Overview
Kerstin Margareta Meyer, CBE (3 April 1928 – 14 April 2020) was a Swedish mezzo-soprano who enjoyed an international career in opera and concert. A long-time member of the Royal Swedish Opera and Hamburg State Opera, she appeared regularly at the Royal Opera House in London and international opera houses and festivals, including in world premieres such as Alexander Goehr's Arden Must Die and György Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre.
Early life
Meyer was born in Stockholm. Her father played the trumpet and toured with his father's orchestra around Europe, and later settled to making violins in his own shop. She studied with Adelaide von Skilondz, at the Salzburg Mozarteum, and in Siena, having won the Christine Nilsson Scholarship for studies in Salzburg and Italy, During the early 1950s, along with Busk Margit Jonsson and Daisy Schörling she formed the three-woman vocal group the 'Melody Girls', which made several recordings.
Career
Her debut was at the Royal Swedish Opera in 1952 as Azucena in Verdi's Il trovatore, with Set Svanholm, 34 years her senior, playing her son Manrico, followed soon by the title role of Bizet's Carmen, This was a breakthrough as she was noticed by Wieland Wagner who engaged her for his Carmen production and brought her invitations from around the world, including the Metropolitan Opera. and Geschwitz in Alban Berg's Lulu in 1977. Meyer often appeared in duet concerts with soprano Elisabeth Söderström. She appeared as Iocasta in Stravinsky's Oedipus rex conducted by Georg Solti in the Royal Festival Hall in London, and subsequently recorded the role for Decca. She also gave a recital of songs from Sweden, Spain and France, and German lieder by Gustav Mahler and Hugo Wolf at the Theatre Royal as part of the Wexford Festival Opera in 1977.
She took part in the Swedish entry for the Prix Italia in 1981, Jan W. Morthenson's Trauma, a "meta-opera for radio", with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Okko Kamu. Meyer sang the role of Buttercup in a production of H.M.S. Pinafore in 1980 at the Oscarsteatern in Stockholm. Her final appearance on stage was as Madame Armfeldt in a 2013 production of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music at the Malmö Opera. She served as the rector of University College of Opera, Stockholm, from 1984 to 1994.
Discography
Meyer left few commercial studio recordings; a number of her radio broadcasts have been subsequently issued (by Caprice, Swedish Society, and BBC Legends). * Bizet, Carmen (title role, in Swedish) Operan, Sixten Ehrling. Bluebell; recorded Stockholm 1954. * Operas arias from Carmen and Samson et Dalila, with Kungliga Hovkapellet conducted by Sixten Ehrling, His Master's Voice Sweden (EP), 1955 * Wagner, Die Walküre (Fricka and Rossweiße) Royal Swedish Opera conducted by Sixten Ehrling. Caprice, 1955-56. * Strauss, Der Rosenkavalier (Annina). Philharmonia Orchestra & Chorus conducted by Herbert von Karajan. EMI, 1956. * Beethoven, Symphony No. 9, Berlin Philharmonic conducted by André Cluytens. HMV, December 1957. * Songs by Brahms (11), Sibelius (4), Rangström (4), and de Frumerie (2), with Jacqueline Bonneau, piano.
La Voix De son Maitre FALP 568, 1959 * Schoenberg, Das Buch der hängenden Gärten, Op. 15, Glenn Gould (piano). West Hill Archives, 1960. * Nystroem, New Songs by the Sea Swedish Society Discofil, 1967. * Berg, Lulu (Gräfin Geschwitz) conducted by Leopold Ludwig. Electrola, 1968. * Mahler, Symphony No. 3. Hallé Orchestra conducted by John Barbirolli. BBC Legends, recorded 1969. * Penderecki, Utrenja, The Entombment of Christ – Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy. RCA Red Seal, 1971. * Stravinsky, Oedipus rex (Jocaste). London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Georg Solti.
Decca, 1976. * Operatic excerpts, from Orfeo ed Eurydike, La clemenza di Tito, Alcina, L'incoronazione di Poppea, Il barbiere di Sevilla, Carmen, Prince Igor, Don Carlo, Samson et Dalila, Singoalla, Jenůfa, with the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ulf Björlin (sleeve note by Meyer), recorded June 1978, Norrköping. EMI Svenska AB 7C 061-35593 (LP) * Duets by Dvořák, Geijer, Kodály, Purcell, Rossini, Tchaikovsky, Wennerberg – Kerstin Meyer, Elisabeth Söderström, with , piano. BIS, 1991. * Great Swedish Singers, Kerstin Meyer. Excerpts from Carmen, Mignon, Don Carlos, Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Samson et Dalila, Die Walküre, Elektra, Prince Igor, Singoalla, The Rake's Progress, Jenůfa, and the Verdi Requiem, Bluebell: broadcasts and private recordings made 1954–1972.
Sources
*Sadie, Stanley, ed. (1992). The New Grove Dictionary of Opera (4 volumes). London: Macmillan. .
External links
* * * Paul Griffiths, Igor Stravinsky: Igor Stravinsky: The Rake's Progress * Michael Kennedy: The Hallé Tradition: a Century of Music