Credits:

Birgitte Christensen

Description:

An opera based on the eventful life of the legendary Norwegian soprano Kirsten Flagstad*FlagstadThe Opera* is a one-act opera based on the life of Kirsten Flagstad (Hishten Flagsta) Kirsten Flagstad (18951962), one of Norways most internationally renowned musicians and a Norway-loving artist who devoted herself to the founding of the National Opera. The project was conceived by Gjoril Songvoll, director of the Oslo Opera Festival, with the aim of staging the opera in 2020 to mark the 125th anniversary of her birth. Playwright and director Einar Bjorge, who wrote the play *FlagstadTriumph and Tragedy*, was commissioned to write the libretto, and Ketil Bjornstad (1952), a jazz pianist and composer known for works such as *The Song of the Whale* (Grappa GRCD4328) and *The Song of Belonging* (GRCD4517), was commissioned to compose the music.In late fall of 1962, in a hospital room in Oslo.