Hjördis Schymberg

Hjördis Gunborg Schymberg (April 24, 1909 – September 8, 2008) was a Swedish coloratura and lyric soprano active on the opera stage and in concert halls between 1934 and 1968.

She made her stage debut in 1934 as Berthe in a matinée performance of Adolphe Adam's comic opera La poupée de Nuremberg.

Her first major engagement outside Scandinavia came in 1946 when she was scheduled to appear in London's Royal Albert Hall in a concert of arias by Handel, Mozart, Berwald and Delibes, conducted by Ernest Ansermet.

She brought the needed vivacity and sly humor to her interpretation and gave it real human appeal in a natural and unaffected way that won immediate favor with the large audience.

[6]She went on to give a series of concerts in the United States in 1947 and also appeared in Havana, Hamburg and Riccione later on where she sang in Rigoletto opposite Giuseppe Di Stefano as the Duke of Mantua.

Amongst her pupils were several prominent Scandinavian opera singers including Gösta Winbergh, Sylvia Lindenstrand, Laila Andersson-Palme, and Solveig Kringelborn.

The Hjördis Schymberg Foundation has announced its first singing competition, open to young professionals, with the final stage planned for Sundsvall in October 2018.