Lise Davidsen: I never thought I’d ever sing here
mainA lovely little post from the Norwegian soprano:
I was in New York for the first time in 2009 visiting my best friend. Of course we wanted to see the opera, but we didn’t have enough money to go inside. As a good tourist, my friend took this photo of me pretending to sing in front of the opera.
I’m serious when I say that at that time, I had never in a million years thought I would sing inside. And now, 10 years later, I have my debut in under two weeks.. I find it all very exciting and very scary. Hard work led me here and I cross my fingers that hard work will help me for the opening and this debut too!
Lise makes her Met debut in The Queen of Spades on November 29.
The opera had its Vienna State Opera premiere in 1902 conducted by Gustav Mahler; at the Bolshoi in 1904 conducted by Sergei Rachmaninoff; and in 1910 at the Met conducted again by Mahler.
Tchaikovsky completed the opera in 44 days in Florence.
What a great story. Break a leg!
She is wonderful!
Is the Met trying to destroy her career? Antonenko is a vocal train wreck. People will run away. She sounds sweet, but naive.
Great! I’m very happy for her.
She is in this album: https://lawostore.no/cd/dragning-chamber-music-by-kenneth-sivertsen-12876 – and a lovely album it is.
I have made it a habit through my working life to cooperate with famous people right before they become famous.
What a sweet story. I hope it is the first of many nights at the Met for her.
She is a once-in-a-generation talent. I heard her this summer in Bayreuth, and her “Dich, Teure Halle” was so powerful it scrambled my organs. I still can’t find my duodenum…
I saw her as leonore in Fidelio under Yannick’s baton in Montreal last month. She was terrific easily the star of the show.
Big feature story on her in the New York Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/22/arts/music/lise-davidsen-met-opera-queen-of-spades.html
She has been called (anointed?), like so many before her, “the next great Brunhilde.” We can only hope. May Lise go from strength to strength, and surpass our expectations, to the delight and praise of all. I hope to live long enough to see her as a great artist in her prime.
I hope she lives up to the hype in performance for her sake. Her solo cd isn’t much and reveals a metallic sound which could eventually hurt her instrument.