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Lise Lindstrom is an American operatic soprano. She is best known for the title role of Puccini's ''

Turandot ''Turandot'' (; see below) is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, posthumously completed by Franco Alfano in 1926, and set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. ''Turandot'' best-known aria is " Nessun dorma", ...

'' and also highly recognized in the dramatic repertory of Richard Strauss and Richard Wagner.

Early life

Lindstrom, whose grandfather was a Norwegian immigrant from Stavanger, was born in

Alameda, California Alameda ( ; ; Spanish for " tree-lined path") is a city in Alameda County, California, located in the East Bay region of the Bay Area. The city is primarily located on Alameda Island, but also spans Bay Farm Island and Coast Guard Island, as we ...

. She moved to Sonora, where she was raised, when she was 5. After graduating from

Sonora High School Sonora High School (SOHS) is a public high school located at 401 S. Palm Street in La Habra, north Orange County, California. One of seven high schools in the Fullerton Joint Union High School District, Sonora served over 1,944 students in the 2 ...

in 1983, she entered

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different ...

from which she graduated with bachelor of arts degree. During the time, she took additional voice lessons with

Blanche Thebom Blanche Thebom (September 19, 1915March 23, 2010) was an American operatic mezzo-soprano, voice teacher, and opera director. She was part of the first wave of American opera singers that had highly successful international careers. In her own co ...

and sang her first onstage role, Donna Anna in '' Don Giovanni'' with the Berkeley Opera alongside her father as the Commendatore. Lindstrom proceeded musical studies at the

San Francisco Conservatory of Music The San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) is a private music conservatory in San Francisco, California. As of 2021, it had 480 students. History The San Francisco Conservatory of Music was founded in 1917 by Ada Clement and Lillian Hodg ...

and earned the degree in 1995. After graduation she moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, managing to make a living by taking temporary jobs while auditioning for agency and artist programs, which made little success.

Career

In 2003 Lindstrom finally launched her career when contacted by Jerome Shannon, then General Director of

Mobile Opera Mobile Opera is an opera company located in Mobile, Alabama and is one of the oldest performing arts organizations in the United States,Recognized by OPERA America as the 13th oldest opera company in the United States (source: Mobileopera.org) as w ...

, to perform the title role of ''

''. She came to prominence when she replaced

Maria Guleghina Maria Agasovna Guleghina, russian: Mapия Aгacoвнa Гулeгинa, uk, Марія Агасівна Гулегіна, hy, Մարիա Գուլեգինա (née Meytardjan (russian: Мейтарджян); born 9 August 1959) is a Soviet-born ope ...

as Turandot in November 2009, making her the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is oper ...

debut. Lindstrom made her role debut in the title role of

August Everding August Everding (; 31 October 1928; Bottrop, Germany – 26 January 1999; Munich) was a German opera director and administrator. He studied at the Universities of Bonn and Munich, where launching his career in the 1950s. He was a member of the R ...

's 2015 production of Richard Strauss's '' Elektra'' at the Hamburg State Opera with

Simone Young Simone Margaret Young AM (born 2 March 1961) is an Australian conductor. She is currently chief conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Biography and career Young was born in Sydney, of Irish ancestry on her father's side and Croatian ...

conducting. At the same house, she debuted in 2017 as in Strauss's ''

Die Frau ohne Schatten ' (''The Woman without a Shadow''), Op. 65, is an opera in three acts by Richard Strauss with a libretto by his long-time collaborator, the poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It was written between 1911 and either 1915 or 1917. When it premiered at the V ...

'' under the baton of

Kent Nagano Kent George Nagano GOQ, MSM (born November 22, 1951) is an American conductor and opera administrator. Since 2015, he has been Music Director of the Hamburg State Opera and was Music Director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra from 2006 to 202 ...

. 2016 saw her role debut as Brünnhilde in

Opera Australia Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House accompanied by the Opera Australia Orchestra runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder ...

's 2016 production of the ''

Ring Cycle (''The Ring of the Nibelung''), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from Germanic heroic legend, namely Norse legendary sagas and the ''Nibelun ...

''. In 2017, she debuted at the

Theater an der Wien The is a historic theatre in Vienna located on the Left Wienzeile in the Mariahilf district. Completed in 1801, the theatre has hosted the premieres of many celebrated works of theatre, opera, and symphonic music. Since 2006, it has served prima ...

as Marie in ''

Wozzeck ''Wozzeck'' () is the first opera by the Austrian composer Alban Berg. It was composed between 1914 and 1922 and first performed in 1925. The opera is based on the drama '' Woyzeck'', which the German playwright Georg Büchner left incomplete at ...

''.

References

External links

*
Performance schedule

Operabase Operabase is an online database of opera performances, opera houses and companies, and performers themselves as well as their agents. Found at operabase.com, it was created in 1996 by English software engineer and opera lover Mike Gibb.Edward Sc ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lindstrom, Lise Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People from Sonora, California American operatic sopranos American people of Norwegian descent San Francisco State University alumni San Francisco Conservatory of Music alumni 21st-century American women opera singers Helpmann Award winners Singers from California Classical musicians from California