THE ART OF Lise Davidsen
Solist
Lise Davidsen
Soprano
Since winning Plácido Domingo’s Operalia and Queen Sonja competitions in 2015, Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen has taken the classical music world by storm, with resounding debuts in venues such as Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Teatro Alla Scala a Milano, Bayreuth, Aix-en-Provence and Glyndebourne Festivals, Bayerische Staatsoper, Wigmore Hall and the Barbican, Wiener Staatsoper, the BBC Proms at Royal Albert Hall and Zurich Opera House. “It’s been a long time since a singer has generated as much buzz,” wrote Gramophone in its review of her debut album for Decca, which debuted at number one in the UK Classical music charts. Released on 31 May 2019, her recordings of music by Strauss and Wagner inspired the magazine to declare that “she is one of the greatest vocal talents to have emerged in recent years, if not decades”. Her second Decca solo album “Beethoven, Wagner, Verdi” was released to equal acclaim in March 2021.
Following her rapturous debut in 2019, Davidsen makes a triple appearance at the Metropolitan Opera in the 2021/22 season as Eva (“Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg”) under the baton of Antonio Pappano, the title role of “Ariadne auf Naxos” under Marek Janowski and as Chrysothemis (“Elektra”) in Patrice Chéreau’s visionary production, conducted by Sir Donald Runnicles. Davidsen returns to the Bayreuth Festival as Elisabeth (“Tannhäuser”) and Sieglinde (“Die Walküre”), a role which she also performs at Wiener Staatsoper under Axel Kober; and makes her debut at the Fondazione Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino as Leonora (“Fidelio”) in a new production by Matthias Hartmann, under the baton of legendary Zubin Mehta. Also in Vienna she makes her stage debut as Ellen Offord alongside Sir Bryn Terfel and Jonas Kaufmann in the title role, in an all-star performance of Britten’s dramatic opera “Peter Grimes”. Davidsen’s highlights on the concert platform include Strauss Op. 27 with the Orchestre de Paris, conducted by Klaus Mäkelä, and with Boston Symphony Orchestra for both performances and a tour under Andris Nelsons; a recital tour with Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsens to major venues including Bayerische Staatsoper, the Barbican, Teatro Real Madrid, Staatsoper Berlin, the Norwegian National Opera and Wiener Konzerthaus; Zemlinksy’s Lyric Symphony the Berlin in her debut with the Berliner Philarmoniker and Kirill Petrenko; and special gala appearances in Moscow, Oslo and A Coruña.
Despite the Covid crisis, Davidsen’s astonishing ascent has been unstoppable: in August 2020 she was one of the first stars featured by the Metropolitan Opera as part of their celebrated series: Met Stars Live in Concert. Davidsen’s rendition of Grieg’s “En Svane” and “Ved Rondane” from the recital was then broadcast together with the New Year Speech of King Harald V of Norway and in April 2021 she was a guest on Norway’s most popular chat show Lindmo. Shortly after this, in May 2021, she re-opened Teatro Alla Scala in Milan, with a solo concert under the baton of Maestro Riccardo Chailly, and Bayerische Staatsoper with a concert performance of the 1st Act of “Die Walküre” alongside Jonas Kaufmann, both events happening during the same week she was awarded Female Singer of the Year by the International Opera Awards. Further highlights include Sieglinde (“Die Walküre”) in a new production at Deutsche Oper Berlin and in concert at Opéra de Paris; the title role of Jenufa at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam; Elisabeth (“Tannhäuser”) at Bayerische Staatsoper; a return to Bayreuth in Tobias Kratzer’s production of “Tannhäuser” and concert performances of “Die Walküre”; as well as a Strauss film project with the Norwegian National Opera. On the recital platform her appearances include recitals at home in Oslo, for the Norwegian National Opera, in Germany at the Konzerthaus Dortmund and in Spain Palau de les Arts Valencia; and together with famed Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsens in Trondheim and Rosendal Chamber Music Festival in Norway.
Last season Davidsen made a further appearances included a role debut as Ellen Orford (“Peter Grimes”) at the Enescu Festival; Strauss’ Op. 27 with Philharmonia and Esa-Pekka Salonen at the BBC Proms; “Vier letzte Lieder” with Orchestre de Paris; “Beethoven Symphony No. 9” with Gianandrea Noseda and the Wiener Symphoniker and with Vasily Petrenko and the Oslo Philharmonic; Sieglinde (“Die Walküre”) with Fabio Luisi and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and solo recitals in London (Barbican), Oslo, Copenhagen and Bergen.
Further recent highlights include her widely acclaimed company debut with the Metropolitan Opera as Lisa (“Queen of Spades”), a role she also sang in Stuttgart; Leonore (“Fidelio”) in a new production at the Royal Opera House and in concert with Yannick Nezet Seguin and Opéra de Montreal; Elisabeth (“Tannhäuser”) which she performed at Opernhaus Zürich, Bayerische Staatsoper, and in a triumphant debut at the Bayreuth Festival where she was hailed by the international press as a “voice once in a century”; the title role of Ariadne auf Naxos at Aix-en-Provence Festival; Wiener Staatsoper and Glyndebourne Festival; Agathe in a new production of “Der Freischütz” at Opernhaus Zürich; Cherubini’s Medea at Wexford Festival; Santuzza (“Cavalleria Rusticana”) and Sancta Susanna in Oslo; and Isabella (“Das Liebesverbot”) at Teatro Colon.
Recent concert appearances include Verdi’s “Requiem” at the BBC Proms with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Andrés Orozco Estrada, at the Royal Opera House with Sir Antonio Pappano, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and Fabio Luisi, and Philharmonia Orchestra and Edward Gardner; Strauss “Op. 27” at the Edinburgh International Festival with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and Vasily Petrenko; “Vier letzte Lieder “with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, the Stavanger Orchestra, Copenhagen Philharmonic, and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra; “Die Walküre” (1st Act) with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Sir Andrew Davis and with the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra and Edo de Waart; Wesendonck Lieder and “Rückert-Lieder” with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra; and Sibelius’ Luonnotar with the BBC Philharmonic at the BBC Proms. Davidsen was an Artist in Residence with Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra during the 2017/18 season when her appearances included an open-air concert, Verdi’s “Requiem” and “Wesendonck Lieder” as well as recital performances.
Her discography includes two solo orchestral recitals on Decca; complete recordings “Der Freischütz” and “Fidelio”, both released on Pentatone and Sibelius Luonnotar on Chandos.
A 2014 graduate of the Opera Academy in Copenhagen, she has studied under Susanna Eken, previously gaining a degree from the Grieg Academy of Music in Bergen. In 2015 Davidsen was crowned winner of both the Operalia and the Queen Sonja competitions. Her breakthrough performances won her the First Prize, the Birgit Nilsson Award and the Audience Prize at the Operalia competition in London as well as the prize for the best performance of Norwegian music and the Ingrid Bjoner Scholarship at the Queen Sonja International Music Competition. She is also a triple winner at the 2015 Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition in Amsterdam and a recipient of many awards, including the HSBC Aix-en-Provence Laureate, Statoil Talent Bursary Award, Léonie Sonning Music Prize, Danish Singers Award 2014 and the Kirstin Flagstad Award 2015. In 2018, Davidsen was presented with the prestigious Young Artist of the Year Award at the Gramophone Classical Music Awards.
photo: Ray Burmiston
Orchester
Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg
Orchestra
The Philharmonic State Orchestra is Hamburg’s largest and oldest orchestra, looking back on many years of musical history. When the “Philharmonic Orchestra” and the “Orchestra of the Hamburg Municipal Theatre” merged in 1934, two tradition-steeped orchestras combined. Philharmonic concerts have been performed in Hamburg since 1828, artists such as Clara Schumann, Franz Liszt and Johannes Brahms being regular guests of the Philharmonic Society. The history of the opera company goes back even further: Hamburg has been home to musical theatre since 1678, even if a regular opera or theatre orchestra was only formed later. To this day, the Philharmonic State Orchestra has embodied the sound of the Hansa City, a concert and opera orchestra in one.
During its long history, the orchestra encountered great artist personalities. Apart from composers of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, such as Telemann, Tchaikovsky, Strauss, Mahler, Prokofiev and Stravinsky, since the 20th century chief conductors such as Karl Muck, Joseph Keilberth, Eugen Jochum, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Horst Stein, Aldo Ceccato, Christoph von Dohnányi, Gerd Albrecht, Ingo Metzmacher and Simone Young have shaped the orchestra’s sound. Renowned conductors of the pre-war era such as Otto Klemperer, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Bruno Walter, Karl Böhm and Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt gave brilliant performances, as did outstanding conductors of our times: suffice it to mention Christian Thielemann, Semyon Bychkov, Kirill Petrenko, Adam Fischer and Sir Roger Norrington.
Starting with the 2015/2016 season, Kent Nagano has taken on the position of Hamburg’s General Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Philharmonic State Orchestra and the Hamburg State Opera and since June 2023 also its honorary conductor. In his first season Kent Nagano initiated a new project, the Philharmonic Academy, focusing on experimentation and chamber music. In 2016, Nagano and the Philharmonic toured South America, followed by concert tours to Spain and Japan in 2019, and in the spring of 2023, the Philharmonic State Orchestra made its debut at New York's Carnegie Hall under his direction, which was acclaimed by audiences and the press. Since 2017 Kent Nagano and the Philharmonic State Orchestra have continued the traditional Philharmonic Concerts at the new Elbphilharmonie, for which they commissioned Jörg Widmann to compose the oratorio ARCHE, which was given its world premiere during the hall’s opening festivities. The concert recording has been released by ECM, for which Widmann received the OPUS KLASSIK as Composer of the Year 2019, and ARCHE was performed again in 2023 to great acclaim.
The Philharmonic State Orchestra offers approximately 35 concerts per season and performs more than 240 performances per year at the Hamburg State Opera and the Hamburg Ballet John Neumeier, making it Hamburg’s busiest orchestra. The stylistic bandwidth covered by the 140 musicians, ranging from historically informed performance practice to contemporary works and including concert, opera and ballet repertoire, is unique throughout Germany. Chamber Music has a long tradition at the Philharmonic State Orchestra: what began in 1929 with a concert series for chamber orchestra has been continued since 1968 by a series of chamber music only.
In 2008 Simone Young and the Philharmonic State Orchestra won the Brahms Award of the Schleswig-Holstein Brahms Society. The orchestra has recorded the complete Ring by Wagner as well as the complete symphonies of Johannes Brahms and Anton Bruckner – the latter in the rarely-performed original versions – as well as works by Mahler, Hindemith and Berg, and has released DVDs of opera and ballet productions by Hosokawa, Offenbach, Reimann, Auerbach, J.S. Bach, Puccini, Poulenc and Weber.
The members of the Philharmonic State Orchestra feel equally beholden to Hamburg’s musical tradition and responsible for the city’s artistic future. Since 1978 the musicians have been participating in education programmes in Hamburg’s schools. Today, the orchestra maintains a broad education programme, including school and kindergarten visits, patronage for music projects, introductory events for children and family concerts. The orchestra’s own academy prepares young musicians for their professional careers. The Philharmonic’s musicians thereby make an equally enjoyable and valuable contribution to tomorrow’s music education in the music metropolis of Hamburg.
More about Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg
photo: Foto: Felix Broede
