““Kristine Nowlain commanded immediate attention...and simply stunned us...””
The “electric” Swedish-American soprano Kristine Nowlain is committed to finding a deep connection to her artistry through constantly seeking relevance, nuance and complexity in her interpretation, choice of repertoire and collaborations.
Kristine was born and raised in San Francisco, California in a Swedish-American family. She has studied voice in Los Angeles, Buenos Aires, Stockholm and Malmö. In 2012 she graduated from Occidental College in Los Angeles with a B.A. in Music and minors in Sociology and Latin American Studies. She completed her Bachelors in June, 2018 at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. In June, 2020 she completed her Masters from Malmö Opera Academy/Malmö Academy of Music.
Kristine sang the role of Vita in the world premiere of Andrea Tarrodi’s opera Det Långa Seklet in the autumn of 2023. She later sang the main role of Emma in Flurry Tale/Vinteryra on the main stage at Malmö Opera through February 2024.
In the spring of 2022 she sang in the world premiere of Drømmedøden by Josefine Opsahl to raving reviews in Denmark and Sweden, directed by Michaela Granit and produced by Nordic Opera in collaboration with Den Nye Opera in Esbjerg, DK. Performed on stages including Folkoperan, Det Kongeliga Teater (DK) and Kalmar Castle. She sang the role of High Priestess in Verdi’s Aida at Opera Hedeland during the summer of 2022 and finished the year singing in two children’s operas at Malmö Opera Verkstan: Trasmaja in L.J. Werle’s Väntarna and Augusta in the world premier of Snösystern by Magnus Johansson.
In the autum of 2021, she was the cover for Hanna Glawari and Valencienne (Die lustige Witwe) at Nöjesteatern in Malmö. She performed 9 shows as Hanna and 4 as Valencienne. In the fall of 2020, she debuted as Despina in Così fan tutte on tour with Malmö Opera, directed by Jonas Österberg Nilsson. In February 2020 she debuted at Malmö Opera as Cupidon in Offenbach’s Orphée aux enfers, directed by Elisabeth Linton and conducted by Tobias Ringborg. During the 2019/20 season at Malmö Opera Kristine covered Tytania (Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and in 2018 she covered Maria in Bernstein’s West Side Story. Some of her favorite performed roles (in part and/or complete) are Calisto (Cavalli’s La Calisto), Zerlina (Mozart’s Don Giovanni), Despina (Mozart’s Così fan tutte), Laetitia (Menotti’s The Old Maid and the Thief) and Susanna (Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro).
In concert, Kristine has worked with conductors such as Patrik Ringborg, Tobias Ringborg, Jakob Hultberg, Maike Bühle, Fredrik Malmberg, Cecilia Martin-Löf, Florian Benfer, and Sofia Winiarski, as well as been the soprano soloist in Mendelssohn’s Elias at Berliner Philharmonie, Mozart’s Requiem, Bach’s Johannespassion and Weihnachtsoratorium among other works. In 2019 she sang with Malmö Opera Orchestra at Malmö Festivalen and was featured as the soloist at Gävle Symphony Orchestra’s Christmas Concert, 2019. She participated in the Mirjam Helin Singing Competition in Helsinki, 2019, the 2022 Wilhelm Stenhammar International Music Competition and was a finalist in the Hjördis Schymberg Award with Nordiska Kammarorkestern.
Kristine has also found her artistic voice in lieder, contemporary music, chamber music, music composed by women and through a wide variety of projects, including a collaboration with composer Andrea Tarrodi and director/librettist Helena Röhr to commission a new opera, premiering in October, 2023 through the Malmö-based free-group Freebird. She regularly performs a concert program of female composers from Sweden, England and France with pianist Annika Bjelk and violinist Inga Zeppezauer titled Élève-toi: songs about us.
In 2018 Kristine performed the Scandinavian premier of woman.life.song by Judith Weir for soprano and 19-piece chamber orchestra. In 2017 she was one of 12 singers in the “core-team” of Marina Abramovic’s week-long performance piece The Cleaner at The Modern Art Museum, Stockholm. In 2022 she was the soloist in Min Totala Njutning, a performance piece by Lilith Studios (Elin Lundgren and Petter Peterson), poet Daniel Mårs and composer Philip Gleisner. The piece was later selected as one of 14 works to participate in Scenkonstbiennalen 2023.
She has received scholarships from the Friends of Malmö Opera, Fredrika Bremer Förbundet, Familjen John Anderssons i Anderslöv Stiftelse, Giovanni Impellizzeris Bel Canto Scholarshop, Anders Sandrews Stiftelse, Stiftelsen Petersenska Hemmet, Helge Ax:son Johnsons Stiftelse, Torsten Tegstams Scholarship, Royal College of Music Scholarship, Royal Swedish Academy of Music Scholarship and more.
She has studied with Erik Årman, Bo Rosenkull, Kirsten Buhl Møller and Åsa Bäverstam and taken lessons from Sine Bundgaard, Jeremy Carpenter, Camilla Tilling, Anna Larsson and Elin Rombo. She participated in the Birgit Nilsson Masterclasses with Miah Persson in 2021 as well as in masterclasses with Gregory Lamar, Giuseppe Sabbatini and Solveig Kringlebotn.
