Jessye Norman

Festive Concert with Jessye Norman

The legendary Jessye Norman returns to Israel for a one-time only concert featuring her best repertoire: Opera arias, lieder, folk songs and spirituals; with the Opera Orchestra - The Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon LeZion conducted by Rachel Worby.

Date: 4 June 2010 
 

Jessye Norman is one of the most celebrated artists of our century. Among the most distinguished singers, she belongs to a long line of American sopranos who refuses to believe in limits, a shining member of an artistic pantheon that includes Rosa Ponselle, Maria Callas and Leontyne Price.

She has been equally at home in American spirituals, French chansons or German Lieder. In opera, she has made her own Wagner’s Sieglinde and Elisabeth but also Gluck’s Alceste, Mozart’s Countess Almaviva, Strauss’ Ariadne and Stravinsky’s Jocasta. She has conquered centuries of musical styles, bringing to life Purcell’s Dido but also the Dido of Berlioz, Beethoven’s Leonore as well as Bizet’s Carmen. She has been an earthy temptress in the opera Parsifal, an unfortunate bride in Bluebeard’s Castle and a wise old nun in Dialogues of the Carmelites. From Haydn to Mahler, Schoenberg and Berg, from Satie and Poulenc to Gershwin and Bernstein, the range of Jessye Norman’s musical reach has been and continues to be breathtaking. No matter the language, she makes every word matter, every note tell. She is a diva in the truest sense, in that there is a sense of the divine in the music she makes.

Throughout her career, Jessye Norman has given numerous recitals and concerts and continues to do so today. In addition to her operatic recitals, Norman has given regular recitals encompassing the classical German repertory as well as contemporary masterpieces, such as Schoenberg's Gurre-Lieder and the French moderns, which she invariably performed in the original language.

This combination of scholarship and artistry contributed to her consistently successful career as one of the most versatile concert and opera singers of her time. Often cited for her innovative programming and fervent advocacy of contemporary music, she has earned the recognition as "one of those once-in-a-generation singers who is not simply following in the footsteps of others, but is staking out her own niche in the history of singing."

Jessye Norman frequently collaborates with the world’s best symphony orchestras, chamber ensembles, and other classical solo artists in her recital work. She has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, the London Philharmonic, the Israel Philharmonic, l’Orchestre de Paris, the Stockholm Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic and the Berlin Philharmonic to name only a few.

Verdi's Opera Aida Conducted by Daniel Oren with international opera singers He Hui (as Aida), Piero Giuliacci, Burchuladze Paata & Carlo Striuli