– biography
Désirée Baraula Massari is a Swedish-Italian mezzo soprano, born in Stockholm and raised in a musical family. Among her recent engagements are the role of Sylva in Czardasfürstinnen at the Norwegian National Opera, as well as Emilia in Verdi’s Otello at OscarsborgOperaen (2022). In the summer of 2021, she sang the role of Zaida to great acclaim in a new production of Rossini’s Il Turco in Italia at the prestigious Glyndebourne Opera Festival, conducted by Sesto Quatrini.
In 2020, she returned to the Norwegian National Opera in Oslo for roles such as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly and Suora Zelatrice in Suor Angelica. On the same stage, she has also performed as The Sorceress in Dido and Aeneas, Maddalena in Rigoletto, and featured as a vocal soloist in Christian Spuck’s ballet Anna Karenina.
Earlier in her career Ms Baraula Massari sang the title role in Carmen in Kristiansund and Sandefjord, Norway. In December 2016, she had the honor of performing at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo.
Her broader repertoire includes roles such as Dorabella (Così fan tutte), Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro), La mère d’Antonia (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), Lola (Cavalleria Rusticana), and Der Komponist (Ariadne auf Naxos). In 2014, she created the role of Zerlina in the premiere of the newly composed opera Min bror är Don Juan at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm.
Désirée graduated from the Opera Academy in Stockholm in 2015 and immediately joined the Young Artist Programme at the Norwegian National Opera in Oslo. During her studies and early career, she performed roles including Tisbe (La Cenerentola), Mercédès (Carmen), Annina (La Traviata), and Glascha (Katja Kabanova).
She has received several scholarships from the Royal Swedish Academy of Music and was awarded the Bayreuth Scholarship in 2015. Over the years, she has collaborated with prominent conductors such as Carlo Rizzi, Rinaldo Alessandrini, and Daniele Callegari, as well as directors including Stefan Herheim and Willy Decker.
