Named one of OperaWire’s Top Ten Rising Stars of 2024 Swedish soprano Matilda Sterby made her role debut as Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes at the Göteborg Opera – an interpretation that earned her the 2025 Opera Prize from the magazine Tidskriften OPERA.
Matilda opened the season with Mimì in La bohème after which she made her role debut as Agathe in Der Freischütz, both at the Göteborg Opera. In 2026 Matilda returns to Mimì in Gothenburg and sings La Contessa in Le nozze di Figaro for Volksoper Wien. The summer brings her role and house debut as The Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier at the Garsington Opera.
The previous season Matilda performed the roles of Micaëla in Carmen, Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes and at the Göteborg Opera, Fiordiligi in Cosi fan tutte at the Malmö Opera and La Contessa at Volksoper Wien.
Matilda Sterby achieved her definitive breakthrough in Sweden in 2022 with the role of Mařenka in Smetana’s The Bartered Bride for the Göteborg Opera. Recent engagements include Donna Anna in Don Giovanni for Malmö Opera, Mimì in La bohème at the Badisches Staatstheater, Magda in La Rondine for Volksoper Wien. She has appeared as Micaëla in Carmen and Fünfte Magd in Elektra at the Badisches Staatstheater, La Contessa in Le nozze di Figaro at Hannover Staatsoper and at the Stadttheater Klagenfurt, Amanda in Lars Johan Werle’s Tintomara for Läckö Castle Opera and Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte for the Göteborg Opera (filmed and streamed due to Covid-19).
In 2019 Matilda Sterby made her critically acclaimed debut as La Contessa in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Läckö Castle Opera. Some early engagements include Donna Anna in Don Giovanni for Dala-Floda Opera Festival, Frasquita in Carmen for Östgötamusiken and Emmy Perth in Marschner’s Der Vampyr at the Läckö Castle.
Matilda has appeared in concert in, amongst others, Larsson’s Förklädd Gud/God in Disguise with the Royal Swedish Philharmonic Orchestra in the Stockholm Concert Hall. She has sung Strauss’ Vier Letzte Lieder with the Stockholm Orchestra Filialen, Monteverdi’s Vespers with the Eric Ericsson Chamber Choir at Stockholm Concert Hall, Beethoven's 9th Symphony with VÄGUS and Simon Phipps at Gothenburg Concert Hall.
Matilda Sterby was named the 2024 recipient of the Birgit Nilsson Scholarship. She has been awarded numerous scholarships in both Norway and Sweden, including those from the Swedish Wagner Society and the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. In 2016, Matilda earned the opportunity to perform as a soloist with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra at De Unges Konsert (The Young Artists' Concert), conducted by Kristiina Poska in Grieg Hall, Norway. Additionally, she was honored with the Audience Prize among the featured young soloists.
In 2024, Matilda won the Wilhelm Stenhammar International Music Competition and in 2022, she was the First Prize winner of the Hjördis Schymberg Award in Sweden. The Jury’s motivation reads: “For her beautiful lyric soprano voice, her clear musicality and her exciting stage presence, Matilda Sterby wins First Prize."
Matilda Sterby graduated from the University College of Opera in Stockholm in 2019 where she studied under the tutelage of American baritone Robert Hyman. Matilda also attended the soloist programme at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo and at the Oslo Opera Academy, as a student of prof. Barbro Marklund.
In 2022 Naxos released a CD of Matilda singing modern art songs by Swedish contemporary composer Hans Gefors, accompanied by pianist Mårten Landström.
