Miah Persson

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).

Persson’s 25/26 season opens with performances of Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with the Budapest Festival Orchestra conducted by Iván Fischer at Müpa Budapest and on tour to Vicenza’s Teatro Olimpico and the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden. She goes on to perform Mahler’s Das klagende Lied with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Ryan Bancroft, a programme of Haydn and Berlioz with the Gävle Symfoniorkester conducted by Magnus Fryk, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Matthew Halls, and Mahler’s Symphony no. 2 conducted by Alexander Shelley with both the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra in Florida and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa.

In addition, she gives a New Year’s concert with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra conducted by Andreas Hansson, performs Strauss’s orchestrated songs in Denmark with the Aarhus Symfoniorkester conducted by Ramon Tébar, and Mahler’s Symphony no. 4 in Bochum and at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw with the Bochum Symphony Orchestra conducted by Tung-Chieh Chuang. Persson will give recitals at the Leeds Lieder Festival with pianist Joseph Middleton, at Antwerp’s LiedFest with pianist Malcom Martineau and for San Francisco Performances with pianist Magnus Svensson.

Throughout her distinguished career, Persson has performed Fiordiligi (Cosi fan tutte), Gretel in Humperdinck’s Hansel und Gretel and Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) at the Metropolitan Opera; Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro) and Zerlina (Don Giovanni) for the Royal Ballet & Opera, Covent Garden; title role in Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea and Governess in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw at Teatro alla Scala and in concert with the Budapest Festival Orchestra; Fiordiligi, Sophie and Susanna at the Wiener Staatsoper; Governess, Fiordiligi, Donna Elvira and Anne Trulove in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress for Glyndebourne Festival Opera; Donna Elvira at the Théâtre Champs Elysées Paris and at the Liceu Barcelona; Fiordiligi at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Hamburgische Staatsoper, New National Theatre Tokyo, in Stockholm and for a Deutsche Grammophon recording at the Festspielhaus BadenBaden; Iris in Michael van der Aa’s Sunken Garden for Dallas Opera and Poppea at Carnegie Hall. Persson has sung Solomon’s Queen in Handel’s Solomon on tour with Harry Bicket and The English Concert, performing at Carnegie Hall, LA Opera, San Francisco, in London and Madrid. She also created the central role in van der Aa’s Blank Out for the Netherlands Opera with performances in Amsterdam, Rome and at the Park Avenue Armory, New York.

Persson’s concert repertoire includes Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with both the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Zubin Mehta and at the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin conducted by Simone Young; Mozart’s Requiem with the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Gustavo Dudamel; Bach’s Mass in B Minor at Teatro La Fenice; Bach’s St Matthew Passion with the Rotterdam Philharmonic; Bach’s St John Passion in Chicago with Music of the Baroque conducted by Jane Glover; Verdi’s Requiem with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ryan Wigglesworth, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vasily Petrenko and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland conducted by Jaime Martín; Beethoven’s Symphony no. 9 with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Jurowski at the BBC Proms and with the Orchestre National de Lyon and Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider; Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin conducted by Vladimir Jurowski; Brahms Requiem with the State Symphony Orchestra of Russia, the Gulbenkian Foundation and the London Philharmonic Orchestra; Grieg’s Peer Gynt with the Vienna Symphony; Haydn’s Nelson Mass at the Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum Salzburg; Haydn’s Creation with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal conducted by Bernard Labadie and at the Verbier Festival; Haydn’s The Seasons with the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic; Mahler’s Symphony no. 2 with the Orchestre National de Lyon, Swedish Radio Orchestra, MDR Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, London Symphony, Teatro alla Scala, Philharmonie Luxembourg and Boston Philharmonic Orchestra; Mahler’s Symphony no. 4 with the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra, Basque National Orchestra, Philharmonie Luxembourg, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lille and at the BBC Proms with BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Ryan Bancroft; Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn for the Gulbenkian Foundation; Schumann’s Faust Szenen with the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester; Strauss’s Vier letzte Lieder at New York’s Lincoln Center with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Santtu-Matias Rouvali, at the Muziekgebouw Eindhoven with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Mark Elder, with the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana conducted by Harmat Haenchen, with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orkester Berlin, the Budapest Festival Orchestra and Orchestre symphonique de Montréal.

Persson has appeared in recital at London’s Wigmore Hall, Wiener Konzerthaus, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Berlin’s Pierre Boulezsaal, Victoria de los Ángeles Festival in Barcelona, Stockholm Konserthuset, 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.