Lise Davidsen Comes to BroadStage in September

With a unique and powerful voice that has been described as "one-in-a-million," soprano Lise Davidsen makes her much-anticipated BroadStage debut as part of the Celebrity Opera Recital Series on Sunday, September 17, 2023 at 7:30pm at the Eli and Edythe Broad Stage at the Santa Monica Performing Arts Center.  Davidsen is accompanied by James Baillieu, piano.  Tickets and information are at broadstage.org or by calling 310.434.3200.
 
The Norwegian-born Davidsen has a stage presence and charisma that brings audiences to their feet. She burst onto the international stage in 2015 by winning multiple prizes at the Operalia in London and the Queen Sonja Competition in Oslo, and she has quickly risen to superstardom. She has since graced the stages of some of the top opera houses around the world, such as 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.
 
Davidsen was awarded Female Singer of the Year by the International Opera Awards in 2021, and has quickly earned a reputation as one of the best in the business – she is “in a league of her own” (Peter Gelb, Metropolitan Opera).
 
Described by The Daily Telegraph as ‘in a class of his own’ James Baillieu is one of the leading song and chamber music pianists of his generation.  He has given solo and chamber recitals throughout the world and collaborates with a wide range of singers and instrumentalists including Benjamin Appl, Jamie Barton, Ian Bostridge, Allan Clayton, Annette Dasch, Lise Davidsen, the Elias and Heath Quartets, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Adam Walker, and Pretty Yende.  As a soloist, he has appeared with the Ulster Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, and the Wiener Kammersymphonie.

Davidsen’s Celebrity Opera Recital marks her West Coast and BroadStage debuts.  BroadStage Celebrity Opera Recitals are generously supported by Lloyd E. Rigler — Lawrence E. Deutsch Foundation.
 
Rob Bailis, “We have the distinct honor of having secured the West Coast debut of soprano Lise Davidsen. The New York Times says it best, "The radiating, shimmering, ever so slightly metallic overtones that halo her voice make her sound arrestingly powerful and visceral. You feel it as almost physical presence — pressing against your chest, raising the hairs on the back of your neck." This is a singer on a meteoric rise to the kind of acclaim we can only imagine. To experience her talent in such an intimate environment as is BroadStage, is a once in lifetime opportunity."
 
The New Yorker said, “Scattered whispers that the dramatic Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen is the real deal have grown into a roar of consensus almost as powerful as her molten high notes.”
 
This season, Davidsen’s many highlights include starring in the BBC’s much coveted Last Night of the Proms, the biggest classical music event in Britain; and major roles debuts as Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier at the Metropolitan Opera (March), and as Elisabetta in Don Carlo at Royal Opera House (July).  The New York Times headline said it all, “Lise Davidsen Shines, and Evolves, in a ‘Rosenkavalier’ Debut.” Critic Joshua Barone said, “Davidsen excels in repertoire — mostly Wagner and Strauss — somewhere between the achingly human and the otherworldly … that said, the Marschallin is a woman of stature: influential, composed and well connected. Davidsen captures this naturally … alternating between conversational restraint and white-hot radiance.”

Kevin Ng in the Financial Times said about Davidsen, “*****Davidsen is the opera world’s next great hope for the big Wagner and Strauss roles, which require near-superhuman stamina and volume. [However], with the opulence of her sound, Davidsen displayed a newfound finesse in her singing, with carefully calibrated dynamics and exquisitely floated high notes. When she unleashes the full power of her soprano that you see why her voice is special — you could feel the Met’s walls vibrate during the high B that caps the final trio.”

Reviewing Don Carlo at the Royal Opera, Andrew Clements said in The Guardian on July 2, 2023, "Davidsen's performance grows steadily in authority as she moves through the opera, until her aria in the final act is a tour of glorious singing, a perfect crystallization of the emotional journey that her character has undertaken."

James Baillieu’s appearances of the 2023-24 season include an international recital tour with his frequent collaborator, the acclaimed Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen, with performances at the Metropolitan Opera, Wiener Staatsoper, Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, and The Wigmore Hall; a recital tour to Japan with German baritone, Benjamin Appl; and gala concerts with Ms. Davidsen and the British-Italian tenor Freddie De Tommaso at the Gran Teatre del Liceu and Osterfestspiele Salzburg.  A tour schedule with other distinguished artists brings the pianist to premier venues in England, Northern Ireland, Belgium, The Netherlands, Spain, and the United States.

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