Kirsten Flagstad


Flagstad, Kirsten

 

Born July 12, 1895, in Hamar; died Dec. 7, 1962, in Oslo. Norwegian operatic soprano.

Flagstad studied in Oslo and Stockholm. Her operatic career lasted from 1913 to 1953. She became well-known after her appearance in 1933 at the international music festival in Bayreuth. Flagstad was a soloist at the Metropolitan Opera in New York from 1935 to 1941 and 1951 to 1952 and at Covent Garden in London from 1936 to 1937 and 1948 to 1951; she also toured extensively as a concert singer. From 1958 to 1960 she managed the Norwegian Opera in Oslo, which she had founded. Flagstad’s best roles were Isolde and Brünnhilde in the operas of R. Wagner and Leonora in Beethoven’s Fidelio.