Hagegård, Håkan
Hagegård, Håkan
Hagegård, Håkan, outstanding Swedish baritone; b. Karlstad, Nov. 25, 1945. After initial training in Karlstad, he studied at the Stockholm Musikhögskolan and with Erik Werba and Gerald Moore in Salzburg. He made his operatic debut at the Royal Theater in Stockholm as Papageno (1968); after further study with Tito Gobbi, he made his first venture outside his homeland at the Glyndebourne Festival in 1973. He gained wide recognition through his notable portrayal of Papageno in Ingmar Bergman’s film version of Die Zauberflöte (1975); subsequently appeared throughout Europe in opera and concert. On Dec. 7, 1978, he made his Metropolitan Opera debut in N.Y. as Dr. Malatesta. He appeared as Wolfram at his debut at London’s Covent Garden in 1987. On Dec. 19, 1991, he created the role of Beaumarchais in the premiere of Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles at the Metropolitan Opera in N.Y. In 1992 he portrayed Wolfram at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin. He sang at the Metropolitan Opera Gala in 1996. He is married to Barbara Bonney . He particularly distinguished himself in operas by Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, and Verdi; also became highly esteemed as a concert singer, excelling as an interpreter of lieder.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire