Biography

The Finnish tenor Dan Karlström graduated from the Business School of Åbo Academy before starting his singing studies at the Sibelius-Academy with Anssi Hirvonen in Helsinki. He has since then worked with Prof. Herbert Brauer in Berlin as well as visited master classes with Jaakko Ryhänen, Tom Krause and Elisabeth Werres.

His first ensemble contract took him to the Schillertheater NRW and to the Staatstheater Darmstadt. He was also invited to Bayreuth, Wiesbaden, Erfurt, Münster, Weimar, Chemnitz, Dresden, Savonlinna, Helsinki, Beijing, and to the Komische Oper Berlin.

Since 2001, Karlström is a stable member of the ensemble of the Opera Leipzig.

Dan Karlström debuted at the Finnish national Opera as Tobias/Sweeney Todd and hosted afterwards several times as Pedrillo/Die Entführung aus dem Serail and as Yonas in the Opera Adriana Mater by Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho. Also he is a common guest at the Savonlinna Opera Festival, where he performed in roles like Monostatos/ Zauberflöte, die Vier Diener/ Hoffmanns Erzählungen, Remendado/ Carmen, Simpleton/ Boris Godunov and Goro/Madama Butterfly.

He worked with conductors like Esa-Pekka Salonen, Marc Albrecht, Ralf Weikert, Asher Fisch and Sakari Oramo and with directors like Peter Sellars, Claus Guth, Robert Carsen, Dietrich Hilsdorf and Francisco Negrín. In departed seasons he performed in works by Bach, Beethoven, Händel, Mozart, Rossini and Orff.

Dan Karlström's broad repertoire includes many parts out of Opera, Operetta and Musical, including David/Die Meistersinger, Mime/Rheingold und Siegfried, Walter von der Vogelweide/Tannhäuser, Steersman/The flying Dutchman, Truffaldino/The Love for Three Oranges, Tamino/ Die Zauberflöte, Cassio/Otello, andJudas/Jesus Christ Superstar.

Highlights of the past seasons include the title role in Zemlinsky's Der Zwerg in Chemnitz as well as Mime/Rheingold and Siegfried, and Luzio/Das Liebesverbot at Opera Leipzig.

Engagements of the most recent past include Die Zauberflöte (Monostatos), Hänsel und Gretel, Turandot, Le nozze di Figaro (Don Basilio), Lucia di Lammermoor, Das Rheingold und Siegfried (Mime), Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Pedrillo), Der Freischütz und Die Frau ohne Schatten in Leipzig, as well as Le nozze di Figaro (Don Basilio) at the Teatro Comunale in Bozen and Sallinen's Kullervo (Kimmo) at the Savonlinna Opera Festival.

As an ensemble member, during the season 2017/18 Dan Karlström will once again be on stage at Opera Leipzig in numerous roles, including Monostatos/Zauberflöte, Mime in Das Rheingold and Siegfried under the musical direction of Ulf Schirmer, Witch/Hansel and Gretel, Don Basilio/Le nozze di Figaro, Pong/Turandot, Normanno/Lucia di Lammermoor, Kilian/Der Freischütz, Spoletta/Tosca, Goro/Madama Butterfly, Hunter/Rusalka, Prince/Lulu, as well as with the tenor part in St. John Passion - a ballet by Mario Schröder with the music by J.S. Bach.

In addition to his engagements as an ensemble member in Leipzig, Karlström will also be performing the role of Goro/Madama Butterfly at the Opera Festival in Savonlinna.