”you’ll See,’ said the child and pointed. And I replied, ‘Yes, I see’. I saw him ride on the river. Then I saw him never more.”
Anna-Lotta Larsson humming their song ”Now rides on the river”. She fixes her long dark hair with gray streaks in and think back to a letter she once got from a woman.
the Woman wrote that her husband had died and that her son almost been mute in their grief. But when the boy got to hear this song welled suddenly the grief he felt then better. I thought it was really nice that I could somehow help. That is why I sing. The goal of a concert is that the feelings will occur. To make the audience feel something, laughing or crying. Otherwise it feels as if I have failed.
had Anna-Lotta with him as a child. At home in Öjebyn, outside Piteå, she took piano lessons and studied to be a vocal coach at Framnäs folk high school, where her mother was a singing teacher and dad playing the violin.
” I sang a lot, but had no plans to, I would become an artist or something like that, but just did what I thought was fun. Then led one to the other.
Anna-Lotta wanted to be an opera singer but was not admitted to the university college of opera in Stockholm and ended up as reserve at the music academy.
” They thought I was a bit too old and that I would not be able to develop so much. I was 23 years old. Oh well, I thought.
It feels like it’s harder today to break through as an artist, so I feel fortunate to have gotten to live the life I have lived.
She came in place at the university college of opera in Gothenburg, which had a three-year music and theatre education. It was here that his career would take off. The school was situated near the tv building and the Anna-Lotta got the opportunity to sing in Lennart Hylands program ”Gomorron Sverige”. The breakthrough came during the last academic year of the course in 1980 when she was cast as ”Anna” in the stage play ”Värmlänningarna” on SVT.
After the first few years as sångsolist at the Malmö city theatre and the oscar theatre (Oscarsteatern) in Stockholm, Anna-Lotta continued to sing on their own and in collaboration with others. She switches between songs, opera, classical music, pop music, acting and musicals and has also dubbed for animated movies.
Anna-Lotta’s christmas concerts have become a tradition. This year will be the 26th year in a row and she appears in one of 20 churches from the north to the south. At each location collaborates she with a or two local choirs. In the past she did julkonserterna with vocalist Göran Fristorp but nowadays it is with the pianist and arranger Andreas Landegren.
the Preparations started already in January and is currently working on Anna-Lotta, with the last bookings.
” I think that it is fun with christmas, otherwise I would have never continued. I often get into the churches that still is the best room for music. In particular, because christmas is about the birth of Jesus. The church is an amazing and beautiful guest rooms that create a lovely, spiritual atmosphere.
Something she wont say no to is to sing at funerals. It will be simply too emotional.
” I have been asked many times but thank constant no. I can’t control the tears at that point. I can’t do it simply.
40 years as an artist and reaches the age of 65.
” I still think I feel pretty young. Life has become better than I what I might dare to believe. It feels like it’s harder today to break through as an artist, so I feel fortunate to have gotten to live the life I have lived. I’ve really got to work with what I think is the most fun of all, to sing, and then sometimes done in the theatre or dubbed any film.
– Many people think it’s the big arenas you remember. Sure, I have sung in the Globe and it is awesome and a lot of people. But I thrive better in a church. To work with a happy running who want us to come and draw people to the church. It’s glamour in my world. I may at the same time make the music I want and get paid, what could be better?