Eira Sjaastad Huse

Eira Sjaastad Huse from Oslo is an opera singer and composer. As a vocal soloist, she has performed at prestigious festivals such as The Verbier Festival and Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, and has taken on opera roles at Opéra de Lyon, Den Norske Opera & Ballett, and Royal Opera House Muscat.

In recent years, composition has also become an important part of her career. She has pursued advanced studies in composition at the Norwegian Academy of Music, as well as private lessons with composers such as Rolf Wallin, Rolf Gupta, Bente Leiknes Thorsen, and Rune Rebne. She is dedicated to exploring the range between the new and the old, the consonant and the expressionistic, and the virtuosic and the singable – often with some surprising elements. She enjoys composing works specifically tailored to the performer, to bring out their personality. Improvisation is a key element that ties together her work as a performer and composer.

Eira participated in Ultima’s mentor programme Choral Prototypes in 2023 with George Lewis as her mentor, and is a member of nyMusikk’s composer group. Recent highlights as a composer include the world premiere of her work Witness at Tampere Biennale 2024, written for soprano Linnéa Sundfær Casserly and the vocal ensemble Key Ensemble.

Photo: Thor Brødreskift