(Photo credit: Eliasson Artists)

Swedish bass-baritone Kristoffer Töyrä has won the 2024 Mogren Music Prize, with a prize sum of SEK 250,000 (approx. $23,000 USD).

The Mogren Music Prize’s goal is to “support young, promising musicians in the beginning of their careers, in the hopes of facilitating their step into the arts.” The criteria for receiving this awards incudes an exceptional voice, purposeful expression, and a musical style that the jury believes can lead to a successful international career.

The jury said of Töyrä in a press release, “Kristoffer Töyrä has remarkable voice resources, a purposeful expression and musical sense of style. There is bravery and playful simplicity in his development and as a young, promising bass-baritone, he possesses all the makings of becoming a grand asset at the national and international opera scene.”

The 29 year-old singer has performed as Il Commendantore in “Don Giovanni,” Colline in “La Boheme,” the Innkeeper in Selma Lagerlöf’s “The Treasure,” Wilhelm in “Hoffman’s Adventures,” and has sung the baritone solo in Händel’s “Messiah.” He also performed with the Gothenburg Opera, Arctic Male Voices, Erik Westerberg’s vocal ensemble, the Swedish Youth Choir as well as the Piteå School of Music Master Choir and chamber choir.

“Before I started working in Gothenburg, I had never even been in an opera house. To receive music lessons as a kid in northern Sweden was near impossible, there were few teachers and not enough opportunities. To win the Mogren Prize is very important to me, and it reminds us all what an important role the music schools play in enabling more to work with this,” says Töyrä.