Biographie
Born in Vienna, Peter Svensson was discovered at the age of 6 for TV and film, working with famous directors such as Wolfgang Glück and Axel Corti -
a few years later he started his singing career as the soprano soloist of the famous Vienna Boys Choir.
He graduated ‘cum laude’ from Vienna Music Academy - among his teachers were James King and Réne Kollo.
With all the essential Heldentenor - Parts in his repertory, Peter impressed his audiences, on three continents, during the last 10 years in several Ring-productions as Segmund and both Seigfrieds - again verifying the statements in the Financial Times and in Opernwelt of being "a major find for the cathegory of Heldentenor" (for his RIENZI at the Prague State Opera ) - as well as Tristan, Tannhäuser, Parsifal, Lohengrin, Erik, Laca (Jenufa), Hermann (Queen of spades), Pedro (Tiefland), Florestan, Max, Drummajor (Wozzek), but also as Eisenstein (Fledermaus), Canio (Pagliacci), Des Grieux (Manon Lescaut), Ismaele (Nabucco), and in concert too as Otello, in Beethoven's 9th Symphony, Glagolitic Mass (Janácek), Mahler's 8th Symphony and das Lied von der Erde (Mahler)...
... in March 2011 "comeback" (after accident) as Siegfried, in April 2011 Lohengrin (Paraguay), in July 2011 acclaimed debute as Peter Grimes (in Las Palmas).
- 2012 Herod in Italy and Greece, Siegfried and King Kandaules in Germany and Italy
- 2013 again Siegfried (9th production) in Germany and Siegmund (Italy) and in the Wagner-Verdi aniversary Gala-recitals on three continents.
- 2014 the begin of a continuous musical collaboration with the outstanding Maestro Zubin Mehta
Claudio Abbado brought Peter to the Vienna State Opera, with beginners contracts 1989/91. From 1991 till 2007 Peter was a permanent member of the Prague State Opera. He was prize winner at the Richard Tauber Competition in London 1991 and received the stipendium of Richard Wagner Society in 1992. Recently Peter Svensson also received a nomination for his excellent interpretation of "Pedro" (Tiefland) for the prestigious czech National Culture Award Thalie.
The Heldentenor has performed at La Scala Milano, Paris, Buenos Aires, Athens, Dresden, Hamburg, Cardiff, Dublin, Bilbao, Cologne, Rome, Leipzig, Helsinki, Trieste, Asuncion, Catania, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Barcelona, Geneva, Stuttgart, Osaka, Hannover, Modena, Bonn, Bologna, Seoul, Madrid, Torino, Las Palmas, Montevideo, Tokyo, Taipei, Mexico City, Bejing, and many other places, with producers such as Ruth Berghaus, Paul Curran, Willy Decker, Gilbert Deflo, Giancarlo del Monaco, Claus Guth, Pet Halmen, Hans Hollmann, Richard Jones, Harry Kupfer, Neeme Kuningas, Jean Louis Martinoty, Hans Peter Lehmann, Pier Luigi Pizzi, David Pountney, Ladislav Štros, Sergio Vela, Jossi Wieler,...
He has been invited to the Festivals of Vienna, Edinburgh, Bergen, Lucerne, Prague Spring, Wexford, Ankara, Belgrave, Shaljapin Opera Festival Kazan/Russia,...
Svensson has sung with many of the leading European orchestras, under the most distinguished conductors, among them Claudio Abbado, Yves Abel, Marc Albrecht, Oleg Caetani, Evan Christ, Myung-Whun Chung, James Conlon, Asher Fisch, John Eliot Gardiner, Daniele Gatti, Pedro Halffter, Neeme Järvi, Armin Jordan, Vladimir Jurowski, Jiri Kout, Gustav Kuhn, Jan Latham-Koenig, Lothar Koenigs, Sir Charles Mackerras, Ingo Metzmacher, Václav Neumann, Kirill Petrenko, Gennadij Roshdestwenskij, Donald Runnicles, Sir Georg Solti, Horst Stein, ...
The excellent interpretation of demanding Tenor parts, as for instance in Mahler’s 8th Symphony and Das Lied von der Erde, Glagolithic mass/Janácek(Chandos-rec. under Sir Charles Mackerras) and Oedipe Rex (Chandos-rec. under Neeme Järvi), made Peter Svensson too a sought-after artist at the most famous concert halls.
There is also a number of CD-recordings with Peter available.
Peter Svensson repeatedly held (and still does) masterclasses in Mexico City, Asuncion, Montevideo, Dublin, Tallinn, Helsinki, Sofia, Seoul, Praha and Vienna.
In the years of 2009 and 2010 he has been the general artistic director of the Festival Summer Academy Gars in Austria.