Mari Eriksmoen

Soprano

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“The magnificent Mari Eriksmoen, a lyrical soprano who sings with perfect clarity”
(L’avant-Scène Opéra, February 2018)

Gallery

Immediately upon completing her vocal studies, Norwegian soprano Mari Eriksmoen found herself with a dream offer to join Theater an der Wien as Zerbinetta in their production of Ariadne auf Naxos, marking the start of a close and ongoing relationship with this important theatre. Current season opera highlights include Agilea in Handel’s Teseo conducted by René Jacobs for Theater an der Wien while elsewhere she appears as Pamina in Simon McBurney’s production of Die Zauberflöte for Dutch National Opera, she makes her role debut as Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier) in David McVicar’s production for Norwegian National Opera and she also tours a new symphonic passion entitled “Solveig’s Waiting” created by Calixto Bieito for the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and the Bergen Festival.

Last season, Eriksmoen scored a personal triumph in her role debut as Mélisande (Pelléas et Mélisande) under Alejo Pérez and in a universally-acclaimed new production by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Damien Jalet and Marina Abramović for Opera Vlaanderen with subsequent performances at Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg. Other pivotal appearances in recent seasons have included Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) at Festival d’Aix-en-Provence under Raphaël Pichon and at Opernhaus Zürich under Fabio Luisi, Blondchen (Die Entführung aus dem Serail) at Oper Frankfurt, Glyndebourne Festival Opera and at the 2015 BBC Proms, La Fée in Damiano Michieletto’s production of Cendrillon at Komische Oper Berlin under Henrik Nanasí and, in a display of repertoire versatility, Eriksmoen joined Daniel Barenboim’s epic Ring Cycles as Waldvogel in Wagner’s Siegfried at Teatro alla Scala.

Trailer Pelléas et Mélisande

Eriksmoen is a regular guest with the Oslo Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Malmö Sympfoniorkester and Gothenburg Symphony amongst others. She’s recently appeared with Orchestre de Paris, Münchner Philharmoniker, Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum, and she made her debut last season with the Berliner Philharmoniker performing Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream under Iván Fischer.

Mozart: ‘Ach ich fühls’, Die Zauberflöte © Arte

Mozart: ‘Vedrai carino’, Don Giovanni © Österreichischer Rundfunk

J.S. Bach: ‘Aus Liebe will mein Heiland sterben’, St Matthew Passion’ © NDR

Haydn: ‘Nun beut die fleur’, Die Schöpfung

“Mari Eriksmoen and [her Tamino] made a wonderful princely couple, both looking and sounding beautiful…Eriksmoen was just as clear, just as unforced and showed how Mozart can tug at the heartstring”

(Bachtrack, July 2018)

“Mari Eriksmoen is a Pamina who combines grace with determination, a pure voice but with strength, and a dancer’s elegance”

(Forum Opéra, July 2018)

“Mari Eriksmoen is a delicate, sensitive Pamina”

(L’Avant-Scène Opéra, July 2018)

“The most magnificent in the cast was the Mélisande of Mari Eriksmoen, a lyrical soprano who sings with perfect clarity. With her lithe silhouette and Scandinavian looks, she fully embodies the fascinating heroine, at once fragile and extremely determined”

(L’Avant-Scène Opéra, February 2018)

“The big star in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande is Mari Eriksmoen. The Norwegian soprano impresses from the opening scene right up to her deathbed”

(Volkskrant, February 2018)

“Soprano Mari Eriksmoen is a clear-voiced Mélisande and perfectly portrays the exceptional nature of this almost extra-terrestrial character”

(Bachtrack, February 2018)

“Mari Eriksmoen dominates the cast with an almost perfect Mélisande in her debut performance”

(Forum Opéra, February 2018)

“In the role of Mélisande, the Norwegian soprano Mari Eriksmoen makes a resoundingly impressive debut at Opera Vlaanderen: her French diction was faultless, her voice like crystal, and she embodies the hypnotising fragility of this heroine to perfection.”

(Toute la culture, February 2018)

“A delicate, diaphanous beauty and Scandinavian blonde, the radiant Norwegian soprano Mari Eriksmoen succeeds in her debut as Mélisande”

(Concertonet.com, February 2018)

“Mari Eriksmoen has the agile freshness of Hanne [Haydn’s The Seasons], a pure voice sometimes reminiscent of a Gundula Janowitz.”

(Concertonet, December 2017)

“Mari Eriksmoen’s lip-biting Zerlina left no doubt as to her being an ideal first choice in her highly-charged, kittenish reading…Vocally sailing through the part, this Zerlina whet one’s appetite for greater challenges to come.”

(The Opera Critic, December 2016)

“Zerlina is the focus of the cast. Mari Eriksmoen sings the role with her clear, flexible and wonderfully coloured soprano”

(News.at, December 2016

“The performance is led by Mari Eriskmoen as a charming Zerlina”

(Salzburger Nachtrichten, December 2016)

“Mari Eriksmoen, with her bright and agile soprano, is an ideal Zerlina”

(Die Presse, December 2016)

“Mari Eriskmoen was especially successful in creating a thoroughly strong character in Zerlina”

(Wiener Zeitung, December 2016)

“Mari Eriksmoen is a suitably fearless Blonde.”

(Opera Magazine, Hugo Shirley, September 2016)

“Radiating an abundance of melodious sound and filling the theatre is Mari Eriksmoen as La Fée, with her magically mellifluous coloratura”

(Die Welt, June 2016)

“[As La Fée], Mari Eriskmoen produces the most alluring, shimmering coloratura; pure magic.”

(Der Tagesspiegel, June 2016)

“Rising soprano Mari Eriksmoen has chosen her repertoire for this disc well…Her selection of nine songs by Hugo Wolf emphasises a sense of mischief, and the recording captures well the crystalline yet supple quality of her voice and her direct, communicative way with text. Her Strauss selection includes three of the Ophelia Songs, which she makes sound at once confiding and otherworldly…Eriksmoen is even more persuasive in her native Norwegian. Five songs by Grieg find her relishing each word – A Bird’s Song sounds especially posied and elegant.”

(Erica Jeal, The Guardian, February 2016)

“Mari Eriksmoen was a Blonde to rival that of Lucia Popp in the old Josef Krips recording, the stage presence a continual source of vitality and the beauty of tone endlessly beguiling.”

(Roger Parker, Opera Magazine, August 2015)

“Mari Eriksmoen [gave a] beautifully-sung live-wire performance as Blonde.”

(Michael Church, Independent, June 2015)

“Mari Eriksmoen has a clear, agile soprano and light vibrato with which she spun fine pianos and gave a credible depiction of the caring, boisterous and naïve girl.”

(Hedy Mühleck, Bachtrack, August 2015)

“The Norwegian soprano Mari Eriksmoen was lively and vocally excellent as Rosina.”

(Susanna Dalmonte, Deutschland Radio, February 2015)

Mari Eriksmoen

Shirley Thomson

Christopher Lawson

Gallery

Eivind Gullberg Jensen conducts World Premiere with Soprano Mari Eriksmoen at Bergen International Festival

Mari Eriksmoen sings with the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra under Santtu-Matias Rouvali

Mari Eriksmoen debuts as Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier

Mari Eriksmoen debuts Handel’s Princess Agilea

Mari Eriksmoen returns to the role of Pamina in Die Zauberflöte

Mari Eriksmoen sings Pamina at Festival d’Aix-en-Provence

Shirley Thomson

Christopher Lawson