Mezzo-soprano & court singer Kerstin Meyer April 3 1928 – April 14 2020
Kerstin Meyer studied singing with Arne Sunnegårdh and Andrejeva von Skilondz in Stockholm, Giorgio Favaretto in Rome, Paola Novikova in New York and Vera Rosza in London. Debut in 1952 as Azucena in Il trovatore. She was employed at the Royal Swedish Opera 1952–1962 and 1969–1981. After retirement, she was rector of the University College of Opera in 1984–1994.
Appointed court singer in 1963. LMA 1963, Litteris et Artibus 1975, professor 1987.
Kerstin Meyer performed as a guest in London (Covent Garden), Paris, Milan (La Scala), Vienna (Staatsoper), Munich, Cologne, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Oslo, Helsinki, Moscow, Warsaw, New York (The Met) San Fransisco and Buenos Aires (Teatro Colon). She undertook concert tours in Australia, Asia and New Zealand. With the Royal Swedish Opera, she performed as a guest in Edinburgh, Montreal, Hong Kong and Moscow.
Kerstin Meyer made several recordings and TV recordings, and gave masterclasses in Santa Fe, Aldeburgh, Krakow, Salzburg and in Scandinavia.
Among Kerstin Meyer’s roles
The title role in Carmen, Orpheus in Orfeo ed Eudirice (Gluck), Countess Geschwitz in Lulu and Marie in Wozzeck, the title role in Lucrezia Borgia, Claire in The Visit of the Old Lady (Gottfried von Einem), Bradamante and Ruggiero in Alcina, Kostelnicka in Jenůfa and Kabanicha in Káťa Kabanová, Spermando in Le grand macabre, Penelope in Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria (Monteverdi) and Ottavia in L'incoronazione di Poppea, Dorabella in Così fan tutte, Cherubino and Marcellina in Il nozze di Figaro, Marina in Boris Godunov, Delilah in Samson and Delilah , Klytaimnestra in Elektra, Clairon in Capriccio, Octavian and Annina in Der Rosenkavalier, Herodias in Salome, Iokaste in Oedipus Rex and Baba in The Rake’s Progress, Amneris in Aida, Eboli in Don Carlos, Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera, Maddalena in Rigoletto, Azucena in Il trovatore, Ortrud in Lohengrin, Magdalene in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Kundry in Parsifal, Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde, Fricka and Erda in Das Rheingold, Fricka in Die Walküre, Erda in Siegfried and Waltraute in Götterdämmerung.