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Four Last Songs in Oslo

Lise returns to Oslo this month for two performances of Richard Strauss’ Four Last Songs with the Oslo Phiharmonic Orchestra on 14 and 15 March. Also on the programme for the concerts is the composer’s tone poem Tod und Verklärung. The two pieces come from opposing ends of Strauss’ life; he wrote Tod und Verklärung at the age of 24, while the Four Last Songs were the last orchestral works he completed 60 years later. Lise returns to Strauss’ works again this summer when she sings the title role of  Ariadne auf Naxos at this year’s Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, her debut at the festival.

Recent highlights for Lise include Strauss’ Op.27 songs, also with the Oslo Philharmonic, and her Swedish debut in Beethoven’s famous Symphony No.9 with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic.

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Lise sings Strauss Opus 27 songs with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra

Lise joins the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra on 8 February to perform Strauss Opus 27 songs under the baton of Vasily Petrenko. The four songs of Op.27 were originally scored for voice and piano and set words from poems by Heinrich Hart, Karl Henckell and John Henry Mackay. Lise returns to the works of Strauss later this season when she reunites with Petrenko and the Oslo Philharmonic to sing the composer’s famous Four Last Songs in March. She also makes her debut at Festival d’Aix-en-Provence in their new production of Ariadne auf Naxos.

Elsewhere this month, Lise continues her artistic residency with the Bergen Philharmonic when she returns with pianist James Baillieu for an operatic recital at Bergen’s University Aula on 7 February. She also joins the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra to sing in Beethoven Symphony No.9 on 22 and 24 February.

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Lise debuts at Wiener Staatsoper in Ariadne auf Naxos

Lise makes another highly-anticipated debut this month as she gives her first performance at the Wiener Staatsoper on 23 November. Lise returns to the title role of Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos, her third time singing the role this year after productions with Glyndebourne Festival Opera and the Arctic Philharmonic. She stars alongside Rachel Frenkel as the Composer, Stephen Gould as Bacchus and Erin Morley as Zerbinetta, who also sung the role at Glyndebourne. Sven-Eric Bechtolf’s production is also performed on 26 and 29 November, with Peter Schneider conducting. The performance on 29 November will be broadcast live on Wiener Staatsoper’s website – click here for more information.

Lise sings Ariadne again later in the season, starring in a new production at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. In December, she begins her Bergen Philharmonic artistic residency with a recital of songs by Grieg, Sibelius, Brahms and Strauss with pianist James Baillieu. The residency also features performances of Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder and Sibelius’ tone poem for soprano and orchestra, Luonnator.

Lise was recently profiled in the Washington Times – click here to read the interview.

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Debut at Glyndebourne in Ariadne auf Naxos

Lise makes her debut at Glyndebourne Festival Opera on 25 June, performing in the title role of Strauss Ariadne auf Naxos. Lise stars in a cast that also features Sir Thomas Allen, Erin Morley and Angela Brower. Katharina Thoma directs this revival of her 2013 production, which updates the opera to an English country house in the 1940s. Ariadne auf Naxos was the first opera to be performed at Glyndebourne in 1950 and remains the Strauss opera most performed at the house.

The production, which runs until 27 July, is Lise’s second Ariadne of the season, following a critically acclaimed performance with the Arctic Philharmonic and Symphony Orchestra. Watch her “ecstatic” (Bachtrack) performance of Ariadne’s aria, ‘Es gibt ein Reich’, below.

Looking ahead, Lise follows Ariadne auf Naxos with her debut at the BBC Proms on 10 August. She joins the BBC Philharmonic and conductor John Storgårds to perform Sibelius’ Luonnotar and excerpts from Grieg’s Peer Gynt. She also sings Ariadne again in November, this time at the Wiener Staatsoper.

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Role debut in title role of Ariadne auf Naxos with Arctic Philharmonic

Lise makes her debut in the title role of Strauss Ariadne auf Naxos this month with the Arctic Philharmonic, beginning the run at the Stormen Konserthus in Bodø on 17 March. The production is conducted by Christian Kluxen, with direction from Katharina Jakhelln Semb. Lise sings the role in Bodø again on 19 March as well as at Kulturhuset Tromsø on 21 and 23 March.

Lise reprises the role for her forthcoming UK debut with Glyndebourne Festival Opera in June. Her other highlights this season include Isabella in Wagner Das Liebesverbot at the Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires, and a Rosenblatt Recital at London’s Wigmore Hall.