Biography
With his warm timbre and versatile stage presence, Swedish bass-baritone Eric Ander performs regularly on some of Europe’s top opera and concert stages. In recent years he has made his debuts at Oper Frankfurt in Lucia Ronchetti’s Inferno, at the Dutch National Opera as Reinmar von Zweter in Wagner’s Tannhäuser and at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence in Andrea Breth’s production of Rihm’s Jakob Lenz.
His performances in the 2024/2025 season include Masetto in Don Giovanni at the Nationaltheater Mannheim, Händel’s Messiah with Peter Whelan at Den Norske Opera & Ballett, Bach Cantatas at the Residenzwoche München with La Banda, as well as a Schubert project with Damask Vocal Quartet in Normandie.
Eric Ander studied in Stockholm and Munich and was a young artist at the Staatsoper Stuttgart, gaining important experience in several roles and covers. Collaborations with directors like Christof Loy, Christoph Marthaler, Kirill Serebrennikov and Jossi Wieler have formed him as an artist and have influenced his view on opera as an art form.
Feeling equally at home in baroque, romantic and avant-garde repertoire Eric Ander has performed in most various projects. Recent Mozart roles include Masetto in Don Giovanni at the Staatstheater Darmstadt and the Sprecher in Die Zauberflöte at Opera-Théâtre de Clermont-Ferrand, with a CD to be released on Aparté in 2025. At Festspielhaus Baden-Baden he embodied the title role of children’s opera Käpt’n Bone (after Rossini’s L’italiana in Algeri). He sang the leading male role in a production of Artaserse by Hasse at Müpa Budapest, in the Cuvilliés Theatre in Munich and at Das Markgräfliche Opernhaus in Bayreuth and as a “Residenzgast” at the Theater Chemnitz he sang in new productions of Pique Dame, Un ballo in maschera and Le nozze di Figaro.
A keen performer of contemporary music, Eric Ander has sung Dante’s inner voice in the world premiere of Lucia Ronchetti’s Inferno at the Oper Frankfurt and one of the Sechs Stimmen in Rihm’s Jakob Lenz at the Staatsoper Stuttgart, at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, and at the Staatsoper Berlin. He sang the first performance of Rudi Spring’s Rückert-Liederbuch for bass voice at the Odeon Konzerte in München and was one of the soloists with Collegium Vocale Gent in the world premiere of James Wood's Apokalypsis at the Gent Festival and at the Muziekgebouw aan t’IJ in Amsterdam.
Other highlights as a concert soloist include Handel’s Messiah at the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Bach’s Kreuzstab Cantata with Philippe Herreweghe at the Concertgebouw Brugge, Braunfels’ Passionskantate in the Liederhalle Stuttgart and Haydn’s Creation with Stockholms Kammarkör. Eric Ander also sang Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle at the Académie du Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and a concert performance of Rameau’s Naïs under the baton of Christophe Rousset at the Aldeburgh Festival.
Eric Ander has performed together with the orchestras of Staatskapelle Berlin, Ensemble Modern, Nederlands Filharmonisch Orkest, Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Staatsorchester Stuttgart, Hofkapelle München and Orkester Nord in collaborations with conductors including Marc Albrecht, Sylvain Cambrelling, Giuliano Carella, Daniel Cohen, Georg Fritzsch, Michael Hofstetter, Ingo Metzmacher, Franck Ollu, Ulf Schirmer and Martin Wåhlberg.
Born in Stockholm, Eric Ander began his musical education as a string player and choral singer. He began studying voice with Eva Larsson-Myrsten and Prof. Petteri Salomaa at the Kungliga Musikhögskolan in Stockholm and continued with KS Prof. Andreas Schmidt at the Bayerische Theaterakademie August Everding, Munich. In productions of the Theaterakademie Eric Ander convinced as Snaut in Michael Obst’s Solaris, in the title role in Handel’s Imeneo and as Hérode in Salomé by Antoine Mariotte, garnering him an Opernwelt nomination for Talent of the Year.
Eric Ander complemented his studies by cultivating his talent for the German Lied at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München under the guidance of Prof. Lars Woldt, Prof. Rudi Spring and Prof. Fritz Schwinghammer. Furthermore, he participated in masterclasses with Sergei Leiferkus, Jane Thorner, Dorothee Mields and Dietrich Henschel, among others.