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The Swedish contralto, Margarete Sjöstedt, received her training from 1947 to 1951 at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, and from 1951 to 1953 at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, as well as at the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna. Her teachers were A. von Hillern-Dunbar, Ragnar Hultén, Elisabeth Rado and Erik Werba. During her studies she sang in Stockholm Chamber Choir and as a vocalist in a Jazz Trio.
In 1951 Margarete Sjöstedt gave in Stockholm her first Lieder recital. Her first engagement was at the Stadttheater of Basel from 1953 to 1955. From 1955 to 1953 she was active at the Landestheater Saarbrücken, since 1956 she was continuously a member of the Wiener Staatsoper. In over 1,000 performances there she sang an abundance of roles from the entire opera repertoire and proved herself as one of the most reliable artists of the ensemble. At the same time she had important successes as Lieder and oratorio singer. She appeared at the operas of Madrid, Lisbon, Dublin and at the Deutschen Opernhaus Berlin. In 1958, 1964 and 1965 she participated at the Salzburg Festival, in 1966 at the Baroque Festival of Schloß Drottningholm in her Sweden homeland.
Margarete Sjöstedt gave successful Lieder recitals in Vienna, Paris and London. In 1963 she married with Professor Heinrich Kraus, the vice-director of the Wiener Burgtheater, and appeared since then also under the name Margareta Sjöstedt-Kraus.
Recordings: Eurodisc (Carmen, Hänsel und Gretel); on Morgan Records she sings Bersi in Andrea Chénier (recording of a performance of the of Wiener Staatsoper from 1960); on Vanguard Hexe von Endor (Witch of Endor) in the oratorio Saul by George Frideric Handel. |
