KLARA EK SOPRANO BIOGRAPHY
Klara Ek’s soprano voice has a rare clarity and beauty that is appreciated by many of the world’s foremost conductors and orchestras. She has sung Mahler’s 4 Symphony with the London Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, Los Angeles Philharmonic and NHK Orchestra under names such as Bernard Haitink, Gustavo Dudamel and Vladimir Ashkenazy. She recently debuted with the same work at the BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall, then with BBC Wales under the direction of Thomas Søndergaard. This season she is currently at Malmö Opera where she participates in the operetta gala ”An evening with Thalia”. At the same theater, she recently sang the role of Diana in Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld.
Klara is especially appreciated for her contributions to early music with conductors such as René Jacobs, Ton Koopman, Christopher Hoogwood, Antonio Antonini, Ottavio Dantone, Philippe Herreweghe and Alan Curtis. Klara has sung Edilia in Handel’s Almira at the Staatsoper Hamburg during Sébastian Rouland, Clelie in Hasses Leucippo at the Opera Köln with Gianluca Capuano, Rosmonda in Porporas Il Germanio in Germanica and Elisetta in Cimarosas Il Matrimonio Segreto at Innsbrucker Festwochen and Alten Musik de Marchi and the title role in Handel’s Berenice at Theater an der Wien, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and Teatro Real, with Alan Curtis and Il Complesso Barocco, a role she also recorded on CD.
Klara has sung the soprano part in Handel’s Messiah with, among others Minnesota Orchestra under Osmo Vänskä, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Charlotte Symphony Orchestra and Nashville Symphony Orchestra with Christopher Warren-Green and National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC with Rinaldo Alessandrini.
Klara made her debut as Susanna in Figaro’s Wedding at the Royal Theater in Copenhagen; a role she also sang at Staatsoper Stuttgart and Göteborgsoperan. Other Mozart roles are Pamina in Trollflöjten at Staatsoper Stuttgart, Erste Dame in the same opera at La Monnaie in Brussels, Papagena at Drottningholms Slottsteater, Ilia in Idomeneo at Den Jyske Opera, Despina in Cosi fan Tutte at Folkoperan in Stockholm and Den Jyske Opera and Countess in Figaro’s Wedding at the Hokutopia Festival in Tokyo. Klara has also recorded several Mozart operas with Ian Page and Classical Opera / The Mozartists; see discography below.
On the concert stages, Klara has sung Haydn’s Die Schöpfung with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Bernard Haitink, the same work under Helmuth Rilling both with NSO in Washington DC and with the Zealand Symphony Orchestra in Tivoli’s Concert Hall, Bach’s Magnificat with the Berlin Philharmonic and Ton Koopman, Alban Bergs 7 Frühe Lieder with Nikolaj Znaider with the Orquesta de Valencia at the Palau de la Música and Die Jahreszeiten with the Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra and Adam Fisher. Klara made her debut with the Hallé Orchestra Manchester in Beethoven’s 9 Symphony under Nikolaj Znaider, a work she also recorded with Copenhagen Phil and Lan Shui. With the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Klara has, among other things sang Mozart’s C minor mass under the direction of Nikolai Znaider.
This season Klara will join Malmö Opera again for “Vinteryra.”
Other current highlights include Gretchen in Schumann’s Szenen aus Goethe’s Faust with the DR Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Michael Schønwandt, Grieg’s Peer Gynt with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Alain Altinoglu at the Gothenburg Concert Hall and on a European tour, then with Marc Soustro . She recently sang the same work with the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla.
Recently, Klara participated in the Norrland Opera’s ”We – an unknown opera by Bach?” and played the role of Euridice in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice with Trondheim Symphony Orchestra & Opera.
Discography
Mozart; Melia i Apollo et Hyacinthus
Ismene i Mitridate
Costanza i Il sogno di Scipione
The A-Z of Mozart Opera
Händel; The title role in Berenice
D. Scarlatti; Seleuce and Tolomeo ed Alessandro
Beethoven; Symphony No. 9
