Norwegian soprano LISE DAVIDSEN has taken the classical world by storm since winning Plácido Domingo’s Operalia competition and the Queen Sonia Competition in 2015. She was widely acclaimed for her débuts at the Bayreuth, Aix-en-Provence and Glyndebourne festivals, at the Royal Opera House and Wigmore Hall in London and at the Bavarian and Vienna State Operas. In 2019, Gramophone magazine declared in its review of an album of Strauss and Wagner that Davidsen “is one of the greatest vocal talents to have emerged in recent years, if not decades”. She has since released two further solo albums on the label to equal acclaim: an orchestral recital featuring Beethoven, Wagner, Verdi and a stunning Grieg recital together with with famed Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes.
This season, Davidsen’s many highlights include three major roles debuts: as Marschallin Der Rosenkavalier at the Metropolitan Opera, as Giorgetta Il Tabarro at Gran Teatre del Liceu and as Elisabetta Don Carlo at Royal Opera House, where she also appears as Elisabeth Tannhäuser; and an artistic residency at the Bergen International Festival where she can be heard singing her first Tosca in concert and Verdi Requiem as well as masterclasses and a song recital. Other appearances include Tannhäuser at Staatsoper under den Linden in Berlin and numerous concert appearances in Paris, Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona and at the Verbier Festival.
Last season saw her make a triple appearance at the Metropolitan Opera as Eva in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, the title role of Ariadne auf Naxos, and as Chrysothemis in Elektra. She returned twice to the Wiener Staatsoper as Ellen Offord alongside Sir Bryn Terfel and Jonas Kaufmann in an all-star performance of Britten’s dramatic opera Peter Grimes, as well as Sieglinde Die Walküre; and Leonore Fidelio at Maggio Musicale in Florence under the baton of Zubin Mehta. On the concert platform, she joined Klaus Mäkelä and the Orchestra de Paris for Strauss Op. 27 and was an Artist in Focus at the Barbican, where London audiences saw her in recital with Leif Ove Andsnes; an opera gala evening together with Freddie De Tommaso and pianist James Baillieu and a performance of Berg Seven Early Songs together with the Oslo Philharmonic and Klaus Mäkelä as well as a public masterclass with the students of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. She also made her debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Kirill Petrenko with Zemlinsky Lyric Symphony and toured together with Leif Ove Andsnes in Madrid, Munich, Vienna, Berlin and at the Bergen and Turku Festivals, earning rapturous reviews for their recital of Grieg, Strauss and Wagner songs. Her solo concerts included Hamburg State Opera, Moscow and the Peralada Festival and in summer 2022 she made another triumphant return to Bayreuth Festival, starring as Sieglinde in the much anticipated new Ring tetralogy and as Elisabeth Tannhäuser.
