Rebecca Sjöwall
Soprano

"Standing alone at center stage, she lit up the proceedings with glowing, sweet tone and a radiant persona, which rightfully reaped some of the longest applause of the evening."

- San Francisco Classical Voice

  Biography

A passionate interpreter of art song and concert works, Ms. Sjöwall has given recitals in Japan, Italy, Latvia, Sweden and the United States. She has appeared as soloist in Rutter's Magnificat and Pärt's Magnificat with the Angeles Chorale, in Dvorák's Te Deum with the Palisades Symphony and in Mozart's Exsulate, jubilate with the UCLA Philharmonia. A frequent guest of the Los Angeles-based Westwood Chamber Orchestra, she most recently performed the soprano roles in Vaughan Williams' Dona nobis pacem and Mozart's Requiem. This season, she will return to the Westwood Chamber Orchestra as soloist in Handel's Messiah and will give recitals in Wisconsin and Los Angeles. She will also return to San Francisco Lyric Opera for a gala concert of operatic favorites in November.

In 2007, Ms. Sjöwall was a featured artist on Los Angeles County Museum of Art's Sundays Live, appeared with the Greater Bridgeport Symphony and was selected to perform at the 16th Annual ELLA Awards honoring Gladys Knight. She was one of four UCLA singers who appeared in recital with pianist Rakefet Hak at Teatro la Fenice in 2008. She also premiered several new works written for her that year, including In the Garret, a song cycle by Christina Whitten Thomas. An active recording artist, her voice can be heard singing the "Rapture Anthem" on the award-winning video game BioShock and as the Hollywood Starlet on the latest album, The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman, by Sparks.

Ms. Sjöwall's honors include two-time District Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions as well as Winner of the Barnum Festival Jenny Lind Competition, the Long Beach Mozart Festival Vocal Competition, the Redlands Bowl Young Artist Auditions and the A.E.I.O.U. Nunzio Crisci Opera Scholarship. She was the Second Place Winner of the Palm Springs Opera Guild Competition in 2007, and has been a Finalist in the Czech Republic's International Antonín Dvorák Competition and the Palm Beach Opera Competition. She is a two-time Society of Singers Scholarship Recipient and has received generous support from The Opera Buffs and from composer Stephen Edwards.

The path to singing for this Wisconsin native was a winding one. She took her first voice lesson while completing her B.A. in Political Science, in preparation for law school, at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. Wishing to experience life in another country, she moved to Japan after graduation to work as an English teacher. She was asked to give a concert while living there, to raise money for The Friendship Foundation. That experience eventually led her in a new direction, and in June 2008, she completed her Master's Degree in Vocal Performance at UCLA. She currently lives in Los Angeles.

http://www.rebeccasjowall.com/