Knut Skram

About Knut Skram

Knut Skram, born in Ørsta in 1937, is a baritone who became one of the central figures at the Norwegian National Opera during its formative decades. After training as an architect at Montana State University, he turned to singing, studying with Maurice Casey and George Buckbee in the United States before further vocal studies with Paul Lohmann in Wiesbaden, Luigi Ricci in Rome and Kristian Riis in Copenhagen. He made his professional debut in March 1964 as Amonasro in Verdi's Aida in Oslo, launching a permanent engagement at the Norwegian National Opera that lasted from 1964 to 1990 and encompassed more than eighty roles. 

Skram's career extended well beyond Norway, taking him to the Berlin State Opera, the Opéra-Comique in Paris, nine seasons at Glyndebourne, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires and the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, where he performed alongside artists such as José Carreras, Joan Sutherland, Plácido Domingo and Kiri Te Kanawa. He also pursued a career as a recitalist, served as chairman of the Norwegian Association of Opera Singers from 1979 to 1983, and sat on several vocal competition juries. His contribution to Norwegian musical life was recognised with the Royal Order of St. Olav in 1984, the Lindeman Prize in 1986 and the Anders Jahre Culture Prize in 2001. His son, Henrik Skram, born in 1973, is also a composer.