ABOUT ANIKA

Praised for her “captivating and sensual” sound (Riptide Magazine), Anika Kildegaard is quickly distinguishing herself as one of the most promising American vocalists specializing in new music and concert repertoire. Equally at home as a chamber musician as well as a soloist, Kildegaard has performed with ensembles across the United States in a variety of repertoire, spanning from baroque oratorio to world premieres written for her voice. She performs regularly as part of the GRAMMY Award-winning new music ensemble, The Crossing, as well as the soprano/double-bass duo, LIGAMENT, alongside Will Yager, and soprano/saxophone duo, Audra, with Noa Even. 

In the 2025/26 season, Kildegaard debuts with several ensembles including The Publick Pleasure, the newly-formed Philadelphia Bach Collective, as soloist for BWV 106, The Bach Choir of Bethlehem, as soloist for BWV 10, and Seraphic Fire, among others. In the spring she will appear in concert and subsequently record an album with No Exit Music Ensemble, featuring the music of Robert Honstein. Additionally, as part of her prize for having received the 2024 Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia Career Advancement Award, Kildegaard will perform in a solo recital alongside pianist, Daniel Schreiner, in a program featuring selections from Messiaen's Harawi, Debussy's Ariettes oubliées, and Gabriela Lena Frank's Cuatro Canciones Andinas. Anika also returns as a member of The Crossing, LIGAMENT, and Audra for several performances throughout the season, including in the premiere of Nina Shekhar's Tic-Talk and as part of the University of Northern Iowa New Music Festival, to name a few.

Recent highlights from past seasons have included Kildegaard's Carnegie Hall solo debut in a concert of works by Gabriela Ortiz, her debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a tour of performances of David Lang's poor hymnal as a soloist alongside The Crossing, LIGAMENT's residence at the Avaloch Farm Music Institute, University of Iowa and the Peabody Institute, and her performances in a world premiere by Seare Farhat as part of the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music. 

Among the number of studio recordings that she has been a part of, Kildegaard is most prominently featured on Missa brevis Abbaye de Thélème, a genre-bending album released to international acclaim in the fall of 2023 of works by Jean-François Charles that were written for her. Prior to the release of the album, Kildegaard was also featured in a music video of “Agnus Dei,” one of the tracks from the larger work, which was nominated for several video and independent awards, including the Berlin Music Video Awards. In continuation of their artistic relationship, the next music video project between Kildegaard and Charles, an excerpt from the opera Grant Wood in Paris titled "An Alphabet for Grant Wood," is set to be released in the spring of 2026.

In other recent solo engagements, Kildegaard has performed Handel’s Messiah at the First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, Mozart’s Missa Brevis in F with Delaware Choral Arts, Missa Brevis in G at the St. Alphonsus Church in Baltimore, Osnat Netzer's I won’t be outrun by a cavalry of snails and Kate Soper’s The Ultimate Poem is Abstract with the University of Iowa’s Center for New Music Ensemble, BWV 140 at Congregational UCC in Iowa City, and Vivaldi’s Gloria at Hennepin Avenue UMC in Minneapolis. Kildegaard’s invitation as a guest soloist for Netzer’s piece came as a part of the University of Iowa’s “Contemporary Music from Israel” festival, which focused on the performance of works by living Israeli composers. Kildegaard was also recently invited to attend the American Bach Soloists Academy for the summer of 2024, but was not able to attend due to season cancellations from the organization. 

Kildegaard has performed with numerous musical ensembles and organizations as a chamber musician and ensemble member, having made her debut with Alarm Will Sound in Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians, appearing as part of LIGAMENT on Denison University’s “Contemporary Sound” Festival and the year-long artist in residence for District New Music Coalition in Washington, D.C., as well as joining Minneapolis based ensemble, VocalEssence, for a tour to Mexico City and for their Lullaby Project. As part of the Lullaby Project, Kildegaard worked with mothers enduring hardships such as homelessness, poverty, or incarceration to compose lullabies that “[embody] the hopes and dreams the mother has for her baby.”