Soprano Annika Sandberg was born in Stockholm, Sweden, and completed her bachelor’s degree at the University College of Opera in Stockholm in 2019, where she studied underneath the Swedish court singer Anita Soldh. She then moved to Salzburg to pursue a master’s degree in Lied and Oratorio under the guidance of Wolfgang Holzmair (Lied) and Andreas Macco (voice).
In June 2024, Sandberg was awarded the Mozart Prize at the Wilhelm Stenhammar International Music Competition, and together with pianist Juliane Sophie Ritzmann, she won first prize at the “Großer Liedpreis von HIDALGO” in Munich in October 2023. (Just a few weeks earlier, the duo reached the semifinals of the International Schubert Competition in Dortmund.) Sandberg was also the first winner of the Dalasolist Competition in Sweden and had the honor of performing as a soloist with the Dalasinfoniettan in October 2015.
In the summer of 2019, Sandberg made her international debut singing the title role in Flotow’s opera Martha at the Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg, a role she reprised in the spring of 2025 at the Salzburger Landestheater. That same year, she appeared in the production of Offenbach’s “Fantasio” at Läckö Castle in the role of Facio. Under the direction of the Salzburg Landestheater, she also appeared as one of the bridesmaids in Weber’s opera “Der Freischütz” at the Felsenreitschule in the Salzburg Festspielhaus in 2024.
During her studies at the University College of Opera Stockholm she took on roles such as Zerlina in Mozart’s *Don Giovanni* at the Värmland Opera, Eurydice in Gluck’s *Orpheus and Eurydice*, and Cis in Britten’s opera *Albert Herring* at the Hugoteatern. In 2015, she made her debut in Mats Larsson Gothe’s critically acclaimed opera “Silverfågeln” (“The Silver Bird”) at the Vattnäs Concert Barn, where she portrayed the role of Linnéa, Jussi Björling’s “first love.”
Sandberg has also frequently performed in concerts, including as a soloist in Brahms’ “Ein Deutsches Requiem” with the Mozarteum University Choir and Orchestra under the direction of Jörn Andresen, in Orff’s “Carmina Burana” with the Dresden University Choir under the direction of Christiane Büttig, and in Bach’s “Mass in B minor” with the S:t Johannes Chamber Choir in Malmö under the direction of Christian Schultze.
In addition to the opera repertoire, Sandberg has a passion for Lied and art song and regularly performs in a Lied duo. In February 2026, she released her debut album “Summer of the Sea” together with pianist Chiara Schmidt and the record label Footprint Records, featuring Ture Rangström’s cycle “Havets sommar” (Summer of the Sea) and Gösta Nystroem’s “Själ och Landskap” (Soul and Landscape)—a poetic homage to the Swedish archipelago and the sea.
In the winter of 2026, she embarked on a tour with pianist Daniel Beskow, performing a new Swedish translation of Schubert’s “Winterreise”, made by Maria Tellander and revised and adapted to the music by Annika Sandberg. Highlights of the tour included the Sara Kulturhus in Skellefteå, the Kulturens Hus in Luleå, and the Swedish Embassy in Vienna.
