Nina Stemme

Biography

Nina Maria Stemme (born Thöldte, 11 May 1963) is a Swedish dramatic soprano opera singer.
Stemme "is regarded by today's opera fans as our era's greatest Wagnerian soprano". In 2010, Michael Kimmelman wrote of one of Stemme's performances in Richard Wagner's opera Die Walküre, "As for Brünnhilde, Nina Stemme sang gloriously. It's hard to recall anyone's sounding more commanding or at ease in the part, and that includes Kirsten Flagstad".

Early life and education

Born in Stockholm as Nina Maria Thöldte, she played piano and viola in her youth. She attended Adolf Fredrik's Music School, a high-profile song-and-chorus school in Stockholm. During a year as an exchange student at Langley High School in McLean, Virginia, she joined the school chorus, sang solos and won awards. She changed her last name to her mother's last name Stemme.
Parallel to her studies of business administration and economics at the Stockholm University, Stemme followed a two-year course at the Stockholm Operastudio. Her debut as Cherubino in Cortona, Italy, in 1989 made Stemme decide to follow a professional singer's career; her studies at the University College of Opera in Stockholm were completed in 1994. In addition to two minor roles at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm, she also sang Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus), Mimì (La bohème), Euridice in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, and Diana (La fedeltà premiata by Haydn).
She sang in two singing competitions, Operalia, The World Opera Competition and Cardiff Singer of the World. As winner of Operalia in 1993, Stemme was invited by Plácido Domingo, founder of Operalia, to appear with him in a concert at La Bastille (1993); the same concert also took place on 1 January 1994 in Munich.

Career

Since her 1989 operatic debut as Cherubino, Stemme has appeared with many opera companies, including the Royal Swedish Opera Stockholm, the Vienna State Opera, La Scala Milano, Semperoper Dresden, Grand Théâtre de Genève, the Zurich Opera, Teatro di San Carlo Naples, Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona, Opéra Bastille Paris, Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, Covent Garden London, Teatro Real Madrid, Teatro Colón Buenos Aires, the Metropolitan Opera New York, San Francisco Opera, as well as at the Bayreuth, Salzburg, Savonlinna, Glyndebourne and Bregenz festivals.
Her roles include Rosalinde, Mimì in La bohème, Cio-Cio San in Madama Butterfly, Turandot, Tosca, Manon Lescaut, Suor Angelica, Euridice, Katerina in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro, Marguerite, Agathe, Marie, Nyssia (König Kandaules), Jenůfa, Marschallin, Eva, Elisabeth, Elsa, Senta, Sieglinde, Elisabeth in Tannhäuser and Isolde. This last brought her critical acclaim at Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 2003, on disc for EMI Classics with Plácido Domingo, Antonio Pappano and the chorus and orchestra of the Royal Opera, Covent Garden released in 2005 and most recently at the Bayreuth Festival in 2005 and again in 2006. In 2007 Stemme returned in the role of Isolde to Glyndebourne Festival Opera where she made her debut in the role.
In 2006, Stemme sang Maria in the premiere of Sven-David Sandström's Ordet – en passion, on 24 March in Stockholm. She also made her role debut in the title role of Aida in a new production at Zürich Opera and recorded her first album of Richard Strauss's Four Last Songs and final scenes. On the concert platform in 2006–07, she appeared in recital with Antonio Pappano (piano) in Barcelona and Dresden and in recital at the Zürich Opera.
In 2008, Stemme replaced Deborah Voigt in what would have been Voigt's role debut as Brünnhilde in the opera Siegfried, part of a new Vienna State Opera Ring cycle conducted by Franz Welser-Möst. Stemme also sang Brünnhilde in the 2010 season opening at La Scala and in San Francisco Opera's 2011 Ring cycle.
In 2015 Stemme performed at GöteborgsOperan in Gothenburg, Sweden, in a new opera by composer Hans Gefors with libretto by Kerstin Perski and directed by Keith Warner. The opera is based on Alfred Hitchcock's spy thriller Notorious from 1946. Other members of the cast included Katarina Karnéus, John Lundgren and Michael Weinius.
In September and October 2016, Stemme returned to the role of Isolde in the Metropolitan Opera's new production of "Tristan und Isolde". In 2017, Stemme was the soprano soloist at the Last Night of the Proms.
In February 2026 she appeared as Waltraute "providing a veritable masterclass in Wagnerian singing through her commanding vocal presence and stylistic authority" in Götterdämmerung at La Scala, Milan, directed by David McVicar and conducted by Alexander Soddy.
Stemme performs on average 40 times per year in various venues around the world.

Personal life

Stemme lives in Stockholm. She is married to stage designer Bengt Gomér and has three children. She speaks five languages.