Bror Magnus Tødenes

The Norwegian tenor Bror Magnus Tødenes emerged as an important figure in the operatic scene in the late 2010s. He has performed both traditional bel canto opera and contemporary works, as well as appearing in concert pieces with leading symphony orchestras. Tødenes was born in 1993 and grew up in Eiksund, on an island off Norway's west coast. He started piano lessons at eight, and diverged into electric guitar before taking up classical singing and winning a place in the young musicians' program of the University of Trondheim's music school. He was also helped along by a scholarship from the Norwegian Opera. Further studies came at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia in Rome, where Tødenes moved in 2014 and studied with Elizabeth Norberg-Schulz. He made his debut that year at the Bergen International Festival in the world premiere of a contemporary opera called Kiberodysséen (Copper Odyssey). Strongly influenced by the voice of the mid-century Swedish star Jussi Björling, Tødenes released his debut album, Remembering Jussi, on Norway's Simax label in 2015. That year he also joined the Salzburg Festival's young artists' program in Austria, and moved on from there to a cast membership at the Vienna State Opera. In 2016 he sang the role of Rodrigo in Verdi's Otello in Salzburg. Tødenes began to find major engagements in Scandinavia as well, performing at the Copenhagen Opera Festival that year and appearing as Nemorino in a 2017 Copenhagen Opera production of Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore. The 2018-2019 season saw Tødenes make debuts with the Oslo Opera (as Rinucci in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi) and at the Bastille Opera in Paris. Tødenes has also performed with the Oslo Philharmonic, Trondheim Symphony, and Stavanger Symphony orchestras, and in 2018 he was heard in the prominent tenor solo part of the Berlioz Requiem mass in a recording by the Bergen Symphony under Edward Gardner, released on the Chandos label. While touring, Tødenes meditates for at least a half-hour per day, and prefers to stay in hotel rooms with kitchens so that he can cook for himself.
© James Manheim /TiVo