Today's Rags-to-Riches Tale

The best stories are written by life. And the best-liked stories are fairy tales. Be it the Princess and the Pea, Little Red Riding Hood, or the Wizard of the Oz—once read or listened to you will never forget them and draw from both their bright wisdom and exemplary simplicity. Some fortunate grown-ups have been able to conserve their naïveté and thus enjoy opera, where the more mature kind of fairy tales is staged.

So listen to this one: The 40-year-old Swedish-American soprano Erika Sunnegårdh was able to combine performing an essential part in one of the world’s most heart-breaking tales—Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Fidelio”—at New York City’s fine Metropolitan Opera with telling her own story, written by life. In just 18 months, the beautiful blonde went from waiting tables to make the ends meet to a triumphant dream-come-true Met debut as Leonore as replacement for star Karita Mattila, in one of the select Saturday evening performances broadcast internationally. I had the distinguished pleasure to listen to her passionate voice. Surrounded by a stellar cast comprising inter alia James Morris as Don Fernando and Ben Heppner as Florestan she overcame at once a frustrating, depressing past of frequent set-backs, singing at funerals in the Bronx, and giving music lessons in Brooklyn. Two years after her first major part as Puccini’s Turandot at the Malmö Opera och Musikteater and almost twenty (!) years after her first steps into the music business she eventually managed, or happened to have, her breakthrough. From the unknown cover singer to the acclaimed star soprano. A fairy tale written by life, don’t you think?