Met Stars: Lise Davidsen

Astounding Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen followed up her 2019 Met debut in Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades with an impressive appearance in the company’s Met Stars Live in Concert series in the summer of 2020. Performing live from Oslo’s Oscarshall summer palace to audiences around the globe, she joined pianist James Baillieu for a triumphant program of operatic arias, Scandinavian songs, and more. Opening with excerpts from Wagner’s Tannhäuser, Davidsen offered touching selections by Grieg and Sibelius, before diving into some of the most formidable heroines of the dramatic soprano repertoire—Amelia in Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera and the title roles of Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos and Puccini’s Manon Lescaut. The concert then moved on to a collection of Strauss lieder, ultimately ending on a high note with some lighter fare by Britten, Kálmán, Lerner and Loewe, and others. It was a remarkable display from one of opera’s most promising young talents, who will undoubtedly return to wow Met audiences for many seasons to come.