We are celebrating the 125th anniversary of Kirsten Flagstad, one of the greatest opera voices of all time!
Opera Trøndelag, in collaboration with Ringve Music Museum and the Flagstad Museum, presents this magnificent celebration. Regional singers and musicians will participate, presenting excerpts from Flagstad's diverse repertoire. Through expert talks, concerts, and masterclasses, we will offer a broad insight into Flagstad's versatile career, as well as her unique voice that captivated the world and filled the greatest opera houses.
Opera Gala
Opera Trøndelag is collaborating with Ringve Museum of Music and the Kirsten Flagstad Museum in Hamar to celebrate Flagstad's 125th birthday. Opera Trøndelag is marking the occasion by presenting a gala concert in Ringve's concert hall on Saturday 17 October! Audiences will get to experience a diverse operatic repertoire: excerpts from several of Richard Wagner's operas, which became Flagstad's favourite repertoire, as well as famous arias and ensembles from operas by Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, Antonin Dvořák, Charles Gounod, and W. A. Mozart.
Opera Trøndelag works in Flagstad's spirit by fostering and supporting opera talents in the region. The gala concert will therefore be a showcase of Trøndelag's thriving opera culture. Opera Trøndelag's own opera school for singers aged 10 to 18 will sing alongside both talented singers at the start of their careers, and several of the region's most established singers.
About Kirsten Flagstad
The Hamar girl Kirsten Flagstad (1895 - 1962) became world-famous for her singing, and she is particularly remembered for her interpretations of the dramatic roles in Richard Wagner's operas. This year marks the 85th anniversary of Flagstad's debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in the role of Sieglinde in «Die Walküre». Her debut immediately made her the biggest attraction in American opera. Flagstad gradually developed an incomparably lustrous and carrying voice that was made for Wagner's music. Her unique musicality, stage charisma and personality testified to a great performer who was unrivalled, both in her time and afterwards.
Flagstad also had great significance for Norwegian musical life, partly because she performed and introduced vocal music by many Norwegian composers at numerous concerts worldwide. Flagstad also worked purposefully to ensure that Norway would have its own opera, and she became the first opera director for Den Norske Opera, which opened at Folketeatret in Oslo in 1958. The rich legacy of Kirsten Flagstad is important to remember in today's Opera-Norway.
Contributors
Direction and choreography: Ronald Rørvik and Toni Herlofson
Costume/Scene: Anne Spets
Light Sune Schjelderup
Kåre Bjørkøy, tenor
Gitta-Maria Sjöberg, soprano
Nina Sætherhaug, mezzo-soprano
Camilla Stenhoff Vist, soprano
Håvard Stensvold, baritone
Torstein Fosmo, tenor
Sverre Johan Aal, baritone
Ingeborg Haugvik Francke, soprano
Maia Reppe, soprano
Sivert Jullumstrø, baritone
Atmasukha Ananda, piano
Eva Holm Foosnæs, piano
Presenter: Lars Eggen
Students from the opera school
Opera School Instructor Ingeborg Haugvik Francke, Ingrid Eggen
