Elisabeth Holmertz Singer – Ph.D.
Singing and Elisabeth Holmertz chose each other after the 8-year old Elisabeth saw Rossini’s La Cenerentola at the opera house (”Storan”) in her hometown of Gothenburg. She also wanted to become an opera singer, stand on stage in fancy costumes, and sing beautiful music. Her path was a pretty straight one, through music lessons, music high school, musicology studies, classical singing at the Academy of music in Oslo, and in Cologne. Somewhere, the dream of becoming an opera singer waned and was transformed into becoming “just” a singer. This particular singer found her voice mainly in the improvisational music of the 17th century and the complex music of today. It’s there, in the space between these extremes, she balances. Or better, she jumps blissfully between genres, styles, and expressions: singing not only lute songs and baroque opera, but experimental opera, opera for babies, and avant-garde contemporary music.
She has been a soloist with Concerto Copenhagen, Cikada, Ensemble Ernst, and both the Norwegian and Danish Broadcasting Orchestras, however she cherishes most her own projects the most: ongoing collaborations with flute and drum artist Poul Høxbro and lutenist Fredrik Bock; new music and improvisation with harpist Sunniva Rødland and percussionist Sigrun Rogstad Gomnæs (Permatrio); founding member of ensemble Odd Size, who, among other things, performed a version of Handel’s Messiah for only four musicians; she’s crossed musical boundaries with pianist Kenneth Karlsson. Elisabeth has also sung in Rolf Erik Nyström’s ensemble, Oriental Winds of the Baroque, which explores the origins of European baroque music. We could also mention here her close collaboration with many composers such as Henrik Hellstenius, Rebecka Ahvenniemi, Tansy Davies, Maja Ratkje, Jan Martin Smørdal, Martyna Kocecka, and Eivind Buene. Among others!
In 2020 she completed a PhD in artistic research at The Norwegian Academy of Music. Here she explored her own varied artistic roles, while striving to expand the boundaries of what is expected from a classically trained soprano by performing all of the roles in Monteverdi’s opera, L’Orfeo.
