Tearing up the box: Lise Davidsen on new roles and vocal stereotyping

Lise Davidsen

Brian Jagde (Don Carlo) and Lise Davidsen (Elisabetta) in Don Carlo

Gerald Finley (Wolfram) and Lise Davidsen (Elisabeth) and Royal Opera Chorus in Tannhäuser

Samantha Hankey (Octavian) and Lise Davidsen (Marschallin) in Der Rosenkavalier

By Mark Pullinger, 04 August 2023

Loading, please wait...

“all boxes should be torn up and you should step back and say ‘What can I sing? What fits my voice?’”

Related content

Opera in the blood: Speranza Scappucci

Mark Pullinger, 17th March

The Royal Opera’s Principal Guest Conductor explains her passion for opera, her journey into the pit and how good conductors share the attributes of football managers.

A jack of all trades: Michael Spyres on Vienna, Tristan and Verdi

Chanda VanderHart, 6th March

Chanda VanderHart talks to the American tenor about his Tristan debut at the Met, his love for Vienna and Otto Schenk, and the incredible scope of his repertoire.

Street-smart and subversive: Ailish Tynan talks Così fan tutte

Jessica Duchen, 7th January

The Irish soprano talks about singing Mozart’s Così fan tutte with English National Opera, in London and Manchester – and how the wily Despina is the perfectly subversive character for her.

Out of the ordinary: Wagner’s Ring at Paris Opera

Bachtrack, 12th November

In 2026, Opéra national de Paris presents its first complete cycle of Wagner’s Ring for over a decade, with productions directed by Calixto Bieito. We dig into these striking and provocative productions...

Nadine Sierra reclaims her narrative

Kevin W Ng, 8th November

Fresh out of her triumphant appearance in La sonnambula at the Met, soprano Nadine Sierra talks about being on a turning point in her career.

The art of memory: classical music for mourning

Danny Riley, 28th October

From fulfilling funerary functions, to eulogising friends and fellow artists, or lamenting the waste of war: here are some of the finest examples of music written in mourning.

Mark Pullinger

Mark has been a Bachtrack editor since 2014. He is also an experienced critic, writing hundreds of reviews for the site, as well as a freelancer writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also writes programme notes and blogs on Substack. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie or a Viennese coffee house.