Daniel Johansson

Swedish tenor Daniel Johansson has recently debuted as Siegfried in both Siegfried and Götterdämmerung with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. He has portrayed Don José in Carmen at the Royal Swedish Opera and made his first appearance as Otello this winter at the Norwegian National Opera. In the summer of 2025, he will reach another milestone by performing the title role in Glyndebourne’s inaugural staging of Wagner’s Parsifal.

The 2023/24 season featured Johansson as Tristan in Tristan und Isolde at the Opéra de Rouen Normandie, alongside his debut as Calaf in Turandot at Malmö Opera. He also appeared as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly at the Royal Swedish Opera.

In 2023, Daniel made his Parsifal debut at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, performed as Tannhäuser at Theater und Philharmonie Essen, and sang Cavaradossi in Tosca at both the Royal Swedish Opera and the Norwegian National Opera. The 2021/22 season was equally noteworthy, with major debuts as Pierre Bezukhov in Prokofiev’s War and Peace in Geneva and as Elis in Schreker’s Der Schatzgräber at Deutsche Oper Berlin.

In the 2020/21 season, Daniel debuted as Tristan in Theater und Philharmonie Essen’s Tristan XS, a reduced version of Tristan und Isolde. He also performed Cavaradossi in a filmed concert version of Tosca, streamed by both Operavision and Kungliga Operan Play. Earlier, in the 2019/20 season, he appeared as Fritz in Franz Schreker’s Der ferne Klang, directed by Christof Loy at the Royal Swedish Opera, followed by Don José in Carmen. That season also included a guest performance at the Wiener Staatsoper, where he portrayed Apollon/Dionysos in Orest.

Daniel Johansson has previously appeared at the San Francisco Opera as Matteo in Arabella and has performed the title roles in Lohengrin and Les Contes d’Hoffmann at Deutsche Oper. He has sung the role of Don José at several prominent venues, including the Bregenzer Festspiele, Deutsche Oper, Semperoper in Dresden, the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki, the Norwegian National Opera, and the Royal Swedish Opera. Other recent roles include Cavaradossi in Tosca, performed at both Malmö Opera and the Royal Swedish Opera. Daniel has also been a guest at Theater an der Wien as Siegmund in Die Walküre. In 2017, he made his debut as Lohengrin at the Musiktheater in Essen, and that year he also sang Narraboth in Salome and Froh in Das Rheingold under Mo. Thielemann at Semperoper, as well as Hoffmann in Les Contes d’Hoffmann at the Bregenzer Festspiele.

At the Royal Swedish Opera, Daniel has taken on roles such as Rodolfo in La Bohème, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Count Loris Ipanov in Fedora, Ein Sänger in Der Rosenkavalier, and Tamino in Die Zauberflöte. He has also performed Rodolfo in Helsinki and Oslo, and Alfredo in La Traviata in Stockholm, Oslo, Opera Hedeland, and at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. His portrayal of Tamino has been seen in Oslo and at Palau de les Arts in Valencia, and he has sung Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore at Göteborg Opera.

Earlier in his career, Daniel was part of the ensemble at the Norwegian National Opera, where he performed roles such as Alfred in Die Fledermaus, Narraboth in Salome, Macduff in Macbeth, Ein junger Seemann in Tristan und Isolde, and Telemaco in Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria.

Early engagements included the title role in Faust at Folkoperan, Stockholm, and Lensky in Eugene Onegin in Chautauqua, New York. He has sung Melot in the second act of Tristan und Isolde in concert with both the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Harding and the Orchestre de Paris under Christoph Eschenbach. Additionally, Daniel has performed Florestan in a concert version of Fidelio with the Malmö Symphony Orchestra, Mozart’s Coronation Mass at the opening of the Danish Radio Concert Hall with Adam Fischer, and the Shepherd in Oedipus Rex with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Esa-Pekka Salonen in both Stockholm and Brussels. He has also performed the tenor part in the chamber version of Das Lied von der Erde in Sweden and Finland, and Verdi’s Requiem with the Royal Swedish Orchestra.

Born in Småland, southern Sweden, Daniel Johansson studied at the University College of Opera in Stockholm. In 2007, he won first prize in the Gösta Winbergh Award. He has received several scholarships, including from the Swedish Royal Musical Academy and the Anders Wall Foundation. He was awarded the Birgit Nilsson Scholarship in 2009 and won first prize in the Wilhelm Stenhammar Competition in 2012.

In 2018, Daniel was appointed Court Singer by HM King Carl XVI Gustaf, and in 2021, he was awarded the prestigious Litteris et Artibus medal for his outstanding achievements as an opera singer.

March 2025