Svenden, Birgitta (1950– )

Swedish mezzo-soprano. She first sang with the Stockholm Opera, as Dorabella and Cherubino; she was Queen Christina in the first performance of the opera by Hans Gefors (1986). From 1983 she appeared at the Bayreuth Festival, as Erda and First Norn in James Levine's Ring (1994). She made her debuts at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, in 1988 and 1990, as Erda. In 1995 she appeared in London in a new production of Siegfried. She is also a successful concert artist, notably in Mahler's third Symphony.