Camilla Nylund
Camilla Nylund, born in Vaasa (Finland), first studied with Eva Illes, later in the opera and song class at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. In December 1995 she was awarded the Lilli Lehmann Medal by the International Mozarteum Foundation for her outstanding achievements.
After permanent engagements in Hanover and at the Semperoper Dresden, Camilla Nylund is now one of the internationally most sought-after singers in her field and is a regular guest at all major opera houses – at the Vienna State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the Metropolitan Opera New York, the Milan Scala the Paris Bastille, the Berlin and Hamburg State Operas, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, at the Bayreuth and Salzburg Festivals, in Barcelona, Valencia, Zurich, Helsinki, Cologne, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Tokyo, San Francisco.
The artist’s repertoire includes all the major roles of the classical-romantic repertoire, whereby Camilla Nylund is particularly impressive with her interpretation of Richard Wagner’s roles – Elisabeth, Elsa, Sieglinde, Senta, Isolde, Brünnhilde – and Richard Strauss’ – Marschallin, Arabella, Capriccio -Countess, Chrysothemis, Empress (woman without a shadow), Ariadne, Salome – again and again sets artistic standards.
In addition to her lively activity on the international opera stage, she is also a regular guest in all major concert halls – Konzerthaus and Philharmonie Berlin, Herkulessaal Munich, “Isarphilharmonie” Munich, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Wiener Musikverein, Wiener Konzerthaus, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Tonhalle Zurich, Rome, at the BBC Proms, in Philadelphia, Cleveland, Boston and many more.
Camilla Nylund works both in opera and in concert with all the major maestri of our time – with Zubin Mehta, Sir Simon Rattle, Christian Thielemann, Andris Nelsons, Daniel Barenboim, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Vladimir Jurowski, Gianandrea Noseda, Riccardo Muti, Marek Janowski, Carina Kanellakis, and Simone Young.
Camilla Nylund has been shaping the Bayreuth Festival in a special way for many years. The artist made her debut on the “Green Hill” in 2011 as Elisabeth in Tannhäuser, and since then she has also sung Sieglinde (Valkyrie), Eva (Meistersinger) and Elsa (Lohengrin), as whom she can be seen again at the 2022 Bayreuth Festival.
Camilla Nylund’s repertoire was enriched in an interesting way in 2017 with her debuts as Marie in the new Wozzeck production at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf and as Jenufa at the Berlin State Opera (2021). In January 2022 she made an acclaimed debut at the Frankfurt Opera as Eine Frau in Arnold Schönberg’s monodrama Erwartung. Other highlights of the 2021/22 season were your debuts as Isolde (Tristan und Isolde) and Brünnhilde (Valkyrie) at the Zurich Opera. The debuts of the Siegfried and Götterdämmerung Brünnhilden will follow in the coming seasons. Camilla Nylund’s interpretation of Katerina (Lady Macbeth von Mzensk – Hamburg State Opera) is also eagerly awaited.
Camilla Nylund also pays special attention to the song recital genre. Together with her accompanist Helmut Deutsch, she prefers to devote her recital programs to romantic German songs and to the composers of her Scandinavian homeland, above all Jean Sibelius.
The versatile artist showed previously unknown facets during the corona pandemic. The “Great American Songbook” project was based on an idea by André Heller, whom she met at a new production of the Rosenkavalier at the Berlin State Opera. In this concert film recorded for ORF III, she interprets love songs in the spirit of US show business of the 1930s together with the ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna under the direction of Marin Alsop in varied arrangements ranging from “combo formation” to a large symphonic orchestra until 1970s. A DVD and CD of the project will be released by Naxos in December 2022.
Camilla Nylund has received numerous awards in recognition of her artistic achievements. Since November 2022 she has been the recipient of the Lotte Lehmann memorial ring – one of the world’s most important awards for opera singers. In September 2022, she was honored with the European Culture Prize alongside other top-class prizewinners in the Tonhalle in Zurich. Due to her longstanding artistic connection, the Vienna State Opera awarded her the title of Austrian Chamber Singer in 2019. The Semperoper Dresden has also appointed Camilla Nylund Saxon Chamber Singer. In 2000 she received the Christel Goltz Prize from the Semperoper. In her home country she was awarded the Finnish State Music Prize (2019), the Grand Cultural Prize of the Swedish Cultural Fund in Finland and the Pro Finlandia Medal, awarded by the Finnish President (2013).