It has been announced that Lise will perform at the Last Night Of The Proms 2023, with cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason.

As followers of Lise will know, last year’s concert was cancelled at the last-minute, after the death of HM Queen Elizabeth, but this year it’s all systems go for an unforgettable Last Night. 

The concert will be conducted by Marin Alsop, leading the BBC’s Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Chorus and BBC Singers (hurrah!) in a glorious programme that includes works by Wagner, Mascagni and Verdi, as well as the traditional Last Night favourites, including “Jerusalem”, “Land Of Hope And Glory” and “Rule Britannia”.

More information can be found here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/events/eqfp8g

The Proms 2023 – “the world’s greatest classical music festival” – consists of eight weeks of concerts from July 14^th to September 9^th.The annual event began in 1895, with the goal of bringing the finest classical music to the widest possible audience, and it continues to strive to achieve that ambition every year. As conductor Marin Alsop puts it: “It’s the ultimate showcase for great artistry and superb audiences”.

The Last Night Of The Proms starts at 1900 on Saturday 9^thSeptember 2023 at The Royal Albert Hall. Tickets are always in great demand, so there’s a special system to buy them, which is explained here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/2rPWYtVGJ0v7McXqWLjRCSg/last-night-tickets-information  

Lise will be singing Elisabeth in Tannhäuser at the Berlin state opera house in April and May 2023. This will be her first staged opera production at Berlin Staatsoper. 

Elisabeth is one of Lise’s signature roles. She sang it earlier this year at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, where the Daily Telegraph’s reviewer, Nicholas Kenyon, said “Davidsen sings with total poise, control and projection, radiant in tone, the phrases perfectly shaped. It is a complete, thrilling assumption of the role.” The Guardian said she was “sensationally good”. On SlippeDisc Norman Lebrecht wrote that Lise “is undoubtedly the Wagnerian soprano of her time. It is worth seeing this ‘Tannhäuser’ for her alone, in fact they could rename it Elisabeth for the rest of the run!” 

There are five performances in Berlin. The premiere is on Sunday the 30th of April, followed by shows on Thursday May 4th, Sunday May 7th, Thursday May 11th and Sunday May 14th. 

Lise is joined by Vincent Wolfsteiner as Tannhäuser, Andrè Schuen as Wolfram and Marina Prudenskaya as Venus. The Staatskapelle Berlin orchestra and Staatsopernchor will be conducted by Sebastian Weigle. 

The Berlin production, directed by Sasha Waltz, was described by the New York Times as “a stylish, touching staging” and by The Guardian as both “arresting” and “thrilling”. 

The opening night is nearly sold out, but some tickets for later in the run are still available here: http://www.staatsoper-berlin.de/en/veranstaltungen/tannhaeuser.20/#event-59552

Photo Credits: Staatsoper Unter den Linden / Marcus Ebener

Lise’s performance as the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier, alongside a superb cast including Samantha Hankey as Octavian, Erin Morley as Sophie, Günther Groissböck as Baron Ochs, and conducted by Simone Young, will be screened Live In HD to cinemas around the world on April 15^th 2023. More information can be found on the Met’s website: http://www.metopera.org/season/in-cinemas/2022-23-season/der-rosenkavalier/

The show has received fantastic reviews, with Joshua Barone in The New York Times, observing that “Throughout, Davidsen alternates between conversational restraint – enunciating each syllable of Hugo von Hofmannstal’s talky libretto with penetrating focus – and white-hot radiance. Her terms of endearment for Octavian emerge like a rising sun. And in the final trio her sustained high A on the word ‘glücklich’ (‘happy’) soars and crescendos to a glowing benediction for her lover’s new life with Sophie.”

In The Financial Times, Kevin Ng awarded the paper’s top score of five stars, describing Lise’s performance as a “magnificent role debut” and writing that she “unleashes opulent sound”. 

David Wright, in the New York Classical Review, wrote that Lise “cut a splendid figure as the Marschallin, using her room-filling voice as a delicate instrument to explore the emotional nuances of Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s text in Richard Strauss’s setting, and keeping vocal power in reserve until the opera’s show-stopping final trio.”

If you’re in New York, or can get there, you can see the show at the Met on Tuesday April 4^th,Friday April 7^th, Tuesday April 11^th, Saturday April 15^th and Thursday April 20^th. Buy your tickets here: http://www.metopera.org/season/2022-23-season/der-rosenkavalier/

If you’re not in New York, don’t miss the chance to see and hear this brilliant show on the big screen. Information on cinemas showing it near you can be found here: http://www.metopera.org/season/in-cinemas/

Some photos from TANNHÄUSER at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden.

Photographed by CLIVE BARDA

It has just been announced that Lise has been shortlisted for the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Singer Award for 2022.

These are prestigious awards, which the Society say are “regarded by many as the BAFTAs for classical music”. They add that the Awards are “classical music’s annual good news story, shining much-needed light on inspirational individuals, groups and initiatives whose music has lifted hearts and minds across the nation.” 

The Awards are given annually for live classical music-making in the United Kingdom. They were first awarded in 1989. The Singer Award is supported by ISM, the Independent Society of Musicians @ISM_music [link to https://mobile.twitter.com/ISM_music]. Past winners have included an array of brilliant talent including Anne Sofie von Otter, Bryn Terfel, Gerald Finley and Nina Stemme.

The winners will be revealed at the Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall in London at 1900 on Wednesday the 1^st of March 2023.

Lise is returning to the Royal Opera House for the first time since her final Fidelio performance was cancelled in March 2020. This time she will sing one of her signature roles: Elisabeth in Wagner’s Tannhäuser. 

Lise won the “Operalia” competition singing Elisabeth’s first aria “Dich teure Halle” at the Royal Opera House in 2015, and she says she’s very excited to finally perform the whole role at Covent Garden.  

Tannhäuser will play from 29th of January to 16th February. 

She is joined by Stefan Vinke as Tannhäuser, Gerald Finley as Wolfram and Ekaterina Gubanova as Venus, in a production directed by Tim Albery and conducted by Sebastian Weigle. 

For tickets please click here: https://www.roh.org.uk/tickets-and-events/tannhauser-by-tim-albery-dates

The production will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 on Tuesday 7th February from 1800. 

Lise and Leif Ove Andnes’s Grieg album has been chosen as one of Presto Music’s Recordings Of The Year. 

The Presto editorial team explained they chose the winners because they were: “The albums which really made us listen afresh to core repertoire, told absorbing stories through their imaginative programming, or made compelling cases for music that was new to us all.”

Katherine Cooper, Head of Editorial (Classical) at Presto, said of Lise’s Grieg recording: “This is one of those albums where the synergy between the two artists and their mutual affinity with the repertoire combine to truly spellbinding effect. Davidsen may be destined for Isolde and Brünnhilde, but she’s also capable of extraordinary delicacy when painting on a smaller canvas – and Andsnes backs her to the hilt throughout.”

Presto Music is the UK’s leading ecommerce site for classical and jazz recordings (CDs, DVDs, high quality downloads and vinyl), printed music, music books and musical instruments. Founded in 1986 as a small high street shop, the Presto Music website was started in 2001 and has grown into one of the most significant online sites for music products in the world.

You can buy the album on Presto here: https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9265632–grieg

In case you can’t get to Barcelona before December 15th, you can still catch Lise’s wonderful performance as Giorgetta in Puccini’s Il Tabarro, because it will be broadcast live on the Liceu’s own digital platform, Liceu+, on Saturday December 3rd at 7pm. 

It’s 35 years since the Liceu last staged Il Trittico, and they have assembled a fabulous cast to mark the occasion, and to celebrate 175 years since the house opened. 

Lise is joined by Ambrogio Maestri as Michele and Gianni Schicchi, Brandon Jovanovich as Luigi, Ermonela Jaho as Suor Angelica, and Daniela Barcellona as La Principessa and Zita. 

To sign up for the service and watch Il Trittico live, go to https://liceuplus.com

Lise is the Artist-In-Residence for the 2023 Bergen International Festival, and her programme there has just been announced, starting with her first ever Tosca. 

On Wednesday 24th of May and Friday 26th May, Lise will sing Tosca in a concert performance, joined by Freddie De Tommaso and Sir Bryn Terfel, accompanied by the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Ed Gardner. For more information and tickets please go to https://www.fib.no/en/programme/tosca/

On Sunday 28th of May Lise will give a Masterclass at the University. For tickets, and details of how to apply for the Masterclass, please go to https://www.fib.no/en/programme/masterclass/

On Tuesday 30th of May Lise and pianist James Baillieu will present a programme of lieder, including songs by Schubert, Grieg, Sibelius and Berg. https://www.fib.no/en/programme/lise-davidsen–james-baillieu/

And on Saturday June 3rd Lise will be joined by mezzo-soprano Rihab Chaieb, tenor Freddie De Tommaso, and bass-baritone Shenyang, alongside the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bergen Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, the Edvard Grieg Youth Choir and the Edvard Grieg Kor to perform Verdi’s Requiem. https://www.fib.no/en/programme/verdis-requiem/

Festival Director Lars Petter Hagen says: “In a short time Lise Davidsen has become one of the greatest stars in classical music, and one of its most unique voices. We are particularly proud that the Bergen International Festival can present so many facets of her artistry. She is in enormous demand worldwide, and with good reason.”

The 71st Bergen International Festival takes place from 24 May to 7 June 2023. For more information and to buy tickets please go to https://www.fib.no/en/programme/

It has just been announced that Lise will be honoured at next year’s Opera News Awards, alongside fellow soprano Erin Morley, and tenor and educator George Shirley. 

The Editor In Chief of Opera News, F Paul Driscoll said: “We are proud to honor a trio of distinguished artists—Lise Davidsen, Erin Morley and George Shirley—who represent the highest level of achievement in opera.” 

The Awards will take place on Sunday April 16th at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. Individual tickets and tables (the proceeds from which benefit the education programs of the Metropolitan Opera Guild) are available at: www.metguild.org

Opera News has been published since 1936, and this is their 18th set of Awards. The monthly magazine has the largest circulation of any classical-music magazine in the United States, and has won six ASCAP–Deems Taylor Awards for excellence in music journalism. (Here’s their article from March this year featuring Lise: https://www.operanews.com/Opera_News_Magazine/2022/3/Features/Glory_Days.html)

📸 Dario Acosta