Åsa Jäger is an 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.
In the 23/24 season Åsa is continuing the Ring-cycle in Coburg and she made her debut as Brünnhilde in Siegfried in March of 2023. The debut was a successful one, according to the critics. Bachtrack, for example, wrote ”Here again, Åsa Jäger sang a robust, radiant Brünnhilde, whose seemingly inexhaustible vocal capacities were once again breathtaking”. Der Opernfreund also praised her, writing ” Åsa Jäger’s Brünnhilde legitimises all possible scenic nonchalance. In “Die Walküre” she overwhelmed the audience by her pure vocal presence in the dramatic as well as in the heartfelt phrases, in “Siegfried” she repeats exactly this in “her” scene (…)The expectations for Coburg’s “Götterdämmerung” are already enormously high for this reason.”.
In February 2024, Åsa will sing Senta in The Flying Dutchman at the Gothenburg Opera, making not only her house debut in Gothenburg, but also her role – and Wagner debut in Sweden. Future engagements in 2024 include a tour through Europe, portraying the role of Brünnhilde in Die Walküre with Kent Nagano and Concerto Köln, performing among other places in Elbphilharmoni in Hamburg and at the Lucerne festival.
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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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.
