The distribution of the scholarship takes place as usual in Västra Karup's church - but this year it will be without an audience. Instead, the award ceremony and the usual concert are shown digitally.

Emma Sventelius is from Lund. That is why this scholarship means a lot to her.

- Birgit Nilsson came from the Scanian soil and became internationally known. I do not come from an opera family either and she has been a great inspiration to me. It is an incredible honor to be associated with her name, says Emma Sventelius.

Works in Germany

The corona year 2020 has, as for so many others, been a special year for Emma Sventelius.

- The whole driving force in my job is the exchange with the audience, to stand on stage and feel the magic in the meeting with the audience. That feeling cannot be recreated digitally, so this year it has been a strange one-way communication.

Nowadays she works in Germany, which has opened up culture to a greater extent than Sweden. There she is part of the ensemble at the opera in Bonn, Germany and this autumn the premiere of Hans Humperdinck's opera Hans och Greta awaits. Before that, Emma Sventelius will be in a set of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin.

Money for development

This year, the scholarship is record-breaking. Thanks to a donor, the sum amounts to SEK 200,000.

- It is money that comes in handy, not least for the teaching I continue with to develop as an opera singer, says Emma Sventelius.