Biography

For over two decades, the Swedish tenor Leif Aruhn-Solén has been a sought after singer on the world’s concert- and opera stages. He has a passion for the baroque music and is often heard in the demanding Evangelist parts of Bach’s Passions and in Handel’s tenor compositions. Leif has also had success in lead roles in baroque operas and operas by Haydn, Mozart, Rossini and contemporary composers. 

Leif Aruhn-Solén started his vocal performance studies at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm followed by studies at Oberlin College in Ohio - USA, where he graduated from the Artist Diploma program in 2001. While still being a student, he performed as a soloist with prestigious orchestras such as the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (Sakari Oramo), the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra (Marcus Creed & Herbert Böck), the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Arnold Östman) and Malmö Symphony Orchestra (Eric Ericsson). Immediately upon graduation, he was contracted to sing with Les Arts Florissants (William Christie), The New Israeli Opera (Christoph Spering) and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (Lim Yau), which was followed by opera engagements at Grand Théâtre de Genève, Opéra National de Montpellier, the Royal Opera in Stockholm and orchestral engagements with the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, Freiburger Barockorchester and Concert Spirituel. The list of orchestras and opera houses where Leif Aruhn-Solén has performed has since grown to include appearances in over 30 countries.

Leif’s recent opera engagements include the title role in Monteverdi’s L’ORFEO with Andrew Lawrence King, Vasa Baroque and the Finnish Baroque Orchestra in 2019, a role that he also created with Göteborg Baroque in 2018. Leif has also had great success as Gandhi in Philip Glass’ SATYAGRAHA at Folkoperan in Stockholm (Matthew Wood). He has performed the role nearly 50 times over three seasons, including acclaimed appearances at BAM in New York in attendance of the composer himself in late 2018.

In 2022, Leif Aruhn-Solén will return to the San Francisco Symphony as well as making his debut with the New York Philharmonic - both of them in Handel’s MESSIAH under the baton of Masaaki Suzuki.

Leif’s discography is extensive and includes the newly released BACH: TENOR ARIAS (Nilento Records), HANDEL ARIAS (Edition Lilac), the two complete operas IFIGENIA IN AULIDE by Martín y Soler and AMINTA, IL RÈ PASTORE by Mazzoni (Harmonia Mundi K617), Charpentiers JUDICIUM SALOMONIS (Virgin Classics) and SONGS OF THE HEART (Sterling).