Born in the village of
Sæbø in western Norway, Skram was one of the six children of Kari Totland and Asbjørn Skram, a
pastor. When he was 19, he went to the United States to work on his uncle's ranch in
Montana for a year. He then trained as an architect at
Montana State University and concurrently studied singing there with the lyric baritone George Buckbee. In the summer before his final year at university he sang with
Chautauqua Opera Company and a few months later won the
Spokane district
Metropolitan Opera Auditions for the second time. After a brief stint working as an architect in New York City, he returned to Norway to pursue his singing career. In 1964, following further singing study with
Paul Lohmann in
Wiesbaden and
Luigi Ricci in Rome, he made his official stage debut as Amonasro in
Aida at the
Norwegian National Opera. He went on to sing a wide range of baritone roles both internationally and in his native country where he was member of the Norwegian National Opera for 36 years. Skram's international appearances have included
Spoleto Festival USA where he sang Amfortas in a production of
Parsifal directed by
Gian Carlo Menotti (1990) and Orestes in
Elecktra (1992);
Glyndebourne Festival Opera where he appeared for nine seasons, most notably as Guglielmo in
Così fan tutte and Figaro in
The Marriage of Figaro; and the
Berlin State Opera where he sang several Wagnerian roles. He has also appeared at London's
Royal Albert Hall, the
Opéra-Comique in Paris,
Arena di Verona,
La Monnaie in Brussels, and the
Aix-en-Provence Festival. Skram officially retired from the Norwegian National Opera in 2000 with a farewell performance as Baron Scarpia in
Tosca. However, he has continued to perform occasionally both in concerts and on the opera stage. In May 2011 more than forty years after his debut, he sang the role of Creon in
Stravinsky's
opera-
oratorio Oedipus Rex at the
Bergen International Festival. In 1984 Skram was awarded Norway's
Knight of the Order of St. Olav and in 2001 the
Anders Jahres Kulturpris for outstanding contribution to Norwegian culture. He was Chairman of the Norwegian Opera Singer Association from 1979 to 1983 and served on the board of directors of the Norwegian National Opera from 2001 to 2008. He was a member of the jury which selected the design for the new
Oslo Opera House and participated in the opening concerts in April 2008. ==Recordings==