Ingela Onstad

BIOGRAPHY

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Soprano Ingela Onstad has enjoyed a varied international career in opera, concert work, and contemporary music. Operatic highlights include performances at Dresden’s Staatsoperette, Oldenburgisches Staatstheater, Landestheater Schleswig-Holstein, and Santa Fe Opera in roles including Musetta in La Boheme, Pamina and Papagena in Die Zauberflöte, Nannetta in Falstaff, Mabel in Pirates of Penzance, and Violetta in La Traviata. She also sang the roles of Merab and Michal in the Faust Prize nominated staged production of Handel’s oratorio Saul in Oldenburg, Germany.

 

Highlights of her career as an oratorio soloist include Carmina Burana, Charpentier’s Te Deum, Haydn’s The Creation, and numerous Bach Cantatas. She has sung recitals at Klavierfestival Lindlar in Lindlar Germany, as well as across the United States.

 

A sought-after interpreter of contemporary works, she has created operatic roles in 2 world premieres (Strauss' Los Bufones and Kampe's ANOIA) sung roles in operatic works by Bibalo (Fräulein Julie) and Ullman (Der Kaiser von Atlantis). She has also performed diverse works by Schoenberg, Kurtag, and Schwantner, amongst others.

 

Ms. Onstad debuted with the Santa Fe Symphony in Mahler's Symphony No. 4 as a last-minute replacement for an indisposed colleague. 

 

Recent performances include a recorded program of Bach for the Arizona Bach Festival, the New Mexico premiere of Kafka Fragments by G. Kurtag, and her debut with Opera Southwest as the main role in Salvatore Sciarrino's opera Lohengrin.

 

Upcoming performances include The Road from Hiroshima with the Mid-Columbia Mastersingers in Richland, WA, and the role of Frasquita in Carmen with Opera Southwest.
 

Ms. Onstad completed her undergraduate degree at McGill University and earned a Master of Music degree at the University of New Mexico. In addition to her work as a singer, Ms. Onstad is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) who frequently presents on topics concerning mental health and performers. With her business Courageous Artistry she provides specialized performance coaching services to the performing arts community worldwide. For more information on her performance anxiety work, please click here.