especially about the finale. I thought: how do I resolve that difficult scene?” He was lucky in having previously directed Wagner’s Ring Cycle in Amsterdam and Lohengrin and Parsifal, says Audi. “You need to set up your Wagner production based on the trickiest moments; that’s a lesson I have learned. And the ‘Liebestod’ is the hardest of all those moments. How do you stage Isolde dying an ecstatic death?” Audi found the key to this through a collaboration with the lighting designer Jean Kalman, in a sophisticated interplay between light and dark. By the end of the opera, nothing is left of Isolde except a black silhouette. Ultimately, she is no more than a voice. Audi: “Thus the ‘Liebestod’ becomes what it is: an epilogue to the opera, looking ahead to an unknown future.” The Everest of the opera repertoire The ‘Liebestod’ will be performed by soprano Malin Byström, who previously sang Salome and Tosca in the eponymous operas and Elsa in Wagner’s Lohengrin at Dutch National Opera. If Wagner’s works are the Himalayas of the opera repertoire — summits that are only within reach for singers with the experience, technique and stamina to conquer them — then Isolde is Mount Everest for sopranos. Byström has dared to take this role on at Dutch National Opera: “For several years now, opera houses have been approaching me asking whether I would consider singing Isolde. My answer had always been ‘no’. It had never been a role I would even have dreamed of performing: I thought I wouldn’t be capable vocally. But time moves on. I believe my voice and my technique have developed and become The role of Isolde is a Mount Everest for sopranos sufficiently stable. As an actress too, I feel drawn to this role. I always feel very comfortable at Dutch National Opera, with everyone squarely behind me, so when Sophie de Lint asked me to debut this role, I saw it as a sign: the moment has come!” How will Byström be climbing her Mount Everest? “Calmly, one step at a time. But I’ll mainly be staying true to myself and my own technique. In the end, the audience will be hearing Malin approaching Isolde from her specific perspective, with her specific voice.” Text: Laura Roling Malin Byström Photo: Peter Knutson 43
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