Birgit Nordin
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Short description|Swedish operatic soprano (1934–2022)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Birgit Nordin
| image = Birgit Nordin (1a).jpg
| alt = Three-quarter profile Press shot of a smiling young woman with long blonde hair, in Queen of the Night stage costume
| caption = Birgit Nordin, in the 1960s
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1934|2|22|df=y}}
| birth_place = Sangis, Sweden
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2022|4|7|1934|2|22|df=y}}
| death_place =
| other_names =
| occupation = Operatic soprano
| years_active = 1958–1986
| title = Hovsångerska (1973)
| organization = Royal Swedish Opera
| spouse = {{marriage|Jerker Arvidson|1977|2007|end=d.}}
| website =
}}
Birgit Nordin (22 February 1934 – 7 April 2022) was a Swedish operatic soprano. She was a member of the Royal Swedish Opera from 1958 to 1986, and regularly appeared at the Drottningholm Festival where she performed twelve major Mozart roles, including Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro and Pamina in The Magic Flute. She also performed internationally, appearing in the Edinburgh International Festival, Glyndebourne Festival, Copenhagen and others. She became known as the Queen of the Night in Trollflöjten, Ingmar Bergman's film adaptation of Mozart's opera.
Life and career
Born in Sangis, Norrbotten,{{cite web | last=Tranberg | first=Sören | title=Birgit Nordin 1934–2022 | website=Tidskriften Opera | date=1 January 2010 | url=https://www.tidskriftenopera.se/birgit-nordin-1934-2022/ | language=sv | access-date=10 April 2022}} Nordin attended school in Haparanda.{{cite web | title=Geburtstage im Februar 2019 | website=Online Merker | date=10 April 2022 | url=https://onlinemerker.com/geburtstage-im-februar-2019/ | language=de | access-date=10 April 2022}} She attended the Royal College of Music in Stockholm from 1956 to 1958, studying under Britta von Vegesack. Later she trained with Lina Pagliughi in Italy.
Nordin joined the company of the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm, where she worked from 1958 to 1986. Her debut was as Oscar in Verdi's Masked Ball{{cite web | title=Birgit Nordin Arvidson | website=Kungliga Teaterns Solister | date=29 October 2016 | url=https://operasolisterna.se/birgit-nordin-arvidson/ | language=sv | access-date=10 April 2022}} on 21 October 1958 and she was part of the company that visited London and the Edinburgh International Festival in 1960. Starting in 1960, she regularly appeared at the Drottningholm Festival where she performed twelve major Mozart roles, including Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro and Pamina in The Magic Flute. In 1968, she participated in the world premiere of Franz Berwald's Drottningen av Golconda, with Elisabeth Söderström in the title role.
Abroad, Nordin appeared at the 1968 Glyndebourne Festival as Blonde in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail.{{cite web | title=Birgit Nordin | website=Glyndebourne | date=1 February 2019 | url=https://www.glyndebourne.com/persons/birgit-nordin/ | ref={{sfnref | Glyndebourne | 2019}} | access-date=10 April 2022}} She performed the role of Jenny Smith in Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny in Copenhagen in 1970, and appeared on Danish television as Lulu,{{cite web | title=Hovsångerskan Birgit Nordin är död. – Kungliga Operan | website=Via TT | url=https://via.tt.se/pressmeddelande/hovsangerskan-birgit-nordin-ar-dod?publisherId=1776097&releaseId=3320075 | language=sv | access-date=10 April 2022}} also singing in Bach's St Matthew Passion in Berlin that year. Other roles included Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto, Rosina in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia and Mélisande in Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande.
Nordin held the Christina Nilsson Fellowship twice, and was appointed a Hovsångerska (court singer) in 1973. She appeared in the 1975 film Trollflöjten, Ingmar Bergman's film adaption of Mozart's opera The Magic Flute sung in Swedish, as the Queen of the Night.{{cite web |title=Trollflojten| website=Festival de Cannes | date=7 October 1977 | url=https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/festival/films/trollflojten | access-date=10 April 2022}}{{cite news| title=Bergman Makes Flute a Fable of Fun|author=Vincent Canby|newspaper=The New York Times| date=12 November 1975 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/11/12/archives/bergman-makes-flute-a-fable-of-fun.html | access-date=10 April 2022}}
After retiring from the stage, Nordin undertook some teaching and stage direction.
= Private life =
Since 1977, Nordin was married to the Swedish bass–baritone {{ill|Jerker Arvidson|sv}} (1939–2007).{{cite web | title=Aufführungsdatenbank Jerker Arvidson|publisher=Bayreuth Festival| date=16 January 2020 | url=https://www.bayreuther-festspiele.de/fsdb/mitwirkende/jerker-arvidson/ | access-date=10 April 2022}}{{cite web | title=In Memoriam – Geburtstage im November 2019 | website=Online Merker | date=10 April 2022 | url=https://onlinemerker.com/in-memoriam-geburtstage-im-november-2019/ | language=de | access-date=10 April 2022}}
She died on 7 April 2022 at age 88.{{Cite web|url=https://minnessidor.fonus.se/memorial_page/memorial_page_personal_info.php?order_id=4014806&set_site_id=2&fbrefresh=4014806&sign=35dcd108682a1accb1cd6e5e3241397f|title=Minnessida för Birgit Nordin Arvidson|website=minnessidor.fonus.se|accessdate=10 April 2022}}
Recordings
- {{citation | title=Lars-Erik Larsson: Förklädd Gud = (God in disguise) : lyric suite, op. 24 ; Symphony No. 3 in C minor, op. 34 | publisher=Bis | year=1989 | oclc=25890100 | language=sv}}
- {{citation | title=Monteverdi: Geistliche Konzerte | publisher=Archiv Produktion | year=1973 | oclc=955615313}}
- {{citation | title=Verdi: Rigoletto | publisher=Naxos Digital Services Ltd. | year=2005 | oclc=594082648}}
- {{citation | title=Carl Michael Bellman | publisher=EMI | year=1983 | oclc=13225300 | language=sv}}
- {{citation | title=Laci Boldemann: Lieder der Vergänglichkeit, opus 8; Epitaphs, opus 10; Notturno, opus 14 | publisher=HMV | oclc=900326417}}
- {{citation | title=Moses Pergament: Den judiska sången | publisher=Caprice | oclc=459267228}}
=Compilations=
- {{citation | title=Svensk operaantologi. Sida 17. Sida 17 | publisher=EMI Svenska AB | year=1976 | oclc=11489821 | language=sv}}
- {{citation | title=Svensk operaantologi. Sida 18. Sida 18 | publisher=EMI Svenska AB | year=1976 | oclc=11489839 | language=sv}}
- {{citation | title=Mozart at the Royal Swedish Opera, 1952–1957 | publisher=Caprice Records | year=2006 | oclc=811334216 | language=sv}}
=Video=
- {{citation | last1=Bergman | first1=Ingmar | last2=Schikaneder | first2=Emanuel | last3=Cold | first3=Ulrik | last4=Urrila | first4=Irma | last5=Hagegård | first5=Håkan | last6=Erikson | first6=Elisabeth | last7=Köstlinger | first7=Josef | last8=Sædén | first8=Erik | last9=Nordin | first9=Birgit | last10=Nykvist | first10=Sven | last11=Lundgren | first11=Siv |publisher=The Criterion Collection|title=Trollflöjten|trans-title=The Magic Flute| publication-place=[United States] | isbn=978-1-68143-557-2 | oclc=1083532495|ref=none}}
References
{{Reflist
| refs =
| last1 = Kutsch
| first1 = K.-J.
| author1-link = Karl-Josef Kutsch
| last2 = Riemens
| first2 = Leo
| author2-link = Leo Riemens
| chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=dsfq_5dFeL0C&pg=3384
| chapter = Nordin, Birgit
| title = Großes Sängerlexikon
| publisher = De Gruyter
| edition = 4th
| language = de
| date = 2012
| page = 3384
| isbn = 978-3-59-844088-5
}}
}}
Further reading
- {{Cite encyclopedia |last=Cummings |first=D. M. |year=2000 |title=Nordin, Birgit |encyclopedia=International Who's Who in Music and Musicians' Directory (in the Classical and Light Classical Fields) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ez1JfIVM4ykC&pg=PA471 |volume=1: 2000/2001 |edition=17th |series=International Who's Who in Classical Music |publisher=International Biographical Centre |page=471 |isbn=978-0-948875-53-3 |access-date=12 April 2022|ref=none}}
External links
- {{Official website|https://web.archive.org/web/20130610164224/http://www.hovsangarna.se/}} archived on 10 June 2013
- {{discogs artist|Birgit Nordin}}
- {{IMDb name|0635095}}
- [https://www.muziekweb.nl/en/Link/M00000282227/CLASSICAL/Birgit-Nordin "Birgit Nordin"] (recordings) muziekweb.nl
{{Portal bar|Biography|Opera}}
{{Authority control|state=collapsed}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nordin, Birgit}}
Category:Swedish operatic sopranos
Category:People from Kalix Municipality