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It was love that first brought soprano Elin Rombo to Brandon as a young student.
“We used to joke that it all started with the Balkan War,” she recalls. “Back in Sweden in the 90’s, I had a boyfriend in high school, and he was a refugee from the former Yugoslavia. He couldn’t stay in Sweden for different reasons, and he had to find somewhere to go.”
A connection between Rombo’s ex-boyfriend and a voice teacher at Brandon University named Ingemar Olsson opened a door for him to study in Canada. Rombo followed and graduated from the School of Music in 1998.
Fast forward to 2025, and Rombo has returned to her academic roots to receive an honourary degree from Brandon University. After her studies in Brandon, she returned to Sweden where her operatic career took off. Over the course of two decades, she has performed with the Royal Swedish Opera, Frankfurt Opera, and Berlin State Opera, and was named as a hovsångare (“court singer”) by King Carl XVI Gustaf in 2013.
“Elin has raised the profile of our School of Music by performing to great acclaim at many of Europe’s greatest venues,” said Dr. Kofi Campbell, BU’s Acting President and Vice-Chancellor in a statement. “In addition to her remarkable success on stage, she has returned to Brandon numerous times to perform and to share her experience and insight with our students. We’re proud to count Elin among our alumni and we’re excited to strengthen that connection with her at Convocation.”
Rombo says that Brandon was exactly where she needed to be to begin her rise as an opera artist. “I came from a small town in Sweden,” she explains, “and coming to Brandon was also a place where I was embraced in a sense that small towns usually do.”
During her time in Brandon, Rombo studied with Sylvia Richardson, who she still claims is one of the best teachers she’s ever had not just for technical instruction, but for life advice and how to comport oneself as an artist in the world.
“I felt very chosen, in a sense, by Mrs. Richardson,” Rombo recalls, “and she really pushed me forward to do extra things and she helped me a lot to go forward in that sense.”
In addition to receiving an honourary degree, Rombo will also be performing in recital alongside pianist Sharon Rogers at the Lorne Watson Recital Hall. The program for this recital, true to her teacher’s ethic, is also one that pushes the limits of her repertoire with Scandinavian art songs by composers like Edvard Grieg and Hugo Alfven mixed in with opera offerings by W.A. Mozart and Vincenzo Bellini.
Rombo hopes that students can appreciate what they have in Brandon University’s unique musical environment the way she does now. “Here in Brandon, there is a concentration like you can really focus,” she explains when asked about what advice she would give to the students who are the same age she was when she arrived in Manitoba. “Take care of those four years where you have the opportunity to work with yourself.”
Elin Rombo’s recital with Sharon Rogers takes place at 8 p.m. at Brandon University’s Lorne Watson Recital Hall. More information on how to claim tickets can be found at Brandon University’s website.