NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Embarking on her most ambitious season yet, Lise Davidsen is giving a solo recital at the , making her Carnegie Hall debut, and performing three major roles she鈥檚 never sung in staged productions.
At 36, the Norwegian soprano will become the youngest singer in recent Met history to perform such a recital when she takes the stage on Sept. 14 with piano accompanist James Baillieu for an evening of songs and opera arias.
鈥淩ecitals at the Met are pretty few and far between,鈥� said Peter Gelb, the company鈥檚 general manager. 鈥淲e reserve them for artists who are truly extraordinary, and she鈥檚 a multigenerational talent. I wanted her New York recital debut to be at the Met and not anywhere else.鈥�
As for Davidsen, she said her first reaction when Gelb invited her was: 鈥淩eally? Are you serious?鈥� But once she got over her surprise she 鈥渏ust jumped on it鈥� and began planning the program.
鈥淥f course it鈥檚 scary because it鈥檚 a huge room,鈥� she said of the 3,800-seat Met. 鈥淚鈥檝e been joking about what if it鈥檚 just 100 people there. It would be a very small audience.鈥� (In fact, tickets have been selling briskly although there are plenty of seats still available.)
Like most opera singers, Davidsen said she finds giving recitals a very different challenge.
鈥淚t鈥檚 surprisingly fragile, just me and the pianist,鈥� she said in a Zoom interview last month from Turku, Finland, where she was preparing for a concert.
鈥淭here鈥檚 something very direct from me to you compared to an opera where I鈥檓 someone else,鈥� she said. 鈥溾�� I can鈥檛 hide behind the role. It鈥檚 a much more direct view into the person that I am.鈥�
From the moment she burst onto the international scene in 2015, Davidsen has awed critics and audiences alike with her enormous voice and effortless high notes. One of her early roles was the title character in Richard Strauss鈥檚 鈥淎riadne auf Naxos,鈥� and when she performed it at the Met, Zachary Woolfe that her sound was so 鈥渁rrestingly powerful and visceral鈥� that 鈥測ou feel it as almost physical presence 鈥� pressing against your chest, raising the hairs on the back of your neck.鈥�
This past season, however, another aspect of her artistry came to the fore as she took on parts that called for a more nuanced approach.
Her triumph at the Met as the Marschallin in Strauss鈥檚 鈥淒er Rosenkavalier鈥� last spring surprised some listeners since much of the role is sung in almost a conversational style. 鈥淔or me the extraordinary part of her performance was her musicality,鈥� Gelb said, 鈥渁nd though she has a voice that is literally more powerful than any other singer you could hear on the stage of the Met, she was able to modulate her singing so that she didn鈥檛 blow the other singers off the stage.鈥�
A few months later she took on the role of Elisabeth of Valois in Verdi鈥檚 鈥淒on Carlo鈥� at the Royal Opera House in London, and won raves for her dramatic intensity as well as her singing 鈥� particularly the many soft high notes the part requires.
That鈥檚 something Davidsen acknowledges she has worked hard to master.
鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely easier to sing the high notes full out,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 think my control in piano is much better now than it used to be. It鈥檚 something I worked on.鈥�
, , a young British tenor who has partnered with Davidsen in recitals and did two concert performances of Puccini鈥檚 鈥淭osca鈥� with her this summer in Bergen, Norway, said that 鈥渟ometimes if we鈥檙e singing something together and I have to start, I forget to sing 鈥� I鈥檓 so enthralled listening to her.鈥�
鈥淭he things she can do with such an instrument ... it鈥檚 incredible,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 the quiet high I find spellbinding. To be able to sing high and quiet for any singer, that is the Holy Grail.鈥�
Her new roles this season should give her ample opportunity to display the diversity of her art.
In November, she鈥檒l debut at Chicago鈥檚 Lyric Opera in the title role of Janacek鈥檚 鈥淛enufa,鈥� a part she performed in concert in Amsterdam in 2021. Her co-star will be the great Swedish soprano .
She鈥檒l return to New York in the winter for Verdi鈥檚 鈥淟a Forza del Destino,鈥� the company鈥檚 first new production of the work in nearly 30 years. She鈥檒l have one opportunity to try out the role of Leonora beforehand with a concert version in Oslo in October. While she鈥檚 in rehearsal in New York, she鈥檒l appear at Carnegie Hall for the first time, singing Wagner鈥檚 鈥淲esendonck Lieder,鈥� songs that contain thematic material he would later use in 鈥淭ristan und Isolde.鈥�
Then it鈥檚 on to Paris for one of the highest-profile roles for any soprano, Strauss鈥� 鈥淪alome.鈥� The one-act opera ends with a solo lasting more than 15 minutes sung to the severed head of John the Baptist.
Davidsen will perform that final scene in concert in Madrid in January but otherwise will be tackling the role for the first time.
鈥淚t鈥檚 quite intense, but it鈥檚 a shorter role. Shorter and bigger at the same time,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 look on it like a race where you have to pace yourself.鈥�
While she鈥檚 taking on a new Strauss role and doing more Verdi and Puccini, much of the opera world is waiting for the day she begins singing the two Wagnerian parts that represent the pinnacle of the dramatic repertory: Isolde, and Br眉nnhilde in the 鈥淩ing鈥� cycle.
鈥淚 can say that I haven鈥檛 started studying them yet, but I have started planning them,鈥� Davidsen said. One of those roles 鈥� she won鈥檛 say which 鈥� is likely coming in the next four to five years.
鈥淥ne of the reasons I鈥檓 waiting is because a part of me is afraid that when I do that, that鈥檚 all I鈥檒l be doing,鈥� she said. 鈥淢aybe that is fine, but maybe I still want to do other things. Then I just have to work hard and prove to them that I can.鈥�
Davidsen has a lot to celebrate these days in her personal as well as her professional life. She recently became engaged to a former TV producer who first encountered her, appropriately enough, at the opera.
As she tells it, he had gone to London鈥檚 Royal Opera House to hear star German tenor Jonas Kaufmann singing in Beethoven鈥檚 鈥淔idelio.鈥� Kaufmann鈥檚 co-star happened to be a certain Norwegian soprano.
鈥淗e contacted me, and it was surreal that I answered him because I don鈥檛 answer people on my social media in that way,鈥� Davidsen said, 鈥淗e asked for a coffee and I thought, yeah, maybe, and we met.鈥�
Now he travels with her as she keeps a dizzying schedule.
鈥淗e loves to support me and be with me, which I never thought existed,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 remember saying to a friend of mine that I could never find someone because they would never be able to travel and live my life.
鈥淎nd then I met him.鈥�
Mike Silverman, The Associated Press
