©Photo: Astrid Waller

©Photo: Annemi Augustijns, Opera Vlaanderen

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)

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Mari Eriksmoen Blonde 2, copyright Glyndebourne Festival Opera

Mari Eriksmoen Pamina 1, copyright Boris Horvat, Agence France-Presse, Festival d'Aix-en-Provence

Mari Eriksmoen Pamina 2, copyright Boris Horvat, Agence France-Presse, Festival d'Aix-en-Provence

Widely praised for a perfect mix of radiant stage personality and purity of tone, Norwegian soprano Mari Eriksmoen recently scored a personal triumph in her role debut as Mélisande (Pelléas et Mélisande) in an acclaimed new staging for Opera Vlaanderen and Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg conducted by Alejo Pérez, and of which Forum Opéra wrote “her French diction was faultless, her voice like crystal, and she embodies the hypnotising fragility of this heroine to perfection.”

On completion of her vocal studies in Oslo (Norwegian Academy of Music), Paris (Conservatoire National Superieur) and Copenhagen (Royal Danish Academy of Opera), Eriksmoen was invited to debut at Theater an der Wien as Zerbinetta (Ariadne auf Naxos) launching her career and marking the start of a close and ongoing relationship in Vienna where she has since appeared as Olympia (Les contes d’Hoffmann), Euridice (Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo), Teti (Rossini’s Le nozze di Teti e di Peleo), Rosina (Paisiello’s Il barbiere di Siviglia) and Agilea (Handel’s Teseo), in addition to her portrayals of Susanna, Zerlina and Fiordiligi in their Da Ponte Trilogy conducted by the late Nikolaus Harnoncourt, for which she attracted universal praise. Operatic highlights elsewhere include Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier) for Den Norske Opera, Blondchen (Die Entführung aus dem Serail) at Oper Frankfurt, Glyndebourne Festival Opera and the 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, Waldvogel in Daniel Barenboim’s epic Ring Cycles at Teatro alla Scala.

Waiting | World Premiere | Bergen International Festival 2019 © FestspilleneiBergen

Eriksmoen’s 19/20 season includes Servilia in Sam Brown’s new production of La clemenza di Tito at Theater an der Wien, Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro) at Den Norske Opera and Romilda (Serse) at both Opéra de Rouen and Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. On the concert platform, this season’s highlights include Mater gloriosa in Mahler’s Symphony No.8 with the Oslo Philharmonic under Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Haydn’s Die Schöpfung with Orchestre des Champs-Élysées under Philippe Herreweghe, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with both the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Harding and Le Cercle de l’Harmonie under Jérémie Rhorer, and an all-Mozart programme with both the Royal Scottish National Orchestra under Thomas Søndergård and Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin under Raphaël Pichon.

Eriksmoen is frequently invited to sing Solveig in Grieg’s Peer Gynt and was met with universal acclaim for the world premiere of a new symphonic passion based on the piece in a staging by Calixto Bieito entitled “Waiting”at the 2019 Bergen International Festival. On the concert stage, Eriksmoen is a regular guest with the Oslo Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, and Gothenburg Symphony and has recently appeared with Orchestre de Paris, Münchner Philharmoniker, Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum, and debuted with the Berliner Philharmoniker in Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream under Iván Fischer.

Eriksmoen has recorded Schumann’s Szenen aus Goethes Faust with Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks under Daniel Harding (Naxos), Blondchen (Die Entführung aus dem Serail) with both the Akademie für alte Musik Berlin under René Jacobs (harmonia mundi) and Glyndebourne Festival conducted by Robin Ticciati on DVD (Opus Arte), and a “poised, elegant and persuasive” (Guardian) debut recital disc featuring songs by Grieg, Grøndahl, Wolf and Strauss with Alphonse Cemin (Alpha).

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

Trailer Pelléas et Mélisande

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 as Servilia presented a fresh, sweet sound”

(OperaMag, Feb 2020)

“With her precise and clear timbre, soprano Mari Eriksmoen firmly establishes her ability with this music. With great sensitivity and very flexible phrasing, her voice builds in “Ah no lasciarmi, no” at the mention of the departure of her lover and she finishes the aria beautifully at the top of her range. In “Ridente la calma”, she brings a more voluptuous tone, complementing the caressing bass.”

(Olyrix, December 2019)

“Mari Eriksmoen (Servilia) exudes a youthful timbre, which assures linden beauty of the only catchy tune of the evening.”

(Wienerzeitung, October 2019)

“Equally impressive is Mari Eriksmoen as Servilia. Technically perhaps the cleanest voice of the evening, excellently supported especially at the top of the range, and artistically at the highest level, Eriksmoen puts an explicit exclamation mark after her name! In her aria ‘S’altro che lacrime,’ the Norwegian soprano sings so emphatically that crying does not help, but the audience was close to tears at this gorgeous vocal performance.”

(Klassik-begeistert.de, October 2019)

“The Norwegian soprano Mari Eriksmoen brings a pure, clean sound and playful character to Susanna.”

(Das Opernmagazin, September 2019)

“Soprano Eriksmoen is the heart and lifeblood of Waiting. Her voice is radiant; her performance, breathtaking.”

(ClassicalVoiceAmerica, May 2019)

“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)