Sara Magdalena "Malena" Ernman (born November 4, 1970 in Uppsala, Sweden) is a Swedish opera singer (coloratura mezzo-soprano). Ernman is a versatile artist in her field, who outside the world of opera and operettas also has performed chansons, cabaret, jazz, appeared in musicals and she is a performer who's declared that she's very much attracted to the attributes of varité theatre and small, intimate stage rooms. Ernman represented Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia. Malena Ernman is a member of The Royal Swedish Academy of Music.

Ernman spent her childhood and school years in Sandviken, a small town known in Sweden for producing many musical artists, mainly in jazz. Ernman was educated at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm, the Music Conservatory in Orléans, France and at the school of the Royal Swedish Opera. Ernman is married to actor Svante Thunberg. They have two daughters, Greta and Beata.

Ernman has sung Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro (Staatsoper Berlin/Daniel Barenboim), Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia by Rossini (Staatsoper Berlin, Royal Opera Stockholm, Finnish National Opera), the title role in Carmen (Royal Opera Stockholm), Kaja in Sven-David Sandström’s Staden (Royal Opera Stockholm) and Zerlina in Don Giovanni (Staatsoper Berlin/Barenboim).

Gioachino Antonio Rossini (Italian pronunciation: [dʒoaˈkiːno anˈtɔːnjo rosˈsiːni] (Giovacchino Antonio Rossini in the baptismal certificate) (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who wrote 39 operas as well as sacred music, chamber music, songs, and some instrumental and piano pieces. His best-known operas include the Italian comedies Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) and La Cenerentola and the French-language epics Moïse et Pharaon and Guillaume Tell (William Tell). A tendency for inspired, song-like melodies is evident throughout his scores, which led to the nickname "The Italian Mozart". Until his retirement in 1829, Rossini had been the most popular opera composer in history.

Gioachino Antonio Rossini was born into a family of musicians in Pesaro, a town on the Adriatic coast of Italy which was then part of the Papal States. His father, Giuseppe, was a horn player and inspector of slaughterhouses. His mother, Anna, was a singer and a baker's daughter. Rossini's parents began his musical training early, and by the age of six he was playing the triangle in his father's musical group.