gunillahovenas, författare på Birgit Nilsson

Post published:1 July, 2025

Opera and classical music in Birgit Nilsson country

Birgit Nilsson Festival (August 3-9) is Skåne's largest summer festival for opera and classical music. Opera, concerts, film screenings, exhibitions, talks, meetings, masterclasses. Plus a sing-along for the whole family with Rickard Söderberg, among others, and finally the grand finale at Båstad Tennis Stadium - Verdi's grand opera with our new world star, soprano Christina Nilsson in the title role. A central meeting place during the festival week is the Birgit Nilsson Museum at the farm where the great singer…

Post published:17 May, 2025

Karolina Bengtsson awarded this year’s Birgit Nilsson Stipendium

SEK 250,000 will be awarded to this year's Birgit Nilsson Stipendium recipient, Swedish soprano Karolina Bengtsson. The official announcement was made on May 17, Birgit's birthday, during celebrations at the Birgit Nilsson Museum. On August 8, Karolina Bengtsson will give her Stipendium recital in Birgit's “own” Västra Karup church. "What an honour! It is an incredible feeling to be awarded the prestigious Birgit Nilsson Stipendium” said Karolina on receiving the news.”In addition to the honour, it is also recognition -…

Post published:9 May, 2025

A museum for all senses

Birgit Nilsson lived on the farm in Svenstad with her parents until she was 23 years old. It was a simple upbringing without electricity or running water and the first amenities were not installed until the 1930s. Birgit helped with all the chores on the farm. She thinned beets, planted potatoes, harvested hay and milked cows. In other words, it was a life far removed from what she would later experience as one of the world’s most famous opera singers.…

Post published:3 April, 2025

Nilsson takes over the role at the Nilsson Festival

Sweden's newest international star - soprano Christina Nilsson - will sing Verdi's Aida at Båstad's Tennis Stadium, as the finale of the Birgit Nilsson Festival 2025. She recently made her New York debut performing Aida to standing ovations and acclaim from the press and audience at the Metropolitan Opera - perhaps the most prestigious opera house in the world. In Båstad, Christina replaces the Lebanese-Canadian soprano Joyce El-Khoury. With acclaimed performances three years running at the Birgit Nilsson Days, El-Khoury…

Post published:26 March, 2025

Birgit Nilsson Festival

Opera on Sweden’s famous Tennis Centre Court in Båstad, a special exhibition, concerts and talks at the Birgit Nilsson Museum, the Stipendium Recital in “Birgit’s Church” at Västra Karup, a public masterclass at Ravinen Cultural Centre, plus screenings of historic performances and tv appearances at the local Scala Cinema. The 2025 Birgit Nilsson Festival presents more than 20 events between 3 & 9 August. “With this year‘s Festival we are aiming higher than ever before. It will be a programme…

Post published:19 February, 2025

Singing is like growing in Tilling’s garden

Camilla Tilling leads the Birgit Nilsson Master Class 2025 Camilla Tilling trained as a singing teacher but instead took a "detour" and became a great soprano favorite with conductors, audiences and critics. But - in the middle of an international career, this summer she gets to show off her pedagogical skills and train the next generation of singers at a Master class in front of an audience during the Birgit Nilsson Festival. After Camilla started the festival week as a…

Post published:31 January, 2025

The Artist Birgit Nilsson

Birgit Nilsson (1918-2005) was one of the greatest opera singers of the twentieth century. Her superb voice and supreme stage presence were praised by critics and audiences alike, bringing her international recognition as the world’s leading dramatic soprano and a legendary interpreter of especially Wagner, Strauss and Puccini. Birgit Nilsson made her operatic debut at the Swedish Royal Opera in 1946 and achieved international stardom in the mid 1950’s with her debuts in Vienna, Bayreuth, Buenos Aires, San Francisco and Chicago. She added a…

Post published:16 July, 2024

A singer’s festival without precedent in Sweden today

Four international world stars are on their way to the centre court in Båstad. This time it's not about tennis - but opera! On Saturday 10 August, one of the most beloved of operas will be performed - Giuseppe Verdi's Un ballo in maschera. A story about love, infidelity, betrayal and power directed by Staffan Valdemar Holm. It all takes place at the Tennis Stadium, with top Swedish singers, the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra and a choir conducted by Pier Giorgio Morandi…

Post published:13 June, 2024

Elisabeth Boström – new CEO of Birgit Nilsson Museum

From the end of September/beginning of October, pianist Elisabeth Boström will assume the position of CEO of the Birgit Nilsson Museum in Svenstad on the Bjäre Peninsula. Elisabeth takes over from Gitte Lindström Harmark, who is retiring as CEO of the museum on the farm where Birgit Nilsson grew up and frequently returned to. "I am delighted to be entrusted with the task of developing the fantastic work already carried out at the museum. The fact that Birgit was a…

Post published:17 May, 2024

Matilda Sterby – Birgit Nilsson Stipendium 2024

Swedish soprano Matilda Sterby has been named this year’s Birgit Nilsson Stipendium artist, in an announcement made this morning at the museum in Båstad. Matilda, who recently returned home from Vienna following her Volksoper debut, will receive SEK 250 000 (c. 21500 euros) and performs her Stipendium recital, together with the pianist Matti Hirvonen in Birgit’s "own" Västra Karup church, as part of this year’s Birgit Nilsson Days celebrations. Matilda said: "It's a dream to receive this Stipendium, because it…