Born in Sweden, dramatic soprano, Dominique Hellsten comes from Swedish - Finnish parentage with artists on both side of the family. Her maternal grandfather, the late pianist Rolf Bergroth in particular,was a major influence on her musical development especially with regard to her piano studies.
She received her MA in Voice and Music Education from the School of Music/ Gothenburg University. Dominique has a wide-ranging repertoire from the late 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st centuries , including several lesser-known 20th- century works. A versatile approach to performance ( including repertoire , programming , staging and presentation ), coupled with a true ability to communicate, has made her a favorite with her audiences in the UK, the US and her native Sweden.
In 1990 she moved to London to continue her voice studies. Immersing herself in the lively Contemporary Classical Music scene in London, she found her calling mainly in the Art Song / Lieder repertoire, specifically that of the 20th and 21st centuries. It was during this time her artistry came to the attention of the French - Lebanese composer Naji Hakim. This artistic relationship resulted in Dominique performing the UK premiere of Hakims mass for solo soprano Missa Ressurectionis at Southwark Cathedral, London in 1996. The concert received rave reviews.
Enchanted with Hakim’s music, Dominique and her pianist counterpart David Roblou commissioned Hakim to write for them the cantata Phèdre. This piece was also enthusiastically received at its première at London’s Purcell Room on October 1998. The concert , which was staged by John Abulafia, also included operatic arias by Cherubini and Gluck, as well as Messiaen’s Poèmes pour Mi. It was also at this time that Dominique was introduced to the early 20th century artsongs by the Holocaust victim , Viktor Ullmann, by her PR agent Diana Hirst. Dominique and David Roblou gave the first performance of Ullmann’s song cycle Fünf Liebeslieder von Ricarda Huch ( 1939 ), again at the Purcell Room in 1999.
A celebrated international performer , Dominique has been invited to participate at festivals in the UK, Sweden, Italy and Lebanon and the US. Furthermore, she has sung at the Royal Albert Hall, The Purcell Room, Southwark Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Kings College, Cambridge, St James’s Piccadilly and Saint Martin-in-the- Fields, Hexham Abbey Festival; Eglise de la Trinité, Paris, GoArt International Organ Festival, Gothenburg, St Patrick’s Cathedral , New York City, Merkin Hall, New York City, St Paul’s Festival/Worcester, MA, at Caramoor, NY, in their performance series and more.
Dominique is the Artistic Director and Founder of The Ullmann Project.