Birgitta Svend�n, is a Swedish operatic. Svend�n, was born in Porjus and then raised in Vuollerim. She studied at Operah�gskolan in Stockholm, and later embarked an international career in the first place as a Wagner singer, especially at the Bayreuth Festival where she sang several performances between 1983 and 1999, many of those as Erda. She was also a frequent guest at the Metropolitan Opera in New York between 1988 and 2000. Her artistic base remained at Royal Swedish Opera where she was contracted from 1981 to 2004. Birgitta Svend�n was appointed hovs�ngerska in 1995. She is also a full member of the Academy of Music and an honorary doctor at the Lulea University of Technology. From 1 August 2005 to 2009, she was the rector of the Opera School in Stockholm. She is since 1 February 2010 General Manager of Royal Swedish Opera. 

March 20th, 1952 in Porjus (Age 72)