How Lise Davidsen became opera’s most important star
OperaFrom my monthly essay in The Critic:
Stars have been falling out of opera like apples in late summer. Jonas Kaufmann, a serial drop-out, now has a second career as a festival manager. Anna Netrebko is blacklisted for past Putin affinities. Vittorio Grigolo was fired for harassment. Roberto Alagna is over 60. Renée Fleming is 65. The box office has almost run out of lights.
With one singular exception: Lise Davidsen commands the art in a way no dramatic soprano has done since Birgit Nilsson and, before her, Kirsten Flagstad. That all three are Nordic may be more than coincidence, but hold that thought. Davidsen, 37 years old and six foot two, is the shining star on whom the opera world has hinged its future….
Read on here.
Er…..Asmik?
Lise has a wonderful voice but she is not a star. She just doesn’t have that star quality that people like Netrebko and Kaufmann have. Aida G is more likely to turn into that than Lise. Netrebko is also only blacklisted in London and NYC. Everywhere she sings she sells out. Lise is not the same.
Lise is already a star and not in her 50s!
You clearly have not heard her “in the flesh.” I have more than a few times at the Met and in recital. And she’s singing Tosca in a few weeks here. She is one of the greatest voices of all time let alone the century so far. She will be remembered long after Ms Netrebko is forgotten. Guaranteed.
A very interesting article, thank you.
I would say she has the same kind of greatness in her singing as the rock solid dramatic soprano Birgit Nilsson – the lyrical beauty of singing.
And, like Birgit Nilsson, she excels in music from home. Truly great artists do.
The volume of the voice does not record well, many lament. No need, the lyrical core does.
Lise Davidsen & Håvard Gimse: “Ved Rondane” (Edvard Grieg):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlaGx4Zw69k
Yes, Kirsten Flagstad didn’t record well either for the same reason, but then who wants recordings when you can go hear her live other than own as a document – which all recordings are – for the future on a CD or whatever that has generally been spliced and put together, so not really a performance. People should be a bit kinder on here with their comments. They are in the armchairs again, and Lise is the one doing the job out there because she is!
You’re completely right. Franco Corelli did not record well either in terms of capturing the sheer volume of sound though you get more than a good glimpse during his appearances on, of all things, the Ed Sullivan show (YT)
Asmik Grigorian? Elena Garanča? Nadine Sierra? Aigul? Cecilia Bartoli?
She didn’t wow me when I heard her in Fidelio. I was ready to be amazed but wasn’t, and I am not sure why. Her voice is large and beautiful but it didn’t touch me. Perhaps I will have to see her again.
I have heard Lise many times. Her voice sounds best only in a very big hall. In small recital halls it’s not a pleasant sound, almost like chalk on blackboard.
But let’s not get fixated on only the big voices. Lisette Oropesa is her counterpart in the belcanto coloratura-soprano repertory.
Why would she sing in a small recital hall? She is not a recitalist in the true sense but a fully-fledged opera singer that also does orchestral cycles.
She did in Santa Monica’s Broadstage and will return next year.
Ms. Davidsen is indeed quite fine, but I’m not as bowled over by her as this website seems to be.
If describing her as “the star on whom the opera world has hinged its future” means only that opera companies are falling all over themselves in the competition to engage her, then it’s obviously true. If, on the other hand, the phrase means that the survival of opera itself depends on this single individual, as if there were no other superb singers around, then we are in big, big trouble.
In any case, there are many opera companies less financially endowed than those in the world’s wealth centers, i.e., companies which can’t afford Lise Davidsen, but I’m pretty sure they’ll survive.
I heard her as Eva in Meistersinger at the Met a few years ago. One note–her call of “Sachs!”–filled that huge space in a way I had never experienced.
I was there for that too. You’re right. Additionally she was a marvellous Marschallin, she has an extra ounce of volume that she can deploy at will and it is scintillating.
… Gosh, where to start…
Are you guys ok? Do you understand what are you talking about? Do you have a slightest idea about singing, voices, techniques, history of opera or the reasons it exists or are you just blindly/deafly consuming what the “industry” puts in front of you….
Those who suggest Aida and Aigul are stars, please educate yourselves. They have potentially good instruments but nothing else that would make them an important, heavy league artists in the context of the opera history and where we are now. One of those revered starts used to be Anita only 5 years ago, noone remembers her now because while she had a great instrument, she never learnt singing and doesn’t have other skills to add to her natural acoustic gift. Same with those two and so many more.
Aida has a great number of technical difficulties and while she can just about sustain a Boheme performance, she is truly out of her depth/league in any serious opera both vocally and artistically. If it wasn’t for her 1.7mln followers on IG and the unlimited money pouring into the bank accounts of various arti related organisations/foundations coming from her partner (Putin’s first circle) and father, she would have been nowhere near any of the opera stages. I don’t even want to start about Aigul…
Lise certainly has potential with her voice but she is no star in the real sense of it. Her technique is lacking precision and her artistry lacks electrical charge so needed to hold the stages. The fact that these names are the ones we hear about doesn’t mean they are good artists, it means that they are promoted for one or another reason.
I personally think that we will never have real starts (the likes of Callas, Montsi, Luciano etc) in the operatic stages again because this artform is run 98% by imbecile amateurs, incompetent leaders who have 0 qualifications to hold the artistically important positions they do.
My kind advice to all of you who care about opera – start reading the biographies of the artistic/casting directors of the opera theatres and ask questions about their qualifications. Start with Dominique Meyer.
Come clean and reveal who exactly you are like most of us instead of some clever ‘in the know’ name !
Oh yeah the old pervert Dominique who likes young sopranos and mezzos. Right right…QUALIFICATIONS
I believe you may have misread “In the Know”s comment about Domique Meyer. It wasn’t a compliment.
My kind advice to you is that you attend to sentence structure and grammar when you’re addressing people that you consider inferior. You sound mean spirited and ignorant.
Here we go – some variation of “you youngsters don’t know how good Zinka Milanov was so you don’t understand how great the voices were back in the day.”
Perhaps “Most Important” should be “Most In Demand” Star? However, this, too, is not wholly correct. There are many A-list singers who have no gaps in the schedules at major venues.
P.S. Grigolo’s schedule seems pretty darn full….the Met and Covent Garden do not a career make.
A very informative and thought-provoking article, Norman, that I enjoyed reading.
Great article, Norman. Agree 100% on Lise Davidsen. A star of her own whose light does not pale in comparison to great sopranos from the past. She is marvelous! The regret I have is I wish her operatic co stars had the power and beauty in their voices that matched up to hers. Time to embrace a great soprano who does not seem to relish those pathological personality traits that some mistakenly called “divas”. Thank you Lise for your gift and presence to the present generation of operagoers.
If she is trying to fit the “star” image she should work very hard on her diction because whenever she sings, no matter in which language, you simply can’t understand the words. Sorry Lise, but it’s true
a big voice but what else?
Asmik is more than a big voice
opera isn t only a competition of decibels
Grigorian
Sierra
Jaho De Bique (Baroque)
Schultz (Mozart etc.)
Rebeka (on good days for sure)
Muehlemann
There are plenty of talented sopranos around. As are tenors.
Yes, let’s add Ermonela Jaho and Tetelman and Freddie de T to your list