Claes-Håkan Ahnsjö

Claes-Håkan Ahnsjö (born 1 August 1942) is a Swedish operatic tenor particularly associated with the baroque repertoire and Mozart works.

Life and career

Born in Stockholm, Sweden, Claes Ahnsjö first obtained a degree in teaching before turning to musical studies in 1967. He joined the Opera School of the Royal Swedish Opera with private studies with Erik Saeden, Aksel Schiøtz and Max Lorenz. He made his debut at the Royal Swedish Opera in 1969, as Tamino in The Magic Flute, later singing Belmonte, Idamante, Don Ottavio and Ferrando. From 1969, he also became a regular at the summer opera festival at Drottningholm Palace Theatre, which focused on works by Handel, Gluck, Haydn, and Mozart.

In 1973, he joined the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, where he sang a large number of lyric roles including Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Nemorino in L'elisir d'amore, Ernesto in Don Pasquale, Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto, Alfredo in La traviata, Fenton in Falstaff, Des Grieux in Manon, Nicias in Thais, David in Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg and the title role in Britten's Albert Herring.

Claes Ahnsjö also made guest appearances at most of the major opera theatres in Europe and North America as well as in Japan. He also enjoyed a succesful career as a concertist, notably in oratorios and lieder.

He was made a Kammersänger in Munich in 1977. He is married to mezzosoprano Helena Jungwirth.

Sources

• Dictionnaire des interprètes, Alain Pâris, Éditions Robert Laffont, Paris, 1989.