Vita

The Danish/German soprano Susanne Elmark has been in great demand in opera and concert houses worldwide for many years.

She has performed at Deutsche Oper Berlin, Berliner Staatsoper, Bayerische Staatsoper, Hamburgische Staatsoper, Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona, Teatro Real Madrid, Opernhaus Zürich, Teatro Colón Buenos Aires, Oslo, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Köln and Wiener Volksoper in such roles as ZERBINETTA (Ariadne auf Naxos), QUEEN OF THE NIGHT (Zauberflöte), KONSTANZE (Entführung), LULU (Lulu), FIAKERMILLI (Arabella), MARIE (Die Soldaten), CLAUDIA (Stilles Meer), CORDELIA (Lear) and INANNA (Babylon).

In addition to her classical opera and concert repertoire, Susanne Elmark has always dedicated herself to contemporary music, with several pieces written specifically for her with numerous world premieres, including CLAUDIA in Toshio Hosokawa’s opera Stilles Meer at Hamburgische Staatsoper under conductor Kent Nagano. She has performed Hanspeter Kyburz’s Still and Again in collaborations with Ensemble Modern and Ensemble Intercontemporain at festivals in Frankfurt, Genève, Strassbourg and at the Lucerne Festival. Other performances include the demanding solo piece NOT I by Heinz Holliger at the Lucerne Festival, Morton Feldmann´s one woman opera Neither in Philharmonie Luxembourg, AGNES in Written on Skin in Suntory Hall Tokyo with conductor Kazushi Ono and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra and ISHMAELA in Olga Neuwirth’s opera The Outcast at Wiener Konzerthaus and in Philharmonie de Paris.

She is the soprano that has sung the most performances worldwide of MARIE in Zimmermann´s Die Soldaten in the opera houses of Zurich, Berlin, Madrid (director Calixto Bieito), Buenos Aires (director Pablo Maritano) and Nürnberg (director Peter Konwitschny).

Recent engagements include WIFE in Schnittke’s opera Life with an Idiot at Opernhaus Zürich (2024), CORDELIA in Reimann’s Lear at Teatro Real in Madrid (2024) and LADY MACBETH in Verdi’s Macbeth at Opera Lucerne (2022).

She has sung with conductors such as Christian Thielemann, Philippe Jordan, Gustavo Dudamel, Kent Nagano, Kazushi Ono, Carlo Rizzi, Gary Bertini, Michael Boder, Sir Colin Davis, Eliahu Inbal, Marek Janowski, Michael Schønwandt and Marcello Viotti. In concert Susanne Elmark has performed Beethoven’s 9th Symphony under Gustavo Dudamel in Barcelona and Madrid, the solo parts in Mozart’s C-Dur Messe, Exsultate Jubilate, Berg’s Lulu Suite and Sieben frühe Lieder, Bach’s Johannespassion, Pergulesi’s Stabat Mater, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Hosokawa’s Nach dem Sturm (written for her) at venues like the Berliner Philharmonie, Gewandhaus zu Leipzig, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the St. Petersburg Philharmonie, Philharmonie Luxembourg and Oslo Philharmonie.

She has made several CD recordings, including as CELIA in Mozart’s Lucio Silla (conductor Ádám Fischer) and a solo album, Ch’il bel Sogno, featuring arias by Verdi, Puccini and Mozart, released in 2016 on Naxos.

Susanne Elmark is teaching masterclasses and coaching opera singers all over the world, has among other places given two masterclasses at the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia, at the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in St. Petersburg, Institute of Music, Theatre and Dance in St. Petersburg, the Conservatory of San Sebastián, Spain, all over Denmark and for four years at the Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg in Berlin. She gives lectures and has written the essay “You are not alone” about how to perform one’s best under pressure. She has also written a guide for auditioning, and in October 2016 her book “Det var med Vilje” (“It was intentional”) was published in Denmark, detailing her 25 years on stage and her journey to an international career combined with raising three children.

2025-03-12

Media

Luzerner Theater | MACBETH

Opernhaus Zürich | DIE SOLDATEN

Oper Köln | BARKOUF

Mozart: Die Hölle Rache

Staatsoper Unter den Linden | BABYLON

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