Swedish soprano Johanna Wallroth was thrust into the limelight when she took First Prize at the prestigious Mirjam Helin International Singing Competition in 2019. Wallroth subsequently joined the Opernstudio of Wiener Staatsoper for two seasons and was the recipient of the coveted Birgit Nilsson Scholarship in 2021.
Initially training as a dancer at the Royal Swedish Ballet School, Wallroth subsequently focused her principal study on voice and went on to graduate from Vienna’s Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst (MDW). In 2013, Johanna Wallroth made her operatic debut as Barbarina (Le Nozze di Figaro) under Arnold Östman at Ulriksdal Palace Theatre, Stockholm, subsequently appearing as Eurydice (Orfeo ed Eurydice) at MDW Wien, Despina (Così fan tutte) at Vienna’s Schlosstheater Schönbrunn and Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) at Moscow’s Gnesin Academy. Wallroth has since returned to Schlosstheater Schönbrunn as both Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel) and Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro), portrayed the role of Ismene in Telemann’s Orpheus at Vadstena Castle and performed the roles of Sandmännchen and Taumännchen (Hänsel und Gretel) in a new production for Norrlandsoperan, Umeå. In the 2019/20 season, Johanna made her role debut as Zerlina (Don Giovanni) to great acclaim in a live-streamed semi-staged performance with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Music Director, Daniel Harding.
During her 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons at Wiener Staatsoper, Johanna Wallroth appeared on stage in roles such as Barbarina in a livestream performance Le nozze di Figaro, as Giannetta (L’Elisir d’amore), Une voix céleste (Don Carlos), Ida (Die Fledermaus) as Fortuna, Damigella and Amorino I in the new production of L’Incoronazione di Poppea and La Contessa di Ceprano (Rigoletto).
Johanna Wallroth has also performed with Sakari Oramo both at Helsinki Music Centre in Mahler’s Symphony No.4 and with Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in a programme featuring works by Barber and Stravinsky; she joined Daniele Rustioni at Opéra de Lyon in Mendelssohn, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, sang Mozart’s Requiem with Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France under Barbara Hannigan and was soloist on tour to Antwerp, Amsterdam, Dortmund, Köln, Hamburg and Luxembourg with Daniel Harding and the Swedish Radio Orchestra in Mahler’s Symphony No.4. At Drottningholm Barockensemble’s 50th Anniversary concert in 2021, Johanna was guest soloist alongside Anne Sofie von Otter performing arias and duets by Rameau, Handel and Vivaldi and she sings Belinda (Dido and Aeneas) at the Internationale Barocktage Stift Melk with Stefan Gottfried and Concentus Musicus Wien.
In celebration of her award of the Birgit Nilsson Scholarship, Johanna Wallroth and pianist Magnus Svensson appear in recital at the historic Birgit Nilsson concert hall in Båstad, and together with Malcolm Martineau, she appears as part of Spain’s Schubertiade Vilabertran series. Other recital appearances include at Stockholm’s Konserthuset with Svensson and at the Savonlinna Festival with Kristian Attila.
The 2022/23 season opens with a debut at Sweden’s historic Drottningholm Festival as Leocasta in Vivaldi’s Il Giustino with the Drottningholm Theatre Orchestra under George Petrou, follows with a return to Wiener Staatsoper for Barbarina in Barrie Kosky’s new production of Le nozze di Figaro under Philippe Jordan, and sees her first appearance at Opernhaus Zürich in a ballet production choreographed by Christian Spück based on the Madrigals of Monteverdi and conducted by Christoph Koncz.
Named as Classical Artist in Residence for the 2022/23 season by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Johanna Wallroth joins the orchestra for several concerts across the season including Berg, Sieben frühe Lieder with Daniel Harding, Mozart arias with Martin Fröst and Schubert’s Mass in E‑flat with Andràs Schiff. Elsewhere, she performs Osvaldo Golijov’s Three Songs for Soprano and Orchestra with the Gävle Symfoniorkester under Vincenzo Milletari, returns to Mozart Requiem with the Malmӧ Symphony Orchestra under Bertrand de Billy, sings her first Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 with Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin under Vladimir Jurowski and Natalia Ponomarchuk, sings Pergolesi Stabat Mater and Mozart Coronation Mass with the Orchester Wiener Akademie under Martin Haselbӧck at the Musikverein in Vienna and in Luzern, joins the soloist line-up for Schumann Das Paradies und die Peri with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and Daniel Harding and undertakes an extensive European Christmas tour with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta and Håkan Hardenberger.