Jenny Carlstedt

Finnish-Swedish mezzo-soprano Jenny Carlstedt was born in the Åland Islands. She studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London. From 2002 to 2016, she was a member of the ensemble at Oper Frankfurt. There, she built a strong repertoire with many important leading roles in the high lyric mezzo repertoire. Since autumn 2016 she is working as a freelance artist.

Carlstedt is a regular guest at the Finnish National Opera, and other guest appearances include those at Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Theater an der Wien, Staatsoper Hamburg, Danish Royal Opera, Glyndebourne Opera Festival, and the Savonlinna Opera Festival. She has worked with conductors such as Matthias Pintscher, Pier Giorgio Morandi, Helmut Rilling, Christian Curnyn, Paolo Carignani, Carlo Franci, Bertrand de Billy, Sebastian Weigle, and James Gaffigan. In 2016 she made her US debut as Mélisande with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Esa-Pekka Salonen. Recently she has also transitioned into more dramatic repertoire with her debut as Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde in Concert under Susanna Mälkki with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra.

Carlstedt is also in high demand as a concert singer and has sung the major oratorio and orchestra repertoire throughout Europe. Furthermore, she has been highly acclaimed for her performance in several contemporary music productions, including Peter Eötwös’ Angels in America and Thomas Adès' The Tempest, and she also sang a recital with the composer himself at the piano (Thomas Adés Festival Helsinki). She also toured with Ensemble Modern, at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam among other venues, and with the SWR Symphonieorchester under Peter Rundel at the Berliner Festspiele. Furthermore she has recently sung several world premieres of Finnish contemporary music and operas.

In 2023, Carlstedt sang Mahler's Third Symphony at the BBC Proms (Royal Albert Hall) with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Sakari Oramo. In spring 2024, she will sing Second Norne in Wagner's Götterdämmerung at Finnish National Opera.

Jenny Carlstedt will make her DNO debut with the role of The Waitress (Tereza) in Innocence, which will be performed at Dutch National Opera from 7 to 22 October 2023.

Last update: 2-10-2023