Monday 14th December, 7pm for 7:30pm at the Swedenborg Hall

Elisabet Strid in Conversation with Christopher Cook

Join us in person at the Swedenborg Hall for our final event of the year to hear Christopher Cook interview Swedish soprano Elisabet Strid to discuss her extensive work singing Wagner roles, including as Brünnhilde in the current Covent Garden “Ring Cycle”, to round off 2026!

The Swedish soprano is one of the most successful young interpreters of Wagner and Strauss roles.

After her successful house debut at the ROH Covent Garden Opera London as SENTA in “Der Fliegende Holländer” in 2024, she inspired audiences there in 2025 and 2026 with her debuts as BRÜNNHILDE in the new productions of “Die Walküre” and “Siegfried” (Mo. Antonio Pappano / stage director Barrie Kosky). In 2027 she returns there as BRÜNNHILDE in “Götterdämmerung”.

Further engagements in the upcoming seasons include BRÜNNHILDE in “Siegfried” with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Santa Cecilia in Rome, SALOME and ISOLDE in “Tristan und Isolde” at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, ISOLDE at the Budapest Wagner Days, TOSCA at the Royal Opera Stockholm, as well as Ring cycles at the ROH London.

In summer 2026 she also sang BRÜNNHILDE in “Die Walküre” at the Budapest Wagner Days. Besides, in the season 2025/26 she inspired with two more role debuts in the Italian repertoire. She sang her first TOSCA at the Helsinki National Opera and was celebrated for her TURANDOT at the Royal Opera Stockholm. Moreover, recitals brought her to London and Stockholm.

Before, she impressed as ISOLDE in “Tristan und Isolde” at the Royal Opera Copenhagen, the Grand Théâtre de Genève, the Teatro de la Maestranza Sevilla and the Luxembourg Philharmonic.

Lately, she was celebrated as SALOME at the Bolshoi Opera in Moscow, the Royal Opera Stockholm, the Israeli Opera Tel Aviv, the Teatro Comunale di Bologna and the Leipzig Opera. She portrayed CHRYSOTHEMIS in “Elektra” with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, at the Royal Opera Copenhagen, the National Opera Helsinki and at the Baltic Sea Festival.

Her most sung roles include SIEGLINDE (Chicago Lyric Opera, Teatro Real Madrid, GöteborgsOperan, Norske Opera Oslo, Royal Opera Stockholm, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, the Rhine Opera Düsseldorf-Duisburg, the Budapest Wagner Days, …) and SENTA (Michigan Opera Detroit, Leipzig Opera, Rhine Opera Düsseldorf, the Stuttgart State Opera, the Budapest Wagner Days, the Opéra de Lille, the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, the New National Opera Tokyo, the Palau de les Arts Valencia …).

Further engagements took her to the Deutsche Oper Berlin as ELS in “Die Schatzgräber” in a Christof Loy production (DVD released on the Naxos label in 2023), the Semperoper Dresden, the Flemish Opera Antwerp, the Cape Town Opera, the Teatro Bellas Artes in Mexico, the Riga National Opera, and numerous festivals including the Bayreuth Festival, the Hong Kong Arts Festival, the Festival Opera Open at the Plovdiv Antique Amphitheatre, the 2019 European Capital of Culture celebrations, the Wiesbaden May Festival, the Leipzig Wagner Days and the Ravello Festival.

Other roles in her repertoire include ELISABETH in “Tannhäuser”, EVA in “Die Meistersinger”, FREIA and GUTRUNE in Wagner’s “Ring”, as well as RUSALKA, LISA in “Pique Dame”, GIORGETTA in “Il Tabarro” and ELLEN ORFORD in “Peter Grimes”.

Elisabet studied singing at Stockholm University. While still studying, she made her debut at the Vadstena Academy as “Brygitta” in Carl Unander-Scharin’s opera, which he had composed in 2003. First engagements brought her to the Royal Opera Stockholm and the Malmö Opera.

Elisabet Strid is also an internationally sought-after concert soloist. Her many performances include Francis Poulenc’s “Gloria”, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Bruckner’s “Te Deum”, Wagner’s “Wesendonck-Lieder” and ISOLDE’s “Liebestod”, as well as SALOME’s final scene with the Swedish Radio Orchestra, the Stockholm Symphony Orchestra, the OFUNAM Symphony Orchestra Mexico City, the Miskolc Symphony Orchestra, the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bochum Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

Elisabet Strid works with renowned conductors and stage directors such as Antonio Pappano, Zubin Mehta, Andris Nelsons, Kirill Petrenko, Daniel Harding, Ádám Fischer, Gustavo Gimeno, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Juraj Valčuha, Cornelius Meister, Alan Gilbert, Dan Ettinger, Axel Kober, Ivan Anguélov, Lorin Maazel, Ulf Schirmer, Kent Nagano, Christof Loy, Frank Castorf, Stefan Herheim, Barrie Kosky, Barbe & Doucet, Aron Stiehl, David Pountney, Dietrich Hilsdorf, Calixto Bieito and Dmitri Tcherniakov.

Her first CD “Leuchtende Liebe” (Beethoven & Wagner) was released on the Oehms Classics label.

In the Yearbook 2020 of the magazine Opernwelt, she was elected Best Singer for her interpretation of SIEGLINDE at GöteborgsOperan.

In 2024 Elisabet Strid was awarded the Litteris et Artibus Medal by His Majesty the King of Sweden for her “outstanding contributions to Swedish musical life”.

(Biography taken from Mennicken PR: https://www.mennicken-pr.com/english/strid.html.)