Torhild Staahlen
Encyclopedia
Torhild Staahlen is a Norwegian
opera
tic mezzo-soprano
who was employed at Norwegian National Opera from 1967 to 1969 and from 1971 to 2000. She had her solo debut as Suzuki in Madam Butterfly with The Norwegian National Opera in Oslo in 1971.
She studied at Oslo Conservatory of Music and graduated from the Norwegian College of Opera in Oslo in 1971. She has studied with the famous opera singers Astrid Varnay
, Ingrid Bjoner
and Aase Nordmo Løvberg
.
She has sung more than sixty roles, including the title role in Carmen
in three productions, Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier
, Azucena in Il trovatore
, Amneris in Aida
and Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera
.
She has sung in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Scotland, England and the USA and performed many oratorios and concerts, and sung on Radio and TV. Her repertoire of more than twenty works includes Bach's Mass in B Minor, Händel’s Messiah, Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and Elgar’s Sea Pictures.
Torhild Staahlen has established her own scholarship for singers, musicians and composers. It was awarded for the first time on 17 May 1997. She was married to the Scottish musician Neil David Percival Dodd (19 August 1939 – 2 June 2005), who was first répétiteur and conductor on The Norwegian National Opera.
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
tic mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...
who was employed at Norwegian National Opera from 1967 to 1969 and from 1971 to 2000. She had her solo debut as Suzuki in Madam Butterfly with The Norwegian National Opera in Oslo in 1971.
She studied at Oslo Conservatory of Music and graduated from the Norwegian College of Opera in Oslo in 1971. She has studied with the famous opera singers Astrid Varnay
Astrid Varnay
Ibolyka Astrid Maria Varnay was an American dramatic soprano of Hungarian heritage and Swedish birth, who did most of her work in the United States and Germany. She was one of the best-known Wagnerian heroic sopranos of her generation...
, Ingrid Bjoner
Ingrid Bjoner
Ingrid Kristine Bjoner Pierpoint was a Norwegian soprano who had a prolific international opera career between 1956 and 1990. She was particularly celebrated for her portrayal of Wagnerian heroines and for her performances in operas by Richard Strauss...
and Aase Nordmo Løvberg
Aase Nordmo Løvberg
Aase Nordmo Løvberg is a Norwegian opera singer. She belongs among the 20th century's foremost Nordic singers. For many years she sang with Jussi Björling at the Royal Opera in Stockholm, and she has sung under renowned conductors such as Herbert von Karajan and Georg Solti.Løvberg made her debut...
.
She has sung more than sixty roles, including the title role in Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
in three productions, Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel Les amours du chevalier de Faublas by Louvet de Couvrai and Molière’s comedy Monsieur de Pourceaugnac...
, Azucena in Il trovatore
Il trovatore
Il trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez. Cammarano died in mid-1852 before completing the libretto...
, Amneris in Aida
Aida
Aida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
and Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera
Un ballo in maschera
Un ballo in maschera , is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi with text by Antonio Somma. The libretto is loosely based on an 1833 play, Gustave III, by French playwright Eugène Scribe who wrote about the historical assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden...
.
She has sung in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Scotland, England and the USA and performed many oratorios and concerts, and sung on Radio and TV. Her repertoire of more than twenty works includes Bach's Mass in B Minor, Händel’s Messiah, Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and Elgar’s Sea Pictures.
Torhild Staahlen has established her own scholarship for singers, musicians and composers. It was awarded for the first time on 17 May 1997. She was married to the Scottish musician Neil David Percival Dodd (19 August 1939 – 2 June 2005), who was first répétiteur and conductor on The Norwegian National Opera.