The legendary mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, one of the great voices of the second half of the 20th century, will present a masterclass on Tuesday 3 December at the Museu de la Música as part of the LIFE Akademie programme.
The activity takes place during her visit to Barcelona to perform the recital she will give on 2 December at the Sant Pau Recinte Modernista and which will close the seventh edition of the LIFE Victoria Lied Festival organised by the Victoria de los Angeles Foundation.
This is the first masterclass of the academic part of the Festival to be hosted by the museum, a collaboration that is expected to feature in future editions.
The masterclass, which will take place in the museum’s Sala de Teclats, will begin at 11 am and end at 6 pm. Over the course of the day, Frederica von Stade will give masterclasses to several students which will be open to the public and can be freely accessed through the usual Museu de la Música entrance.
The collaboration with the Victoria de los Ángeles Foundation further enriches the range of activities on offer and the character of the Museu de la Música, an institution where visitors can enjoy music first-hand by looking at and listening to instruments, and through concerts and activities such as these masterclasses.
The Lied Festival Victoria de los Ángeles pays homage to the Barcelona soprano by combining three defining facets of her life: a love of Lied, a quest for excellence and the encouragement of new talent. The Victoria de los Ángeles Foundation is promoting this event devoted to Lied, a genre which the Catalan singer approaches with great aplomb. The Festival will also offer recitals by internationally-renowned artists (LIFE Recitals), an innovative format that gives the opportunity to young performers to sing with established professionals (LIFE New Artists) in supporting roles, as well as a series of parallel training activities (LIFE Akademie).
Frederica von Stade’s biography
Known to her family, friends and fans by her nickname “Flicka,” she has been elevating the world of music for four and a half decades. Although she retired from performing full-time in 2010, she continues to make special appearances in concert and opera: this season, as well as participating in the LIFE Victoria with this recital and a series of masterclasses, she will also play the role of Iris in the world-première of Awakenings by Tobias Picker at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.
Other recent landmarks include the world première of Lembit Beecher’s Sky on Swings at Opera Philadelphia; a performance with Susan Graham at a charity event for the Orchestra of St. Luke’s; and her return to the San Diego Opera with Jake Heggie’s Three Decembers, a composer with whom she collaborates and has created a cycle of songs entitled Paper Wings, with lyrics by the mezzo-soprano and music by Heggie.
She has performed in the world’s leading theatres and concert halls, where she received an offer from Sir Rudolf Bing after an audition for the Metropolitan Opera auditions, a company with which she has sung most of her great roles since her début there in 1970.
In her honour, the Met devised a new production of Pelléas et Mélisande to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their début and also of The Merry Widow to celebrate her 30th anniversary at the Met.
She has appeared at theatres such as the Teatro alla Scala, the Royal Opera House (London), the Wiener Staatsoper and the Opéra National de Paris, conducted by Claudio Abbado, James Levine, Riccardo Muti, Michael Tilson Thomas and others, and with orchestras including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony and the London Symphony Orchestra.
Her most notable lead roles include Angelina (La Cenerentola), Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Marguerite (La Damnation de Faust) and Mélisande (Pelléas et Mélisande), and also trouser roles such as Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro), Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier) and Idamante (Idomeneo) to name a few. In recital, she has encompassed a rich variety of styles, from Mozart to Schönberg and from Haydn to Broadway, all with a natural elegance.
She has received Honorary Doctorates from Yale University, Boston University, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Georgetown University School of Medicine and her alma mater, Mannes School of Music. In 1998, she received the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and in 1983 she was honoured with an award given to her by President Reagan in recognition of her contribution to the arts. She is debuting at LIFE Victoria.
The Museu de la Música hosts the masterclass by mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade as part of the LIFE Victoria 2019
29-Nov-2019 – Aleix Palau