Swedish soprano Julia Sporsén is known for the intensity with which she portrays her characters. Her performances have been described as “fiery” (Opera Magazine), “searing” (The Sunday Times), and “almost unbearably moving” (The Spectator), and she is praised for her virtuosic and expressive singing as well as her stage presence and captivating acting skills.
Julia has sung roles including Katya in Weinberg’s The Passenger, the title role in Martinu’s Julietta and Rosalinde Die Fledermaus for English National Opera, where she also created two roles in world premieres: Julia in Torsten Rasch’s new opera The Duchess of Malfi, and Antigone in Julian Anderson’s Thebans for English National Opera. She also created Regan in the world premiere of Promised End by Alexander Goehr for English Touring Opera.
Julia enjoys a close relationship with Opera Holland Park, where she has sung Katya Kabanova, Micaela, Gilda and Nedda to critical acclaim. Other notable appearances include Tebaldo Don Carlos for Opera North (also recorded for Chandos Records), Kumudha in John Adams’s opera A Flowering Tree, Pamina and Micaela for Göteborg Opera, Micaela for the Royal Swedish Opera and Violetta for Folksoperan in Stockholm.
Current highlights include Komponist Ariadne auf Naxos for Scottish Opera and Opera Holland Park, and Ingeborg Fritiofs saga for Göteborg Opera.
This biography is for information only and should not be reproduced.
Komponist (Ariadne auf Naxos)
Opera Holland Park (July 2018)
Honours are stolen here by Julia Sporsen’s ardently sung Composer: it’s conventionally a trouser role, but McDonald adds a new frisson by keeping the trousers, but dispensing with gender-swapping. Sporsen is very affecting as she peels off layers of neurosis, much encouraged by Jennifer France’s Zerbinetta peeling off layers of clothing. The duet between the two is the highlight of the night and takes us to the heart of what Strauss and his librettist are trying to tell us about the messiness of life, how a tiny collision of events can mean the universe.
Neil Fisher, The Times
Julia Sporsén's soprano glows in the role [of the composer].
Erica Jeal, The Guardian ****
Sporsén brings warmth and expressive power to her Composer.
George Hall, Financial Times ****
Seria and buffa elements were confrontational rather than cohesive - perhaps that’s how it should be - but Julia Sporsén’s Composer brought disparate parts into a cohesive whole, with her Schubertian-Straussian paean an die Musik. Sporsén’s soprano shone and thrilled and both her declaration that music is a holy art and her interactions with Zerbinetta were genuinely touching.
Claire Seymour, Opera Today
Julia Sporsén's vivid soprano Composer (the voice type specified by Strauss, despite the part having become a favourite of young mezzos) was the vocal highlight of the Prologue, with characterful cameos from the rest of the cast.
Matthew Rye, Backtrack ****
The Composer is sung brilliantly by soprano Julia Sporsén – and how refreshing to hear it sung by a soprano, especially one with such a gleaming high register (intended by Strauss, but tradition has meant a shift to a mezzo).
Colin Clarke, Seen and Heard International
Julia Sporsén’s Composer hits the spot with her volatile, intense and outrageously self-centred artistic tizzies, pressing her suit on Zerbinetta with full-on eroticism, and then suddenly bringing us into her perspective with an electrifying account of her hymn to the power of music that gives us the full benefit of her lovely, lightly-shaded voice.
Peter Reed, Classical Source ****
But the scene, and most hearts, I hope, are stolen from the first appearance of Julia Sporsén's adorable if volatile Composer, deeply simpatica. The role needs flaming soprano top notes – creator of the role, after all, was Lotte Lehmann – and Sporsén allies them to a plangent intensity I haven't seen to the same degree in the role since the young Maria Ewing took a Proms audience by storm on a Glyndebourne visit back in 1981.
David Nice, The Arts Desk *****
However, the first part of the evening belongs unequivocally to Julia Sporsén as the Composer of the eponymous Ariadne opera. Playing her role as a busy, buzzing and passionate control freak who is only reconciled to her preposterous position by a latent attraction to lowbrow-in-chief Zerbinetta, the soprano (not here a mezzo, as has become the custom, nor dragged up as a man) inflects every word with sense and gauges her character's priceless reactions with entertaining care.
Mark Valencia, Whats On Stage *****
a passionate Julia Sporsen as the Composer
Inge Kjemtrup, The Stage ****
[In the prologue,] comedy and seriousness were finely balanced with Julia Sporsen's composer being the passionate centre of everything. It was lovely to have the role sung by a soprano for once (the original composer was Lotte Lehmann), and it benefited from Sporsen's gloriously ringing top. Here McDonald had introduced another twist with the composer being a woman rather than travesty role. Sporsen was intense and committed, giving us a wonderfully vibrant line, and she was supported by some brilliantly etched characterful portraits from the rest of the cast. Certainly, Sporsen is a soprano who I want to hear in more Strauss, having heard her as the composer I now want to hear her as Octavian.
Robert Hugill, Planet Hugill ★★★★½
Komponist (Ariadne auf Naxos)
Scottish Opera (March 2018)
Sporsén gave a truly magnificent performance, outraged at her opera seria being adapted and ruined by low-art burlesque. Her final aria, an outpouring on the importance of music and high art was passionately delivered, and one of the evening’s musical highlights.
David Smythe, Backtrack ****
Julia Sporsén’s spunky portrayal of the Composer … Those of us who prefer a voluptuous-sounding [mezzo-soprano] Composer could hardly cavil at Sporsén’s lighter, higher, less full-bodied soprano, because she was so palpably inside the role and sang with such commitment.
Andrew Clark, Opera Magazine
[It] is the women who stand out as the characters who steer and sustain a path through the piece's complexities, none more so than Swedish soprano Julia Sporsén as the composer. A role conceived for a soprano playing a man, hers is updated to a female composer, shedding fresh light on the relationships at play.
Carol Main, The List ****
Soprano Julia Sporsén was convincing as the affronted composer, her moving scenes with Zerbinetta – Jennifer France channeling Dita Von Teese – a highlight.
Susan Nickalls, The Scotsman
Musically, this duet was beautiful, with Sporsén and former Scottish Opera Emerging Artist Jennifer France as Zerbinetta producing a gorgeous blend, as the characters learn that despite coming from different walks of life, they may have more in common than they thought.
Miranda Heggie, The Arts Desk ****
Katya Kabanova (Katya Kabanova)
Opera Holland Park (July 2017)
Julia Sporsen rends the heart with her searing singing of the adulterous (in thought) heroine.
Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times
I can confirm that it’s still almost unbearably moving, with (again) a spot-on cast from which it feels unfair to single out Julia Sporsen as a luminous, painfully human Katya.
Richard Bratby, The Spectator
From among the strong cast Julia Sporsén stands out in the title role, revealing a soprano whose fullness is matched by equally high levels of sensitivity and feeling.
Sam Smith, musicOMH, 4 stars
Julia Sporsén is gripping in the title role... [She] is secure and sings with a real dramatic intensity. For the love music with Boris, she produces a completely different tone, soft, round and utterly endearing.
Gavin Dixon, Artsdesk, 4 stars
It's soprano Julia Sporsén who takes us with her into the vortex of Kát'a's personal hell. Trapped in a life of abuse at the hands of her husband and stepmother, the love and consolation of her life now lost to her, this emotionally naked singer - who showed in ENO's Duchess of Malfi and Giulietta the extent of her dramatic range and courage - draws us in to share the harrowed woman's fate. It is a searing performance.
Mark Valencia, Whats On Stage, 5 stars
Olivia Fuchs’s 2009 production makes a welcome return, with Julia Sporsén searing in the title role.
Clare Colvin, Express, 4 stars
Kát’a’s torment in the second act was one of her finest moments; we feel her conundrum viscerally. Swedish soprano Julia Sporsén, previously a Micaëla, a Gilda and a Nedda for OHP, was fully involved in her tragic part right from the start making her demise all the more harrowing.
Colin Clarke, Seen and Heard International
Intense and bird-like, the images of flight which come into Janacek's libretto seemed to imbue Sporsen's movements and she was very much like a wounded bird. Nervous yet intense and vividly alive even when constrained not to move, this was a remarkable performance which grew throughout the evening. Sporsen has been singing lyric roles (Violetta, Pamina, Micaela, Gilda) and gave a lovely fluid account of the role, but her voice had just the right amount of spinto ping to it, giving just the right amount of power. … And of course, the glorious double duet which concludes Act Two, where the tense and nervous start of Kat'a and Boris' duet showed Sporsen and Hoare at their intense best, expanding into a gorgeous lyricism whose over intensity boded no good for the relationship. In the final scenes, this lyricism veered into neurosis and Sporsen's solo was profoundly moving.
Robert Hugill, Planet Hugill, 4.5 stars
In Kát’a’s monologue with Varvara, Sporsén convincingly suggested the nascent hysteria within Kát’a’ as she realises that her only hope is to prevent Tichon’s departure. And, in the double love scene in Act 2, her melodic lines swelled with limitless emotion, as if simply by singing without cease her revelation and love could be made to last forever.
Claire Seymour, Opera Today
Julia Sporsén rises to the occasion in her portrayal of Janáček’s fatally imaginative, innocent and big-hearted anti-heroine. She is a fine actor who sings Janáček’s speech-inflected vocal lines with electrifying fluency, and she conveys the character’s strength and vulnerability with focused verismo.
Peter Reed, Classical Source, 4 stars
Swedish soprano Julia Sporsén, empassioned and lyrical in the title role.
Claudia Pritchard, Culture Wisperer, 4 stars
The stage pictures show us the Volga and the circumscribed, prison-like emotional world of Julia Sporsen’s desperately vulnerable Katya, locked into a loveless marriage with cowardly drunk Tichon … and mercilessly bullied by Anne Mason’s vindictive Kabanicha – opera’s mother-in-law from hell. … [This] is an exemplary cast.
George Hall, The Stage, 4 stars
Pamina (Die Zauberflöte)
Gothenburg Opera (March 2017)
Julia Sporsén was a stunning Pamina: her warm lyrical soprano was a joy to listen to and her well-rounded acting reminded the audience that Pamina is not a classic damsel in distress but a woman with her own mind and a willingness to question authority.
Niklas Smith, Seen and Heard International
Violetta (La Traviata)
Folkoperan, Stockhom (September 2015)
Julia Sporsén’s Violetta vocal line unfolded with virtuosity…superbly secure and passionate…she was a stand out! She delivered the great finale and death scene with impressive intensity.
Camilla Lundberg, Dagens Nyheter
Julia Sporsén is outstanding in the lead role. Her Violetta is magnificent and human, bewildering and crystal clear. It is a singer’s breakthrough that will be difficult to forget.
Björn Wiman, Dagens Nyheter
Julia Sporsén is simply outstanding in the title role. With her strong, clear, vibrato she gives the role a credible range with many touching moments, not least in the last act.
Bo Löfvendahl, Svenska Dagbladet
Julia Sporsén is unparalleled as Violetta. With a strong, dense and coherent voice full of character she gives a performance which deserves nothing but praise.
Claes Wahlin, Aftonbladet
Once every ten years, it happens on an opera stage… A completely new opera singer comes along with exactly what it takes for a plot and storyline to take shape around her and come out in her voice. So it is with soprano Julia Sporsén who sings the leading role of Violetta… She excelled in the role of Kumudha in John Adams’s opera A Flowering Tree at the Gothenburg Opera House earlier this year… Tension swarms around her as it does a queen bee… In her voice is contained the expansion reflective of the person she portrays… Everything is visible in her facial expressions and the full meaning is conveyed in her singing.
Expressen
But it is Julia Sporsén’s interpretation of Violetta – both dramatically and vocally – that leaves the most significant impression.
Per Feltzin, Sveriges Radio
The love story between Violetta and Alfredo is carved out with warmth, love and humour. This is not least down to the superb interpretation by Julia Sporsén, a soprano with rigor and a beautiful high voice.
Patrick Uhlman, Ekuriren
Vocally speaking, Julia Sporsén demonstrates the most impressive effort, but I would have expected this having heard her earlier in the year at the Gothenburg Opera. Dramatically and vocally, I regard her performance as the highlight of the show!
Mogens H Andersson, Opera Logg
Kumudha (A Flowering Tree)
Göteborg Opera (February 2015)
Soprano Julia Sporsén as Kumudha filled the Gothenburg Opera with sonorous power and intensity in her interpretation of this expressive music. Her phenomenal strength made the scenes in the second half particularly poignant where her character is affected first by doubt, later by dire adversity.
Peter Bohlin, Dansportalen
Above all, I was impressed by Julia Sporsén’s...ability to allow the long melodic lines to create an impression of floating, her prolonged and elevated melodies blurring the time sequences and bringing the music a fascinating sense of stillness.
Magnus Haglund, GP
Julia Sporsén acts completely convincingly, both in the subtle differences of her transformations and in her terror when she finds herself stuck in a mutilated form, without limbs. Her soaring lyrical soprano expresses all of this beautifully.
Niklas Smith, seenandheard-international.com
Antigone (Thebans), English National Opera
London Coliseum (May 2014)
With plenty of vocal temperament and incisive colour, Julia Sporsén was a passionate Antigone.
John Allison, Opera
Julia Sporsén’s Antigone and Matthew Best’s gorgeously upholstered Tiresias are both outstanding.
Guy Dammann, The Guardian
A mournful cor anglais shadows the vocal line of Antigone, passionately delivered by Julia Sporsén.
Fiona Maddocks, The Observer
…strong individual performances from …Christopher Ainslie (Theseus) and Julia Sporsén (Antigone) fleshed out the drama of the production by Pierre Audi.
George Hall, Opera Now
Oedipus is excellent, as are Peter Hoare’s Creon and Julia Sporsén’s indignant Antigone.
Barry Millington, Evening Standard
Julia Sporsén’s passionate, incisive Antigone gave Acts Two and Three a thrilling sense of obsession and tragedy.
Peter Reed, classicalsource.com
Julia Sporsén’s Antigone – ferociously sung, desperate and beautiful.
Alexandra Coghlan, theartsdesk.com
Julia Sporsén’s Antigone impresses more than any of her recent ENO appearances.
Simon Thomas, whatsonstage.com
Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus), English National Opera
The Coliseum, London (September 2013)
Julia Sporsén was on fine vocal form as Rosalinde, singing a csárdás that would have lit up any production.
Peter Reed, Opera
Julia Sporsén’s performance was sympathetic and stylish.
Fiona Maddocks, The Observer
Nedda (Pagliacci)
Opera Holland Park (June 2013)
Julia Sporsén was a terrific Nedda, feisty, fiery, vocally secure and dramatically impressive.
Hugo Shirley, Opera
Julia Sporsén…sings juicily.
Neil Fisher, The Times
Julia Sporsen’s Nedda, a vivid characterization.
Rupert Christiansen, The Daily Telegraph
Julia Sporsen…makes an in-depth exploration of Nedda’s hopes and frustrations.
George Hall, The Stage
“…the admirable Nedda of Julia Sporsén.
Barry Millington, The Evening Standard
Julia Sporsén, an actor with genuine range and full of vocal stunts, takes charge as Nedda, a travelling player and scarlet woman par excellence.
Joseph Woby, Metro
It fell to the Nedda of Julia Sporsén, a soprano whose star is very much in the ascendant, to show how it’s done – whether revelling in the bliss of plunging tired feet into a wash-basin during “Oh! Che volo d'augelli?” or else struggling to conceal her anguish while vamping a sultry, Commedia dell’arte tart during the clowns’ performance.
Mark Valencia, classicalsource.com
Julia Sporsen [is] excellent as the adulterous Nedda.
Simon Thomas, Whatsonstage.com
Julietta (Martinů), English National Opera
London Coliseum (September 2012)
But the biggest plaudits must go to Peter Hoare and Julia Sporsén as the bewitched, bothered, and bewildered lovers, both acting as brilliantly as they sing.
Michael Church, The Independent
As Julietta, all nervous jiggles, vicious mocking and sudden seriousness, Julia Sporsen is dynamic, voluptuous and disturbing.
Anna Picard, The Independent on Sunday
Julia Sporsén is warmly luscious as [Michel’s] obscure object of desire.
Rupert Christiansen, The Daily Telegraph
Julia Sporsén sang with attack and brilliance.
Peter Reed, The Daily Telegraph
Julietta is sung by the sexy, charismatic, pretty-voiced Julia Sporsén, a complete stage animal who deserves to go far.
Andrew Clark, The Financial Times
Julia Sporsén is admirable as the elusive Julietta.
Barry Millington, The Evening Standard
Memorable performance from Julia Sporsen’s enigmatic Julietta.
George Hall, The Stage
Rarely can a title role have so little to sing, yet Julia Sporsén captivates as Julietta, catching the ambiguity behind her character . . . she makes much of her scenes on stage, with some impassioned singing in the duet with Michel in the woods.
Mark Pullinger, Opera Britannia
As for Julia Sporsén as Julietta, vocally and visually the Swedish soprano radiated such vitality that Michel was bound to be smitten.
Mark Valencia, classicalsource.com
Gilda (Rigoletto), Opera Holland Park
(July 2011)
Julia Sporsen’s Gilda [is] outstandingly sung; the father-daughter duets, in their shanty-town shack, wring the heart.
Michael Church, The Independent
Julia Sporsén, as Gilda, was a real revelation, displaying superb clarity and projection, her tone pure and effortlessly pleasing.
Opera Today
The phenomenal voice Julia Sporsen…impressed from the first with her piercingly bright timbre and lyric vocal line…it was beautifully pitched, her trills flawless and her vocal colouring bright.
John de Wald, Opera Britannia
Posner’s focus is on the intensity of the relationship between Robert Poulton’s Rigoletto and Julia Sporsén’s Gilda, whose innocence is matched by the furious sexual energy of adolescence. Though the shivering flute obbligato is still wan with purity, her “Caro nome” is hot with desire.
Anna Picard, Independent on Sunday
As the innocent Gilda Julia Sporsén’s fleshy soprano maintains intensity with its expressive power.
George Hall, The Stage
As Gilda, Julia Sporsén’s agile attack and dramatic power regularly carry her to victory.
Geoff Brown, The Times
Gilda is sung by the terrific Julia Sporsen whose singing and acting really tug at the heartstrings.
Warwick Thompson, Metro
Julia Sporsen is a terrific Gilda. She sings well, and conveys a fascinating half-scared, half-loving relationship with her father.
Bloomberg
[Julia Sporsén] sang with considerable panache. Her ‘Caro nome’ could hardly have been more dolcissimo, laced with delightful rubato, which Stratford humoured perfectly. But she also had power to spare. The contrast between her graceful figure in a ballgown and her little-girl-lost in the penultimate scene was stark in the extreme. Most of the sexual electricity in her private encounter with the Duke was hers
Martin Dreyer, Opera
Katya (Weinberg’s The Passenger), English National Opera
UK premiere (September 2011)
The large ensemble cast, including Julia Sporsen, Pamela Helen Stephen and Rebecca de Pont Davies, gave their heartfelt best.
Fiona Maddocks, The Guardian
There’s a simple unaccompanied folk song for Katya, one of the inmates, in Act 2. Julia Sporsen sings it with hushed rapture, and the effect is haunting.
Warwick Thompson, Bloomberg.com
Julia Sporsen as inmate Katya nearly steals the show with a moving Russian folksong
Ben Hogwood, Metro
Julia Sporsen's rendering of Katya's Russian folk song is especially touching.
Christian Hoskins, Whatsonstage
Julia Sporsen, who plays the Russian prisoner Katya, sang an enchanting and, ironically, captivating unaccompanied Russian folk song, during which she held the silent attention of the Coliseum in a moment of unparalleled beauty
Paul Guest, Ceasefire
The most moving vocal moment in fact came a little later, as the a capella Russian folksong faded into nothingness (Julia Sporsén as Katya)
David Fanning, Opera
Micaela (Carmen), Opera Holland Park
(June 2010)
…Julia Sporsén’s fearless, ardent Michaela…
Anna Picard, The Independent
Julia Sporsén’s Micaela is more conventional in her village girl virtuousness, but her singing has an impressively charged lyricism that blossoms in her third act aria.
George Hall, The Guardian
…Julia Sporsén displays a heavenly purity of sound as Micaela.
Warwick Thompson, Bloomberg.com
The best vocal performance of the evening was undoubtedly given by Julia Sporsén in the thankless role of Micaela. Her warm, beautiful voice was evenly produced throughout the range
Sebastian Petit, Opera Britannia
Julia Sporsen was a pleasing, simple Micaela who rose to her Act III aria…
Francis Muzzu, Opera Now
Gianetta (The Elixir of Love), English National Opera
(February 2010)
Julia Sporsén’s Gianetta was sparkling and full of life.
Opera Today
there’s sex appeal in a single flash of Julia Sporsén’s smoky eyes
The Independent
Julia Sporsén made a great impression in the small role of Gianetta, singing with confidence and charm.
Musical Criticism
a sparky Gianetta
Opera News
Julia Sporsén’s perky Gianetta
Music Web International
Julia Sporsén makes the most of her brief opportunities as Gianetta
Opera Britannia
Julia Sporsén’s Opera Repertoire
| John Adams | A Flowering Tree (Kumudha) |
|---|---|
| Julian Anderson | The Thebans (Antigone) |
| Bizet | Carmen (Micaela) |
| Britten | Peter Grimes (Ellen Orford) extracts |
| Cilea | Adriana Lecouvreur (title role) extracts |
| Donizetti | L’Elisir d’Amore (Adina, Giannetta) |
| Detlev Glanert | Caligula (Livia) |
| Alexander Goehr | Promised End (Regan) |
| Handel | Rinaldo (Armida) extracts |
| Janáček | Jenufa (Jenufa, Jano) |
| Martinů | Julietta (Julietta) |
| Menotti | The Consul (Magda) extracts |
| Mozart | La clemenza di Tito (Vitellia) extracts |
| Poulenc | La voix humaine (Elle) |
| Puccini | La bohème (Mimì, Musetta) |
| Rameau | Dardanus (Iphise) |
| Torsten Rasch | The Duchess of Malfi (Julia) |
| Smetana | The Bartered Bride (Mařenka) extracts |
| Strauss (J.) | Die Fledermaus (Rosalinde) |
| Tchaikovsky | Iolanta (Iolanta) |
| Verdi | Don Carlos (Tebaldo) |
| Wagner | Parsifal (First Squire, Flower Maiden) |
| Weinberg | The Passenger (Katya) |
Julia Sporsén’s Concert Repertoire
| Brahms | Requiem |
|---|---|
| Beethoven | Mass in C |
| Elgar | The Kingdom |
| Gounod | St Cecilia Mass |
| Haydn | The Creation |
| Handel | Jephtha (Iphis) |
| Mendelssohn | Psalm 42 |
| Mozart | Requiem |
| Pergolesi | Stabat Mater |
| Rutter | Psalmfest |
| Saint-Saens | Requiem |
