
CHRISTINA AF KLINTEBERG HERRESTHAL

Stormen Concert House
Photo: Frida Sandnes Bringslimark
Christina af Klinteberg Herresthal
Léonie Sonning Talent Prize recipient Christina Sofia af Klinteberg Herresthal is a Norwegian-Swedish Mezzo Soprano, who is particularly passionate about chamber music, baroque repertoire and contemporary composers.
This season, Herresthal looks forward to her Australian debut as “Lily” in Kaija Saariaho’s last opera “Innoncence” at Adelaide Festival with Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and Adelaide State Opera Chorus, after starting the season with The Finnish Baroque Orchestra in a staged concert for Turku Music Festival. Herresthal will also be touring as a soloist with The Baroque Society, with her own ensemble Hehku and as a duo with lutenist/baroque guitarist Fredrik Bock, performing programs combining baroque repertoire and Nordic folk music.
Previous highlights include singing the alto solo in a Mezzo TV live-streamed concert of St John’s Passion (Bach) with OrkesterNord, as well as her 2022 operatic debut as Ishara in Nørgård’s “Gilgamesh” with Ensemble Esbjerg, followed by debut as Johanna/The Eye in Peters/Vacrec’s “Three Amputators” with Arctic Philharmonic and “Drømmerhandsken” in Katinka Fogh Vindelevs “Hologrammet” with the Danish Sinfonietta. Further cooperations include singing with Nordic Baroque, Concerto Copenhagen and Nordic String Quartet.
HEHKU ENSEMBLE
In 2021, Herresthal and conductor Aliisa Neige Barrière founded the Nordic ensemble and Artist Collective Hehku. The name Hehku derives from Finnish and means "glow", "gleaming" and "aflame", which mirrors the purpose of the ensemble; creating musical experiences colored by spark, light and vitality. Dedicated to commissioning contemporary pieces, as well as championing silenced voices from the historical repertoire, the full ensemble consists of conductor (Barrière), mezzo (Herresthal), violin(Isabelle Bania), viola (Michael Grolid), cello(Theodor Lyngstad), harp (Claire Moncharmont) and flute (Kaja Marie Andersen), but frequently performs in smaller settings as well.
Hehku’s first project was a music film centered around “Songs from Evening Land” by Per Nørgård, in honor of the composer’s 90th birthday, recorded with Millimeter Media in 2022. In addition to its digital presence, the film has been screened in Copenhagen Music House/Art Music DK, Gothenburg Concert House and Ultimafestivalen in Oslo. Hehku has also commissioned and performed new pieces by composers such as Anna Berg, Aya Yoshida, Frederik Zeuthen and Nick Martin in themed programs combining them with earlier repertoire. In 2023, Hehku was ensemble in recidence at Copenhagen Music House.
PATIENCE
Passionate about working with living composers, Herresthal has a close collaboration with American composer Maya Miro Johnson who, mentored by Missy Mazzoli, is writing an opera entitled Patience concerning the genius and suffering of artists in female-assigned bodies who experience psycho-physiological torment in the health care system because of their biological sex, with the main role being tailor written for Herresthal ́s voice. Herresthal has also sung for composers such as Kaija Saariaho, Missy Mazzoli and Per Nørgård.
EDUCATION
In August 2024, Herresthal completed her Master Degree at The Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, studying with Susanna Eken, Tuva Semmingsen and Marianne Rørholm. In Master Class, she has also worked with Emma Kirkby, Lars-Ulrik Mortensen, Anders Dahlin and Tuuli Lindeberg, and she is currently studying with Marianne Beate Kielland.
As a member of the Norwegian National Opera’s Children’s Choir from age 7-17, Herresthal performed in numerous productions both as children choir in main stage productions, as well as solist parts in children operas on stage 2 in roles such as Kia (Knerten og Lillebror) and The Herold (Maxwell Davis: Cinderella).
In the opera productions of The Royal Danish Academy of Music, Herresthal performed the following parts: Nurse Renault (Vestergård:Titanic), Euridice/Euretti 2 (Landi: La Morte d’Orfeo), Ariadne (”Se den vandklare kilde” by Abrahamsen in FRAKTAL) and Maman/La Libellule/Une Pâtre (Ravel: L’enfant et les sortilèges).
GRANTS AND AWARDS
Herresthal was a 2024 recepient of the prestigious Léonie Sonning Talent Prize, and is grateful to have received grants from Fegersten Foundation , Helge Axsson Foundation, Wilhelmsen Foundation, Signe Butenschøn Foundation, Sveaas Foundation, Poul and Ellen Herz Foundation and Feldthusen Foundation.