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Acclaimed Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen returns to the Barbican’s music programme in 2022, when she takes up residency in the Artist Spotlight series. Three concerts, a masterclass with musicians from Guildhall School of Music & Drama and the newly announced screening of the film LISE, preceded by a ScreenTalk with the singer, allow Lise Davidsen to present a range of repertoire and musical styles to give audiences an insight into her artistry. Events between January and June include:    

• Lise Davidsen in recital with compatriot, pianist Leif Ove Andsnes in a programme featuring Richard Wagner’s Wesendock Lieder and Edvard Grieg’s only song cycle, The Mountain Maid as well as songs by Richard Strauss (Thu 13 Jan 2022, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm)
• Lise Davidsen, tenor Freddie De Tommaso and Lise’s regular collaborator, pianist James Baillieu in an evening of opera arias, duets and songs by Richard Wagner, Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, Umberto Giordano, Ernest Charles, Francesco Cilea, Landon Ronald, Franz Lehár, Paolo Tosti, Carl Loewe and Salvatore Cardillo (Mon 30 May 2022, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm)
• Lise Davidsen leads a vocal masterclass for musicians from Guildhall School of Music & Drama (Tue 31 May 2022, Milton Court Concert Hall, 10am)
• Screening of LISE preceded by a ScreenTalk with Lise Davidsen and Huw Humphreys, Barbican Head of Music (Tue 31 May 2022, Barbican Cinema 3, 6.30pm)
• Oslo Philharmonic, Klaus Mäkelä (chief conductor) and Lise Davidsen in a programme featuring Gustav Mahler, Jean Sibelius and Alban Berg’s Seven Early Songs (Fri 3 Jun 2022, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm)
   

Full event details below.

Lise Davidsen & Leif Ove Andsnes

Part of Lise Davidsen Artist Spotlight

Thu 13 Jan 2022, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm

Tickets £15 – 50 plus booking fee

Lisa Davidsen soprano

Leif Ove Andsnes piano

In the first concert of her Barbican Artist Spotlight series, Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen is joined by compatriot, pianist Leif Ove Andsnes. This opening concert will provide an opportunity to see Davidsen and Andsnes explore works by Richard Strauss as well as a chance to witness Davidsen’s Wagnerian aptitude in the Wesendonck Lieder, alongside songs by Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg including his only song cycle The Mountain Maid, an homage to the Norwegian countryside and young love, based on epic poems by Arne Garborg.

Programme:

Edvard Grieg Six Songs, Op 48

Edvard Grieg The Mountain Maid

Richard Strauss No 1 'Ruhe, meine Seele', No 2 'Cäcilie' and No 4 'Morgen' from 4 Lieder, Op 27

Richard Strauss No 4 'Befreit' from 5 Lieder, Op 39

Richard Wagner Wesendonck Lieder

Produced by the Barbican

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Lise Davidsen & Freddie De Tommaso & James Baillieu

Part of Lise Davidsen Artist Spotlight

Mon 30 May 2022, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm

Tickets £15 – 50

Lisa Davidsen soprano
Freddie De Tommaso tenor

James Baillieu piano

In the second concert of her Artist Spotlight series at the Barbican, Lise Davidsen performs again in recital alongside young tenor Freddie De Tommaso, who recently made a spectacular debut at the Royal Opera House, alongside Lise’s regular collaborator James Baillieu. The programme includes a selection of great opera arias and duets ranging from the romance of Verdi to the power of Wagner, as well as some lighter tones including the simple melodies of Tosti’s Neapolitan songs and crowd-pleasing numbers from Lehár’s The Merry Widow and Csárdásfürstin. This recital’s programme will take audiences on a journey through the ages – guided by Davidsen, De Tommaso and Baillieu.

Programme:

Richard Wagner 'Dich teure Halle' from Tannhäuser

Giuseppe Verdi 'Questa o quella' from Rigoletto

'Teco io sto' and 'Morrò, ma prima in grazia' from Un Ballo in Maschera

Giacomo Puccini 'Recondita Armonia' from Tosca

Giuseppe Verdi 'Ave Maria' from Otello

Umberto Giordano 'Amor ti vieta' from Fedora

Giacomo Puccini 'Vissi d'arte' from Tosca

Francesco Cilea 'Lamento di Federico' from L'arlesiana

Franz Lehár 'Heia, heia in den Bergen' from Csárdásfürstin

Ernest Charles When I have sung my song to you

Landon Ronald O Lovely Night

Paolo Tosti L´alba separa dalla luce l´ombra

Non t'amo piu

Ideale

Salvatore Cardillo Core'ngrato

Carl Loewe I could have danced all night

Franz Lehár 'Lippen Schweigen' from The Merry Widow

Produced by the Barbican

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Lise Davidsen Masterclass

Part of Lise Davidsen Artist Spotlight

Tue 31 May 2022, Milton Court Concert Hall, 10am

Tickets £10 plus booking fee

Lise Davidsen imparts her knowledge and experience to Guildhall School of Music & Drama musicians, as she leads a masterclass with the singers of tomorrow.

Find out more

 

LISE

+ ScreenTalk with Lise Davidsen, hosted by Huw Humphreys, Barbican Head of Music

Part of Lise Davidsen Artist Spotlight

Tue 31 May 2022, Barbican Cinema 3, 6.30pm

Tickets £12 plus booking fee

LISE is a cinematic opera encounter – a hybrid between recorded concert and film – with soprano Lise Davidsen, Norwegian National Opera Orchestra and conductor Edward Gardner. Filmed by Einar Film in May 2021 at the Oslo Opera House and produced by film director Eivind Holmboe.

In the 40min-film viewers get to experience Lise Davidsen in the roles of three strong women from Richard Strauss’ operas: the Marschallin (from Der Rosenkavalier), Arabella and Ariadne, all created by the composer who is particularly famed for his writing for the soprano voice. The three women are at different stages of life, but all reflect on who they are, where they are going, and what they have become: ‘This I still must find: the young woman that I was’ says the mature Marschallin, while the young Arabella wonders what or who she is really longing for and Ariadne longs to lose herself in order to find what has been lost.

The screening will be preceded by a conversation between Lise Davidsen and Huw Humphreys, Barbican Head of Music.

Tickets will go on sale in January 2022

 

Oslo Philharmonic / Klaus Mäkelä / Lise Davidsen 

Part of Lise Davidsen Artist Spotlight 

Fri 3 Jun 2022, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm 

Tickets £15-55 plus booking fee  

The renowned Oslo Philharmonic returns in June to perform together with Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen, as part of her Artist Spotlight at the Barbican. The programme includes Alban Berg’s Seven early songs, which Berg wrote between 1905 and 1908, during his studies with Schoenberg, and the orchestra also performs the Adagio from Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 10, as well as Jean Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5. This concert will be part of the Orchestra’s first tour with Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä who is now in his second season as the Philharmonic’s Chief Conductor. Mäkelä has recently recorded a complete Sibelius symphony cycle with the Oslo Philharmonic as his first project for Decca Classics, to be released in 2022. 

Produced by the Barbican  

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Notes to Editors

About Lise Davidsen

Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen burst onto the international stage in 2015 by winning multiple prizes at the Operalia, Queen Sonja and Hans Gabor Belvedere competitions. These were swiftly followed by triumphant debuts at the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Teatro Alla Scala Milan, Bayerische Staatsoper, Wiener Staatsoper, and the Aix-en-Provence, Bayreuth and Glyndebourne Festivals.

Born and raised in Stokke, Norway, Davidsen has been profiled in a full-length documentary for NRK, a Strauss film for the Norwegian National Opera as well performing her Metropolitan Opera’s Met Stars Live in Concert from Oslo which was live-streamed internationally.

An exclusive Decca Artist, Davidsen’s discography includes two solo orchestral recitals for the label; complete recordings of Der Freischütz and Fidelio for Pentatone and Sibelius’ Luonnotar on Chandos. Filmed performances include Ortlinde Die Walküre and Fidelio from the Royal Opera House, and Elisabeth Tannhäuser filmed at the Bayreuth Festival.

Future performances include her house debut at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale, Florence, as Leonora Fidelio; her stage debut as Ellen Orford Peter Grimes in Vienna, a tour with Boston Symphony Orchestra and Andris Nelsons singing Vier letzte Lieder and three concerts at London’s Barbican Centre as part of their Artist Spotlight series. Future album releases include a recital with Leif Ove Andsnes for Decca which they will also perform across Europe.