Håkan Hagegård

Hagegård moves comfortably among lieder, Swedish song, and opera drawn from widely separated eras, yet his name remains most closely linked to the Romantic period. Nineteenth-century composers suit his instrument especially well because of its rich, warm timbre and capacity for subtle tonal shading. He has also promoted music of the twentieth century by originating the role of Beaumarchais in John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles, appearing as Nick Shadow in a filmed production of The Rake’s Progress, and committing to disc the part of Captain von Trapp in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music. His teachers included Tito Gobbi, whose own singing stressed textual clarity and musical illumination, and Gerald Moore, widely regarded as the preeminent lieder pedagogue and accompanist of the later twentieth century.

Although music filled his household and nearly every relative performed, the emphasis lay on shared enjoyment rather than professional ambition. Hagegård’s own commitment proved stronger, as did that of his cousin Erland Hagegård, who likewise became an operatic baritone. He began training near home before entering the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm in 1967. Only a year afterward he made his stage debut as Papageno—his signature role—at the Stockholm Opera. Following graduation he pursued further instruction with Erik Werba and Gerald Moore in Salzburg and London and with Tito Gobbi in Italy, while simultaneously joining the Stockholm Opera roster, where he sang from 1970 until 1979. His first appearance abroad took place at Glyndebourne as the Count in Strauss’s Capriccio. In 1975 he attracted international notice once more as Papageno in Ingmar Bergman’s film of Mozart’s The Magic Flute. The Metropolitan Opera heard him for the first time in 1978 as Malatesta in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, and La Scala welcomed him in 1985, again as Papageno.

He established the HageGarden Music Center, a secluded yet technically advanced facility where he leads master classes. For several years he was married to soprano Barbara Bonney. Caprice issued two of his long-playing records—one devoted to Swedish songs, the other to operatic arias—on a single compact disc. His RCA recording of Die schöne Müllerin, partnered by Emanuel Ax, stands as a model performance.