Rebecca Sjöwall has been lauded for her dramatic power as an actress ("electrifying, " "striking," and "a joy to watch") with a voice described as "luscious," "beautifully crisp," and "a powerhouse."
In the 2013/2014 season, she made several role debuts, including the Governess in Britten's The Turn of the Screw with Pacific Opera Project and Mrs. P in Michael Nyman's The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat with Nashville Opera. She was thrilled to follow the critically acclaimed performances of that opera with a studio recording at Ocean Way Studios on Nashville's Music Row, which is scheduled for release in 2015. She made her Nashville Opera debut as the Williamson girl in David Lang's The Difficulty of Crossing a Field in 2012.
Sjöwall made her Carnegie Hall debut in a world premiere by film composer Stephen Edwards. Other composers with whom she has collaborated include Garry Schyman, Craig Bohmler, Patrick Kirst, Christina Whitten Thomas, Andrea Morricone, Inon Zur, and Marcus Sjöwall. She has appeared as a guest soloist with the Phoenix Symphony, Angeles Chorale, Greater Bridgeport Symphony, Palisades Symphony, Verdi Chorus, Westwood Chamber Orchestra, and in LA County Museum of Art's Sundays Live Series in repertoire including Mozart's Requiem, Verdi's Requiem, Brahms' Requiem and Liebeslieder Waltzes, Dvorák’s Te deum, Vaughan Williams' Dona nobis pacem, Handel's Messiah, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.
Over five million gamers have heard Sjöwall's voice as the singer of the "Rapture Anthem" on the popular video games BioShock and BioShock 2. The pop/rock band Sparks invited her to portray the sassy Hollywood Starlet for their album The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman, a role that she reprised for a sold-out live performance presented by the L.A. Film Festival at the Ford Amphitheatre in Hollywood. As a two-time Society of Singers scholarship recipient, she opened for Smokey Robinson at their 16th Annual ELLA Awards honoring Gladys Knight.
Sjöwall is a two-time District Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions as well as a winner of the American Jenny Lind Competition, the Redlands Bowl Young Artist Auditions, and the Long Beach Mozart Festival Vocal Competition. She spent two seasons as a studio artist with Arizona Opera, where she appeared as the High Priestess (Aïda), Frasquita (Carmen), Kate Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly), Edith (Pirates of Penzance), Lucy (The Telephone), and Amore (Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice) as well as covering six leading roles. Other roles she has performed professionally include Violetta (La traviata), Liù (Turandot), Gilda (Rigoletto), and Micaëla (Carmen). A Wisconsin native, she holds a B.A. in Political Science from Luther College and a Masters in Vocal Performance from UCLA.