Margareta Sjöstedt

Margareta Sjöstedt, also Sjöstedt-Kraus, (1923–2012) was a Swedish-Austrian contralto who received voice training in Stockholm, Salzburg and Vienna.

From 1955 until her retirement in 1982, she was engaged by the Vienna State Opera where she took part in over a thousand performances, appearing in parallel in lieder recitals and at the Salzburg Festivals.

She was a guest singer in the opera houses of Madrid, Lisbon, Dublin and Berlin and gave recitals in Paris and London.

Among her many roles were Azucena in Il trovatore, Berta in The Barber of Seville, Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, Octavia and Annina in Der Rosenkavalier, and Mercedes in Carmen.

[4] For her contributions, in connection with her last performance on 9 June 1982, Margareta Sjöstedt was awarded the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class.