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The Swedish soprano, Hillevi Martinpelto, completed her training at the Stockholm Opera School in 1987.
Hillevi Martinpelto made her debut in 1987 as Cho-Cho-San in Puccini's Madama Butterfly in a new production at the Royal Opera in Stockholm. Engagements at the Royal Court Theater in Drottningholm (Don Giovanni, Iphigenie in Aulis, Iphigenie auf Tauris) and at the Norrlands Operan in Umeå laid the cornerstone for her international career. But, throughout her career she has insisted on striking a balance between performances ‘abroad' and performances ‘at home'.
Since 1990 Hillevi Martinpelto has performed extensively for audiences at top international opera houses and festivals, such as Brussels, Berlin, Glyndbourne, Vienna and Los Angeles; a tour with the ensemble of the Deutsche Oper Berlin led her all the way to Japan. Hillevi Martinpelto has long been associated with the work of Sir John Eliot Gardiner and his Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra, on stage, in concert and on recording: W.A. Mozart's Elettra and Contessa; Leonore (in L.v. Beethoven's 1805 version of the opera); Alice Ford, Rezia, Robert Schumann's Faustszenen, in London, Paris, New York, Amsterdam, Ferrara, Ludwigsburg, Lisbon and Lille.
Hillevi Martinpelto has appeared with many of the world's great orchestras (Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Radio-Symphonie-Orchester-Berlin, MDR Sinfonieorchester Leipzig, Wiener Symphoniker, BBC Symphony Orchestra and many other ensembles) and well-known conductors (Simon Rattle, Carlo Maria Giulini, Colin Davis, Kurt Masur, and Zubin Mehta). Performances in France (predominantly Paris) and Britain (BBC Proms, Glyndebourne, Edinburgh Festival, London Barbican) have featured regularly in her calendar, as too have performances in Italy (La Scala, Maggio musicale fiorentino and Ferrara) and Germany (Munich, Berlin, Hamburg, Dresden, and Cologne).
In 1991 she sang Elektra in W.A. Mozart's Idomeneo, in 1993 in La Nozze di Figaro, and in 1998 Alice Ford in Verdi's Falstaff. In December 1996, the singer was invited to take part in the renowned ceremony of the Nobel Prize awards in Stockholm.
At home, Hillevi Martinpelto's work has centred on the Royal Opera Stockholm and Drottningholm's Royal Theatre: Elisabeth and Elizabetta; Amelia (Ballo), Desdemona, Mimi, Iphigenie (both ‘en Aulide' and ‘en Tauride') and Fiordiligi.
Recent engagements include: Elisabeth (Tannhäuser) and Desdemona in Stockholm; Madama Butterly in Berlin; Donna Anna in Dresden; Vitellia at the Maggio musicale fiorentino and in Munich; La Clemenza di Tito in Munich; Elias in Paris; Messiah in London; Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 8 on tour; Lohengrin at the Edinburgh Festival and, L.v. Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in Berlin (Simon Rattle).
Future highlights include: Desdemona, Marschallin, Donna Anna, Onegin and Don Carlo in Stockholm; Johannes Brahms Requiem in Bonn; Paradies und die Peri in Turin and, Missa Solemnis in Amsterdam.
Hillevi Martinpelto's principal recordings are with DGG and EMI: Idomeneo, Le nozze di Figaro, Falstaff and Leonore (John Eliot Gardiner) and, Cosi fan tutte (Simon Rattle). |
