Swedish-Austrian classical soprano vocalist, born 17 November 1923 in Stockholm, Sweden, died 14 March 2012 in Vienna, Austria.
She studied at the Stockholm Academy of Music with Joseph Hislop and Ragnar Hulthén, as well as in Salzburg and Vienna. During her studies in Stockholm, Sjöstedt sang in
Eric Ericsons Kammarkör and in a jazz trio with Kerstin Meyer and Busk Margit Jonsson to supplement her income. After a highly acclaimed debut concert in Stockholm in 1951, she was given opera engagements in Basel and Saarbrücken. On the advice of the then director of the Vienna Staatsoper, Herbert von Karajan, she joined the Vienna Ensemble in 1956. There she appeared until 1982 in 46 roles in 1,015 performances. Her debut role was Cherubin in The Marriage of Figaro, a role she performed 97 times in Vienna alone. Among her major roles are the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos, Niklaus in The Adventures of Hoffmann, Dorabella in Così fan tutte, Suzuki in Madame Butterfly and Annina in Der Rosenkavalier.
She guested at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin in some Mozart roles and at La Scala in Milan as well as in Madrid, Lisbon and Dublin. She was a frequent guest at the Salzburg Festival. Contact with Sweden was extremely sporadic and here we can mention a romance concert with pianist Erik Werba at Drottningholm Palace Theatre in 1966. Margareta Sjöstedt reaped her greatest successes as a romance and oratorio singer with appearances in Vienna, Paris and London, among others. There are few disc recordings, but she is preserved in Handel's oratorio Saul, as well as Mirabella in an EMI recording of the Johann Strauss operetta The Gypsy Baron conducted by Heinrich Hollreiser, Bersi in Andrea Chénier live from the Vienna Opera in 1960 and as Elektra's confidant in Richard Strauss's opera in Decca's legendary recording with Birgit Nilsson in the title role, all conducted by Georg Solti.