prize will be awarded at a solo concert to be held at the theatre on 29 August.

Tidskriften Opera’s critic writes: When Ann Hallenberg sings ‘Scherza infida’ in the second act, the atmosphere reaches its zenith and the audience is transported for an eternal moment beyond time and space, to which terms like endless do no justice.

The solo concert, the first that the world renowned mezzo will have performed in Sweden for many years, will be held on 29 August at the historical Drottningholm Court Theatre, where she is Artist in Residence. Titled Donne disprezzate, the raging heroines of the Baroque, the concert also features the Drottningholm Theatre Orchestra under the direction of Stefano Montanari and will include arias by Torri, Orlandi and Giacomelli, amongst others.

“Over the years I’ve encountered many Baroque heroines,” says Hallenberg. “They are heartbroken, furious and justifiably heading for a nervous breakdown! Who hasn’t heard of Fedra’s passion, Dejanira’s horror, Medea’s hatred and Irene’s pain? Handel was and remains a master of the poignant female portrait, the Baroque firmament is speckled with stars we barely know the name of.”

Ann Hallenberg studied at the Stockholm University College of Opera and has since established herself, to greater fame abroad than in Sweden, as one of the world’s leading mezzos. For Drottningholms Slottsteater’s 2020 season, she will be singing the title role in Handel’s Agrippina.

Ann Hallenberg has a predilection for early music by the likes of Monteverdi, Purcell, Handel, Vivaldi, Bach and Glück, but she has also sung in operas by Mozart, Rossini and Bizet. Her great breakthrough came in 2003 after replacing Cecilia Bartoli as Piacere (Pleasure) at short notice for a performance of Handel’s oratorio Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno in Zürich – a role that Hallenberg sang on Emmanuelle Haïm’s award-winning recording from 2006.

Hallenberg guests a number of leading opera stages, such as La Scala in Milan, Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Opéra National de Paris, Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich and Staatsoper Berlin. Her concert repertoire is extensive and here too she sings with all the world’s leading orchestras, such as the Berliner Philharmoniker and Baroque ensembles like Les Talens Lyriques, Il Pomo d´Oro and Europa Galante. Ann Hallenberg appears on some 40 CDs and DVDs, and her solo album Agrippina was picked as Best Operatic Recital at the Opera International Awards in London in spring 2016, two years after she had won the same prize for her album Carnevale 1729.

Solo concert with Ann Hallenberg

Donne disprezzate
​The Raging Heroines of the Baroque
​Saturday 29 August, 7:00 pm
​Ann Hallenberg and the Drottningholm Theatre Orchestra
​Conductor: Stefano Montanari
​Pre-performance introduction by Holger Schmitt-Hallenberg
​Post-concert talk with Ann Hallenberg and Stefano Montanari

Tickets go on sale 18 March
​With the kind support of the Friends of Drottningholms Slottsteater through the Henrik Nordmark Trust

For more information or to arrange an interview with Ann Hallenberg, please contact: Elin West, press Drottningholms Slottsteater, 0733 50 26 25, elin.west@dtm.se

For more information about the Opera Prize, please contact:
Sören Tranberg, editor-in-chief, Tidskriften Opera, 0709-67 58 63, st@tidskriftenopera.nu