About
The Swedish soprano Kerstin Avemo began this season at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm with the role of Leilah/Lilith in the world premiere of Tristessa by Johan S. Bohlin. Kerstin has this spring appeared as Juliette in Trois fragments de Juliette by Martinů and The woman in La voix humaine by Poulenc at the Göteborg Opera and in June, Kerstin sings the role of Oscar in Un ballo in maschera at Grand Théâtre de Genève.
Kerstin Avemo was last season at the Royal Danish Opera where she performed the role of Leticia Maynar in The Exterminating Angel by Thomas Adès and in 2017 she created an acclaimed portrait of Violetta in La Traviata at the Göteborg Opera. Other recently performed roles are Mélisande in Pelléas and Mélisande and the Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte in Stockholm. She has sung Gilda in Rigoletto at Staatstheater Darmstadt and she has appeared as Maid in Powder her Face at La Monnaie in Brussels and in Warsaw at the Polish National Opera. In the summer of 2015 Kerstin Avemo was seen as Olympia/Giulietta in Les Contes d’Hoffmann in Bregenz, directed by Stefan Herheim. Kerstin has appeared as Despina in Così fan tutte directed by Michael Haneke at Teatro Real in Madrid, La Monnaie and at Wiener Festwochen. Kerstin has also sung Schwanengesang D744, staged by renowned director Romeo Castellucci, in Avignon, La Monnaie, in Paris, Luxembourg and Milano. Kerstin has sung Atalanta/Serse at Artipelag in Stockholm (Jean Christophe Spinosi), a production that visited the Opèra Royal de Versaille. In the Drottningholm Court Theatre jubilee production The Rococo Machine, Kerstin appeared in the role of Madame la Coiffeuse.
Kerstin Avemo has previously appeared in the title roles of Lulu, Lucia di Lammermoor and as Euridice in Orfeo ed Euridice at the Göteborg Opera. She created the roles of Wendla Bergmann in Benoît Mernier’s Frühlings Erwachen (La Monnaie) and Kristin in Boesmans’ Julie (Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, La Monnaie) and has incarnated roles like Blondchen/Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Servilia/La Clemenza di Tito, Oscar /Un ballo in maschera, Musica and Euridice/Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, Ofelia/Hamlet, Gretel/Hänsel und Gretel, Juliette/Roméo et Juliette, Adele/Die Fledermaus, Gilda/Rigoletto, Violetta/La traviata, Zerlina/Don Giovanni on stages like Oper Frankfurt, Opernhaus Zürich, Festival Aix-en-Provence, Bolshoi in Moscow, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, DNT Weimar, the Royal Swedish Opera and The Royal Danish Opera. She has sung Iris/Semele under the baton of William Christie at Theater an der Wien, Hanako in Hosokawa’s Hanjo with the Ruhrtriennale, Sophie/Der Rosenkavalier at Grand Théâtre de Genève and Giulietta/I Capuleti e i Montecchi in concerts with the Göteborg Opera. She has worked with directors such as Luc Bondy, David Mc Vicar, Christoph Loy and Kasper Holten under the musical direction of Daniele Gatti, Kazuchi Ono, René Jacobs, Emanuelle Haïm, Esa-Pekka Salonen and others.
In concert Kerstin Avemo's repertoire includes Britten’s Les Illuminations, Bach’s Passions, Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem, Orff's Carmina Burana, Handel’s La Ressurrezione and Messiah, Mahler’s 2nd and 8th Symphonies and Mozart’s Requiem and C Minor Mass. On CD, Kerstin Avemo can be heard as Kristin in Boesmans Julie (Cypres), as Amor in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice (Naxos) and in René Jacobs’ interpretation of Handel’s Messiah (Harmonia Mundi). She can also be experienced on DVD in Christoph Loy’s praised production of Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Oper Frankfurt).
Kerstin Avemo studied at the University College of Opera in Stockholm. Kerstin is from 2018 a member of the Gothenburg Opera and acts as an international ambassador for the company. In 2016 he received the Litteris et Artibus medal by H.M. The King of Sweden, for her outstanding accomplishments as an opera singer.