Opera Scotland

Berit Lindholm Suggest updates

Berit Maria Jonsson.

Born Stockholm, 18 October 1934.

Swedish soprano.

Berit Lindholm had an excellent international career as a dramatic soprano, particularly in Wagner, singing Brünnhilde for several seasons at Bayreuth. She had a powerful and reliable voice while at the same time maintaining a slender and athletic physique that helped her to be an unusually convincing actor.

Lindholm studied in Stockholm, and made her debut there in 1963 as Countess Almaviva. Later roles ranged from Tosca to Chrysothemis and Brünnhilde. She made her debut at Bayreuth in 1967 as Venus in Tannhäuser, and sang Brünnhilde in the Wolfgang Wagner Ring production over several seasons up to 1974. She also sang Brünnhilde at San Francisco in 1972.

Her British debut was at Covent Garden in 1966, as Chrysothemis. She returned to the house for Brünnhilde in Die Walküre and Siegfried, as well as for Isolde.

Scotland

In Scotland she made her debut in December 1971 when she rescued Scottish Opera's Ring Cycle.  She was booked to sing Brünnhilde in a single preliminary performance of Götterdämmerung.  She then flew back to Glasgow the following week, appearing at short notice in the Cycle performances of Siegfried and Götterdämmerung.  She returned as a member of the Stockholm company, singing Chrysothemis at the 1974 Edinburgh Festival.

Recordings

Lindholm can be heard on record as Cassandra in the Colin Davis recording of Les Troyens. This was made during a run of performances at Covent Garden in 1969, though she did not appear in the theatre.