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Miah Persson

Soprano

  • Since her operatic debut as Susanna Le nozze di Figaro in 1998, Swedish soprano Miah Persson has distinguished herself as one of the world’s principal Mozart interpreters, leaving a lasting legacy on those lyric soprano roles for which she has become most celebrated: Susanna, Zerlina Don Giovanni, Sophie Der Rosenkavalier, Poppea L’Incoronazione di Poppea and later Fiordiligi Cosi fan Tutte, Donna Elvira Don Giovanni and Contessa Le nozze di Figaro. Having ‘added a burnish of gold to the silvery soprano that served her so well in Mozart roles’ (The Sunday Times), Persson has now ‘cemented her place as one of the most intelligent Strauss sopranos of our time at the peak of her powers’ (Bachtrack), with impactful role debuts as the Marschallin Der Rosenkavalier and Countess Capriccio.

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  • In the 2021-22 season Persson made her house and role debut as Countess Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro at the Semperoper Dresden, followed by Countess Almaviva in Netia Jones’ new production at the Opéra National de Paris. Equally as treasured a performer on the concert platform, she performed Mozart Mass in C Minor with both the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Zubin Mehta and at Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin conducted by Simone Young; Mahler Symphony No. 2 with Orchestre National de Lyon and Stockholm Swedish Radio Orchestra and Mahler Symphony No. 4 at the BBC Proms with BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Ryan Bancroft.  
     
    Highlights of the 2022-23 season included a return to the role of the Governess Turn of the Screw with Budapest Festival Orchestra in Budapest and Vicenza; Countess Almaviva in the first revival of Opéra National de Paris’ new production of Le nozze di Figaro at the Palais Garnier; the role of Solomon’s Queen in a tour of Handel Solomon with Harry Bicket and The English Concert, performing at Carnegie Hall, LA Opera, San Francisco, London and Madrid; Haydn Creation with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal cond. Bernard Labadie and Beethoven Symphony No. 9 with the Orchestre National de Lyon cond. Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider. Persson also returned to Michel van der Aa Blank Out, a chamber opera for soprano and 3D film, for performances at Zellerbach Hall, Cal Performances Berkeley and at the Muziekgebouw Amsterdam. 
     
    Persson's 2023-24 season highlights included Berlioz Les Nuits d'eté in Sweden with the Norrbotten Chamber Orchestra; Beethoven Missa Solemnis with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin cond. Vladimir Jurowski; Beethoven Symphony No. 9 & Strauss Lieder on tour in Spain with the Orchestre National de Lyon; Bach St John Passion in Chicago with Music of the Baroque cond. Jane Glover; and performances of Verdi Requiem in Glasgow and Edinburgh with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra cond. Ryan Wigglesworth, at the Royal Albert Hall with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra cond. Vasily Petrenko and at the National Concert Hall Dublin with the National Symphony Orchestra cond. Jaime Martín. Persson also appeared in recital at the Victoria de los Ángeles Festival, Barcelona with Joseph Middleton, at Oxford International Song Festival and the Prague Spring Festival with Malcolm Martineau and at London’s Wigmore Hall with Magnus Svensson. 
     
    Persson's 2024-25 season highlights include Strauss Vier letzte Lieder at New York’s Lincoln Center with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra cond. Santtu-Matias Rouvali, at the Muziekgebouw Eindhoven with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra cond. Sir Mark Elder and in Palermo with the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana cond. Harmat Haenchen. She also gives concert performances of Marschallin Der Rosenkavalier with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra cond. Jonathan Nott at Suntory Hall and Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall, Mahler Symphony No. 4 with the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra and Mahler Symphony No. 2 with the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra cond. Benjamin Zander. Recital appearances include a Schubert and Liszt programme at London’s Wigmore Hall with tenor Stuart Jackson and pianist Julius Drake and a performance with pianist Magnus Svensson at the Stockholm Konserthuset. Future plans include appearances with the Budapest Festival Orchestra.  
     
    Throughout her distinguished career, Persson has performed Fiordiligi Cosi fan tutte, Gretel Hansel und Gretel and Pamina Die Zauberflöte at the Metropolitan Opera; Susanna Le Nozze di Figaro and Zerlina Don Giovanni for the Royal Opera House Covent Garden; title role L'Incoronazione di Poppea and Governess Turn of the Screw at Teatro alla Scala; Fiordiligi, Sophie and Susanna at the Wiener Staatsoper; Governess, Fiordiligi, Donna Elvira and Anne Trulove The Rake’s Progress at the Glyndebourne Festival; Donna Elvira at the Theatre Champs Elysées and the Liceu Barcelona; Fiordiligi at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Hamburgische Staatsoper, New National Theatre Tokyo, Bayerische Staatsoper, in Stockholm and for a Deutsche Grammophon recording at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden; Iris Sunken Garden for Dallas Opera and L’Incoronazione di Poppea at Carnegie Hall. She also created the central role in Michel van der Aa Blank Out for the Netherlands Opera with performances in Amsterdam, Rome and the Park Avenue Armory, New York. 
     
    In concert, Persson has sung Bach Mass in B Minor at Teatro La Fenice; Bach St Matthew Passion with the Rotterdam Philharmonic; Beethoven 9 with the London Symphony Orchestra cond. Vladimir Jurowski at the BBC Proms; Brahms Requiem with the State Symphony Orchestra of Russia, the Gulbenkian Foundation and the London Philharmonic; Peer Gynt with the Vienna Symphony; Nelson Mass at the Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum Salzburg; The Seasons with the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic; Mahler 2 with the MDR Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, London Symphony, Teatro alla Scala and the Philharmonie Luxembourg; Mahler 4 with the Basque National Orchestra, Philharmonie Luxembourg, Budapest Festival Orchestra and Orchestre National de Lille; Des Knaben Wunderhorn for the Gulbenkian Foundation; Mozart Requiem with the LA Philharmonic; Schumann Faust Szenen with the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester and Vier letzte Lieder with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orkester Berlin, Budapest Festival Orchestra and Montreal Symphony Orchestra; The Creation at the Verbier Festival as well as recitals at London’s Wigmore Hall, Wiener Konzerthaus, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Pierre Boulezsaal, Spivey Hall, the Schubert Club of St Paul, Cal Performances at Berkeley, Vancouver Playhouse and New York’s Carnegie Hall.  
     
    Miah Persson was appointed Hovsångerska, Court Singer, by H.M. the King of Sweden in 2011. 
     

    2024/25 season / 1041 words. Not to be altered without permission.

Performances

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Concert repertoire

BACH
Christmas Oratorio
Mass in B minor
St John Passion
St Matthew Passion


BEETHOVEN
Cantata for the Death of Emperor Joseph II
Symphony no. 9


BERG
Frühe Lieder


BRAHMS
Requiem


BRUCKNER
Te Deum


GRIEG
Peer Gynt


HANDEL
Messiah


HAYDN
Creation
Nelson Mass
The Seasons


MAHLER
Des Knabens Wunderhorn
Symphony No.2
Symphony No.4


MOZART
Exsultate Jubilate
Mass in C minor
Requiem 


SCHOENBERG
Gurre-Lieder


SCHUBERT
Der Hilt auf dem Felsen


SCHUMANN
Das Paradies und die Peri (Peri)
Faust Szenen (Gretchen)


STRAUSS
Vier letzte Lieder

Opera repertoire

BRITTEN
The Turn of the Screw (Governess)
Peter Grimes (Ellen Orford)


DEBUSSY
Pelleas et Melisande (Melisande)


GLUCK
Orfeo ed Euridice (Euridice)


HANDEL
Alcina (title role)
Giulio Cesare (Cleopatra)
Partenope (title role)
Rodelinda (title role)


MONTEVERDI
L’incoronazione di Poppea (Poppea)


MOZART
Cosi Fan Tutte (Fiordiligi)
Don Giovanni (Donna Elvira)
Idomeneo (Elettra)
Le nozze di Figaro (Countess)
Zaide (title role)


OFFENBACH
Les Contes d’Hoffmann (Antonia/Giulietta)


POULENC
Dialogues des Carmelites (Blanche)
La Voix Humaine


R. STRAUSS
Arabella (title role)
Capriccio (Governess)
Der Rosenkavalier (Marschallin)


STRAVINSKY
The Rake’s Progress (Anne Trulove)


VAN DER AA
Blank Out
Sunken Garden (Iris)

“She gives one of the most detailed and nuanced acting performances of any singer of the past decade or more. And she looks sensational … this is a near-immaculate assumption, pouring out Strauss’ soaring legato in long-breathed phrases and holding the stage with effortless charisma” 

Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times, 2018

"I have reviewed several performances of Strauss’s Vier letze Lieder for these pages over the past few years but I don’t think any of them have been finer than this one. [...]
What was notable about this performance was the sheer cleanness of it. The breath control was effortless, the way she moved from one note to the next so beautifully done it was as seamless as silk thread; it was almost as if these songs had just been sewn together into a single, unbreakable strand."

Marc Bridle, Opera Today, November 2021

Intermusica represents Miah Persson worldwide

Camilla Wehmeyer
Associate Director, Vocal & Opera

cwehmeyer@intermusica.com

Mary Donald
Associate Artist Manager, Vocal & Opera

mdonald@intermusica.com

All artists

Chansonnier

HK Gruber

Counter-tenor

Tim Mead

Harpsichord

Richard Egarr

Piano accompanist

Roger Vignoles

Saxophone

Jess Gillam

Contralto

Avery Amereau