Christer Solén

Swedish opera singer, born 16 February 1939 in Gustaf parish in Kopparberg county, died 24 December 2012 in Danderyd parish in Stockholm county. He was the son of a cantor and studied at the Academy of Music in 1958–1967, where he graduated as a music teacher in 1963 and with a higher organ and cantor degree in 1965, at the Opera School 1965–1967 and for Birgit Schöldberg-Stenberg. He participated in the beginning of his career in oratorios and was a frequently hired Bach evangelist, including in West Germany where he began to perform in 1967. He became a member of the Power of Song in 1972 and was involved in the Norrland Opera in Umeå in 1974. He guest starred as an opera singer in Herrenhausen and Vaasa. He was also a romance singer, including in Scandinavia and Paris. Music of a more modern kind was also included in Solén's repertoire, including Witold Lutosławski's Paroles tissées for the first time in Sweden. He premiered Swedish church music, for example T Nilsson's Epiphania, B Hambraeus Responsorier and Lars-Erik Rosell's Visionens prophetae.