Maria Bengtsson

From an early age, the award-winning soprano Maria Bengtsson decided on a career in music. She grew up in a family of musicians in Höllviken and was introduced early on to musical life through music school and upper secondary music studies, but also to the world of opera. At the age of seven, she was already accompanying her father to Malmö Opera to watch rehearsals at close range. There she experienced the inspiring atmosphere of singers and actors and saw their dreamlike costumes. Immediately after finishing upper secondary school, she was admitted to the Freiburg University of Music, and five years later she received her first engagement at the Volksoper in Vienna. She then worked at the Komische Oper Berlin until 2007, when she decided to become a freelancer. Her international career soon gained momentum with invitations from all the major opera houses in Europe. Among them were Teatro alla Scala in Milan and La Fenice in Venice, to name just two. These collaborations included work with internationally renowned directors and conductors such as Riccardo Muti and Kirill Petrenko, who later became Chief Conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic.