“Music's ability to delight and touch is amazing. I love how it can take us to another world and allow us to make room for what words cannot explain. Getting to be a guide on this journey is what drives me and makes me want to develop"

Maria Sveinungsen is a Norwegian opera singer who now lives in Kosta. She earned her bachelor's degree in performance singing at the Royal Academy of Music in London and in 2021 she completed her master's degree at the Academy of Opera in Stockholm. Before that, she studied at Stockholm Opera Studio and Birkagården's folkhögskola.

It was not obvious that Maria would become a singer. In the spring of 2013, she had decided to become an engineer and therefore studied extra courses to enter engineering studies. One day when she was watching TV she saw a feature about a woman who worked as a professional classical singer at Cirque du Soleil, Maria thought it seemed fantastic and then and there she decided to take up singing again, because as a child and young adult she sang in St. Laurentius Choir. She called around for a voice teacher in Oslo who could teach her to sing the classical repertoire, and found Martha Smith with whom she made an appointment. After a few times at Martha's, she decided to become an opera singer. Martha explained that to succeed you have to work really hard, something Maria proved willing to do. A few months later, Maria started her studies in classical singing at Kulturama in Stockholm.

The following year she attended the Stockholm Opera Studio where she got to work with teachers such as Eva Haglund, Eva Österberg, Henrik Lövemark, Clara Svärd and Bengt-Åke Lundin. In the final productions, she played the Third Lady from The Magic Flute and the title role in Carmen. Then she studied for two years at Birkagården folkhögskola, while in the summers she worked at High Chaparral as an actor in the Zorro show. High Chaparral became an exciting contrast to the Opera world and she acquired important skills these summers such as fencing skills and improvisation. During these years, Maria was also part of "Helt Barockt" which had several shows and concerts at Svartsjö castle.

During Maria's time at Birkagården, the English baritone Jeremy Carpenter lectured, a lecture that inspired Maria to apply for studies in Great Britain. In autumn 2017, she applied to The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and the Royal Academy of Music. She got into all the schools, and chose to go to the Royal Academy of Music as she wanted to try living in London, and that they offered her to do her bachelor's degree in 2 years instead of 4.

In autumn 2018, Maria moved to London to start studying. She had spent the summer at High Chaparral and at the Dala Floda Opera Festival where she played the role of Lola in Cavalleria Rusticana, she also got to be a soloist with the Dalasinfonietta.

The studies in London were exciting and the musical life there was on a completely different scale than in Stockholm. She had singing lessons 2 times a week and an intensive schedule that included both German lieder, opera, theater, rehearsal, movement, oratorios and French romances. Maria's singing teachers in London were Alex Ashworth and Caitlin Hulcup. During the Christmas holidays she was in Wales with North Wales Opera Studio where she performed the role of Lola in Cavalleria Rusticana and Principessa in Suor Angelica. Despite childbirth and the pandemic, Maria graduated in the summer of 2020 as planned. In the fall of this year, she started at the Academy of Opera in Stockholm, as a master's student. Here she had Ulrika Tenstam as a singing teacher. That same year she was privileged to receive a scholarship from the Johnny Ellings Legacy. After graduating from the opera school, she continued her studies there with, among other things, the course "Opera Building against young people and cultural school".

In the summer of 2022, Maria had a concert in Kosta and the coincidences meant that she and her family moved here precisely that fall. Småland has always been close to Maria's heart, as the nature and tranquility are conducive to creative processes. She thought it was an exciting and rewarding challenge to be able to start from the countryside, and see if she could create a career with Kosta as a base. The first year offered many exciting challenges that nourished her profession. She sang at Hyttsillar, Musikquiz and After Works, where there was nothing but classical music on the tape, she also collaborated with the band Bagage, and recorded a single with them. Maria also sang in her home country during the Oslo Opera Festival where she was soloist in the gala concert. In addition to this, Maria sang in the church in Kosta. In the summer of 2023, she sang together with Min Opera and Wiener salon virtuosen in Jönköping and at Möckelsnäs.

Maria looks forward to further developing her career and invests in building a base in Kosta in order to also have the whole of Europe as her field of work.