Åsa Jäger is a young and up and coming, dramatic soprano, currently residing in Väderstad, midway between Stockholm and Gothenburg in Sweden, but born and raised in Holmsund outside Umeå in the northern part of Sweden. She studied at the University College of Opera in Stockholm and graduated with honors in June 2015.
The season 2022-23 starts off with a Wiederaufnahme of Die Walküre in Coburg. Åsa is then continuing the Ring-cycle in Coburg, making her debut as Brünnhilde in Siegfried in March of 2023. The season also contains a concert in Hanoi, Vietnam, hosted by the Swedish Embassy in Vietnam and Christmas Concerts at Uppsala Castle and in Västerlöfsta Church together with the high esteemed choir Allmänna sången.
Åsa started the 2021-22 season by performing in the Norrlandsoperan Symphony Orchestra’s jubilee concert, held to celebrate the orchestra’s 30th anniversary. The concert was conducted by Patrik Ringborg.
Finally, in April 2022, after a two times postponed premiere due to covid-19, Åsa made her german- Wagner- and role debut at Landestheater Coburg, portraying the role of Brünnhilde i Wagner’s Die Walküre. Her performance was greeted by a unanimous chorus of critics who all praised her clear tone, infectious zest and honest portrayal of Brünnhilde. She even ended up on Alex Ross‘s short list of notable performances during 2022 in The New Yorker.
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In October 2020, Åsa was one of the semi-finalists in The Lauritz Melchior International Singing Competition in Aalborg, Denmark. During 2019, Åsa, among other things, performed together with the Gävle Symphony Orchestra singing Sibelius-Lieder and Wagner-arias and in September 2019 she made her stage debut on Norrlandsoperan as the Mother in Humperdinck’s opera Hänsel and Gretel. In July 2018 she participated in the international competition Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and out of 950 applicants she was one of 24 who made it to the semi-finals. In 2016, Åsa competed for the first time and was a finalist in the Wilhelm Stenhammar International Singing Competition in Norrköping, Sweden.
Åsa has worked with conductors such as Daniel Carter, Nader Abbassi, Anja Bihlmaier, Tabita Berglund, Ola Rudner and Patrik Ringborg and she has performed with orchestras such as The Royal Swedish Orchestra, the Norrlandsoperan Symphony Orchestra, the Gävle Symphony Orchestra, the Swedish Wind Ensemble, KammarensembleN, the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra and the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra. In addition to the traditional opera repertoire, Åsa, also sings contemporary music. In the last couple of years she has made no less than three first performances of short operas, including Om människan/On Humanity together with KammarensembleN at Folkoperan in Stockholm, Sweden.
During the years Åsa has received a number of prestigious awards, including the Anders Wall’s Giresta scholarship and the Swedish Wagner society’s Bayreuth scholarship in 2015 as well as the Danish Wagner society’s Bayreuth scholarship in 2022. She was also a recipient of the Royal Academy of Musics national scholarschip for five years in a row 2012-2017. Nordic Art Songs and German Lieder lies close to Åsa’s heart, and she has a large repertoire. She performs regularly and in close collaboration with different pianists. Åsa’s voice has a dark timbre, a strong mid range and a shimmering height that takes a room in possession. Characteristic for Åsa’s stage persona is her desire for total honesty in her expression. The underlying relationship between character, performer, music and psychology is what motivates Åsa in her daily work and she is always keen in exploring these perspectives further.
