Rising star found hanged after opera tragedy performance

Britain's Royal Opera House has paid tribute to one of its most promising young singers who has been found hanged.

The body of principal soprano Jenny Grahn, 30, was discovered at her home in Hornsey, north London, after she had failed to turn up for a rehearsal.

Her body was found hours after she performed in a stage tragedy in which the lead character commits suicide.

She appeared in Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades, in which a compulsive gambler loses everything and shoots himself.

The Royal Opera House has described her death as a "huge loss" and said there had been no reason to suspect the tragedy.

Ms Grahn's body was found shortly after midnight last Saturday. Her last performance had been on the Thursday night.

An ROH spokesman said: "She was a talented young singer with a great future ahead of her and it is a huge loss.

She scooped numerous prizes and scholarships, both in her native Sweden and in London. Her professional career at the Royal Opera House started three years ago.

Born in Swedish Lapland in 1970, she studied and performed in her homeland before coming to London in 1996 with the aid of several scholarships.

An inquest at Hornsey Coroner's Court, London was opened on May 29 and adjourned to a date yet to be fixed, said a police spokesman.