Soprano Lise Davidsen to release new opera recording

"Davidsen Goes out with a Bang," read the headline in Broadway World's review of the Metropolitan Opera revival of Beethoven's “Fidelio.” And indeed Lise Davidsen is in a sense “going out.”

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After she gives her final performance as the wife who disguises herself as a man to save her husband, she'll head home to Norway to prepare for a new role — as the mother of twins. But the soprano's fans will also have something new to savour while she’s on maternity leave. Decca is releasing a recording of Wagner's “Der Fliegende Holländer” (“The Flying Dutchman”), an opera she had never sung before and may never do again.

The role of Senta, the sea captain's daughter who is obsessed with rescuing the Dutchman from eternal damnation, is one that Davidsen said she had been “asked to do for almost 10 years,” but always turned down because “I didn't feel ready.” That might seem surprising since the role is relatively short and is often grouped with other Wagnerian roles she has already sung, like Elisabeth in “Tannhäuser” or Sieglinde in “Die Walküre.”