Acclaimed Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen’s Artist Spotlight series at the Barbican continues this May and June with two concerts, a masterclass with musicians from Guildhall School of Music & Drama and a screening of the film LISE, preceded by a ScreenTalk with the singer. A wide range of repertoire and musical styles will give audiences an insight into the singer’s artistry. Following on from her critically acclaimed recital with compatriot, pianist Leif Ove Andsnes, earlier this year in January, events in May and June 2022 include:    

  • 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, Emmerich Kálmán, Paolo Tosti, Frederick 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 ofLISE preceded by a ScreenTalk with Lise Davidsen and Huw Humphreys, Barbican Head of Music (Tue 31 May 2022, Barbican Cinema 3, 6.30pm)
  • Oslo PhilharmonicKlaus 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 & 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, this time 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 Kálmán’s 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

Emmerich Kálmán‘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

Frederick 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.

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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 DavidsenNorwegian 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.

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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, which was released in April 2022. 

Produced by the Barbican  

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RELEASED TODAY, March 25: Klaus Mäkelä & the Oslo Philharmonic record Sibelius’s Seven Symphonies, Tapiola, and Late Fragments, for Decca.