Sofia Jernberg
vocal artist
Sofia Jernberg, born in Ethiopia and raised in Vietnam and Sweden, is an exceptional singer/voice artist and composer. She studied jazz and composition in Sweden and lives and works in Stockholm. Her work focuses on unconventional techniques and sounds such as non-verbal vocalisation, split tones, toneless singing and distortion.
Music theatre and contemporary opera play an important role in Jernberg’s artistic work. She participated in performances of Arnold Schönberg’s Pierrot lunaire in 2010 and Salvatore Sciarrino’s Lohengrin in 2014 by the Swedish ensemble Norrbotten NEO and embodied roles specifically written for her in new works such as Folie à Deux by Emily Hall and UR_ by Anna Thorvaldsdottir. PIERROT LUNAIRE’S production, directed by Marlene Monteiro Freitas and conducted by Ingo Metzmacher, featured her as soloist together with Klangforum Wien at the Wiener Festwochen 2021 as well as at the KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen and the Festival d’Automne à Paris 2022.
She has received several commissions for compositions and recently premiered Dreams of our future for children’s choir, soprano, voice and chamber ensemble at the Ultima Festival Oslo 2022 and a new composition for the Ensemble Contrechamps at the Borealis Festival 2023 in Bergen.
In the season 2023/24, Sofia will perform the programme Noise Uprising: A Polystylistic Atlas at the Transit Festival Leuven, November Music Den Bosch and at deSingel Antwerp together with the ZWERM Ensemble and Sophia Burgos. Furthermore, she will interpret Fausto Romitelli’s An Index of Metals – a video opera at the invitation of the Lucerne Festival Forward 2023 together with the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra and will sing a solo concert at the National Concert Hall Dublin.
08 September 2023, 19:00 and 21:00
09 September 2023, 19:00 and 21:00
Teatro Nazionale, Rome, Short Theatre Festival/Teatro dell’Opera
Programme: Echolalias, On The Amnesia of Forgotten Sounds
Cast: Romeo Castellucci (Audiovisual Installation ‘Terzo Reich’), Sofia Jernberg (voice)
16 September 2023, 20:00, Contemporary Music Festival, Goriška Brda
Programme: Solo Performance Sofia Jernberg (voice)
30 September 2023, 19:00, Umeå, Norrlandsoperan
Programme: One Pitch: Birds for Distortion and Mouth Synthesizers (2016)
Cast: Sofia Jernberg (voice)
10 October 2023, 19:00, EarEye Festival, Stockholm
Programme: One Pitch: Birds for Distortion and Mouth Synthesizers (2016)
Cast: Sofia Jernberg (voice)
22 October 2023, Transit Festival, Leuven (première)
5 November 2023, November Music, Den Bosch
29 November 2023, DESINGEL, Antwerpen
24 Februar 2024, Wilde Westen, Kortrijk
20 April 2024, De Bijloke Muziekcentrum
Programme: Christopher Trapani Noise Uprising: A Polystilistic Atlas
Cast: Zwerm, Antoine Delagoutte (sound), Lucas An Haesbroeck (light), Sophia Burgos (soprano), Sofia Jernberg (voice)
17 November 2023, 19:30, Lucerne Festival, Filmtheater im Verkehrshaus der Schweiz
Programme: Fausto Romitelli An Index of Metals
Cast: Ensemble des Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra (LFCO), Johanna Malangré (direction), Sofia Jernberg (soprano)
19 November 2023, 18:30, Lucerne Festival, KKL
Programme: works by Charles Uzor, Sofia Jernberg and Liza Lim
Cast: Ensemble des Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra (LFCO), Mariano Chiacchiarini (direction), Sofia Jernberg (soprano), Winnie Huang (gestural performer)
Solo Programme
Cast:
Sofia Jernberg (voice)
Programme:
Georges Aperghis Récitations
Sofia Jernberg One Pitch: Birds for Distortion and Mouth Synthesizers
It sounds so delicate when the two singers (…) start out: Soprano Sofia Jernberg whines and whispers into the microphone over a breathy tapestry of aspirating instruments. A break into tenderness, the piece ebbs and flows in harmony, ending in a spherical duet.
Wiener Zeitung, Marie-Therese Rudolph, 11 November 2021
Over the course of the 75-minute performance, Sofia Jernberg develops a broad repertoire of vocal sound, ranging from overtone singing to guttural lutes, including childlike wailing and soft, intimately-interpreted melodies. Their impressive facial expressions accompany the minimalist actions, which are lent enormous impact due to the acoustic amplification: She excessively brushes her teeth until the foam drips downwards, slowly pulls a fishing line out of her mouth, accompanied by stricken piano strings – creating a connection between action and potential meaning.
Wiener Zeitung, Marie-Therese Rudolph, 17 June 2021
Photos:
To download the photos, please click on the photos.
Sofia Jernberg
Photo: Jon Edergren
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Sofia Jernberg
Photo: Jon Edergren
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Sofia Jernberg
Foto: Saga Sigurdardottir
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