Opera singer Klara Ek has the entire Öresund region as her workplace

Klara moved to Copenhagen in 2006 and have since then worked as a freelance opera singer, working in large parts of the world such as the US, Japan, Germany Italy, and other parts of Europe.

With an agent in London, Klara has worked on projects all over the world. Copenhagen has proved to be the perfect base for her professional career as an opera singer.

- Strategically, it’s a great place to be – close to everything, says Klara.

Klara can see clear advantages with living in the Öresund region, such as the proximity to the rest of Europe – easily reached from Copenhagen Airport which also provides easy access to most major cities in the world.

Copenhagen provides excellent train connections to Hamburg and Sweden, which has also proved to be an advantage. In recent years, Klara has felt a strong desire to work more locally and has taken on an increasing number of projects in the region through her Swedish agent.

- I’ve even had the opportunity to bike to work in Copenhagen, which is a privilege when working as a freelance opera singer. Klara has also gotten a few jobs in Sweden, for example during spring 2020 when she worked at Malmö Opera with the production of Orpheus in the Underworld. During the production, Klara took the Öresund train from her home in Copenhagen to her job in Sweden.

- My experience with cross border commuting has been incredibly positive! I appreciate that it creates a break in your day and you often meet colleges on the train. It’s great to be able to work on the train ride over Öresund and that you can combine your family life and work life, says Klara.

- The feeling of being able to live in Copenhagen and work in Sweden, and still have time to pick up your children from pre-school and come home to your family in Copenhagen at night is wonderful.

However, moving around on different assignments in different countries has not solely been a positive experience. Klara frequently feels that she lacks collected information for her occupational group regarding what rules to follow when you are crossborder commuting for shorter assignments. She has frequently felt that she is flying blind and that it has been difficult to find the right person to speak to about her specific situation at the different public agencies. Klara has encountered significant problems with social insurance registration and unemployment insurance herself. She also knows that she is not alone in having had these problems and that several colleges have faced the same issues.

- The dilemma is that you are not always aware of the rules when you accept the job and when you finally realise that this could cause an issue, it is already too late and has become a problem.

Klara wishes that there had been a brochure like this when she moved to Copenhagen and started freelancing, emphasizing that more collected information for this specific occupational group has been sorely missed. Klara does however find it easier to crossborder commute between Sweden and Denmark than taking on an assignment elsewhere in Europe. Apart from the distances being shorter and that it is easier to understand the language, there’s a sense that Swedish and Danish public agencies have an established relationship that makes it easier to coordinate.

- For me, there’s no better place to be, says Klara who looks forward to returning to Malmö Opera again.

Klara’s advice to other commuting cultural workers in the Öresund region:

> Find an accountant who is knowledgeable in this field and who can help you.

> Try to collect as much information as possible before you accept an assignment – it is harder to correct potential mistakes afterwards.

> Find a network of colleges who are in the same situation. It has helped me a lot to be able to exchange experiences with people in a similar situation.