Vita

The Danish native, in Copenhagen educated coloratura soprano Susanne Elmark has been in great demand in the opera and concert houses of the entire world for the last twenty years.

With roles such as Zerbinetta (ARIADNE AUF NAXOS), Queen of the Night (DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE), Konstanze (DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL), Lulu (LULU), Fiakermilli (ARABELLA), Marie (DIE SOLDATEN), and Claudia (STILLES MEER), Susanne Elmark has performed at venues including Deutsche Oper Berlin, Bavarian State Opera Munich, Hamburg State Opera, Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona, Teatro Real Madrid, Opera Oslo, Frankfurt Opera, Cologne Opera, Zurich Opera House, Vienna Volksoper, the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen, and Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.

In addition to her classical opera and concert repertoire, the artist often dedicates herself to contemporary music, with several pieces having been written specifically for her, as evidenced by numerous world premieres. These include Claudia in the world premiere of Toshio Hosokawa’s opera STILLES MEER at Hamburg State Opera under the baton of Kent Nagano. She has performed at major festivals in Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Germany, France, and Spain. In collaboration with Ensemble Intercontemporain, she performed Hanspeter Kyburz’s Still and Again at the Lucerne Festival in 2011.

As an oratorio singer, Susanne Elmark has performed the solo parts in works such as Mozart’s Requiem, C Major Mass, and Exsultate Jubilate, Berg’s Lulu Suite, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and St. John Passion, Handel’s Messiah, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, and Orff’s Carmina Burana in venues such as the Oslo Philharmonic, the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, the Philharmonie in St. Petersburg, the Berlin Philharmonie, the Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the Luxembourg Philharmonie, and the Vienna Konzerthaus.

Recent engagements include Cordelia in Aribert Reimann’s LEAR at Teatro Real in Madrid, her debut as Lady Macbeth in a new production of Verdi’s MACBETH at Luzerner Theater, Ishmaela in Olga Neuwirth’s THE OUTCAST at the Philharmonie de Paris, Inanna in a new production of Jörg Widmann’s BABYLON at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, Agnes in WRITTEN ON SKIN at Suntory Hall Tokyo with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony under Gustavo Dudamel in Barcelona and Madrid, the complex solo piece Not I by Heinz Holliger at the Lucerne Festival, Maima in a new production of Jacques Offenbach’s BARKOUF at the Cologne Opera, and Queen Lovisa in the world premiere of Karsten Fundal’s opera INKOGNITO ROYAL at Den Jyske Opera in Aarhus.

Susanne Elmark has collaborated with conductors such as Gary Bertini, Michael Boder, Sir Colin Davis, Gustavo Dudamel, Ádám Fischer, Eliahu Inbal, Marek Janowski, Philippe Jordan, Paul McCreesh, Kent Nagano, Kazushi Ono, Carlo Rizzi, Michael Schønwandt, Peter Schreier, Christian Thielemann, and Marcello Viotti. She has also made several CD recordings, including as Celia in Mozart’s opera LUCIO SILLA.

In recent years, Susanne Elmark has started teaching masterclasses and coaching opera singers, including several masterclasses at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in St. Petersburg, the Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg in Berlin, and the Conservatory of San Sebastián.

In October 2016, her book was published in Denmark, detailing her 25 years on stage, her journey to an international career, and a life lived out of a suitcase: “Det var med vilje” (“It Was Deliberate”). Her first solo album, Arias: Ch’il bel Sogno, featuring opera arias by Verdi, Puccini, and Mozart, was also released on Naxos, accompanied by the South Denmark Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Robert Reimer.

2024-08-15

Media

Luzerner Theater | MACBETH

Opernhaus Zürich | DIE SOLDATEN

Oper Köln | BARKOUF

Mozart: Die Hölle Rache

Staatsoper Unter den Linden | BABYLON

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