Elizabeth Norberg Schulz

Early life and education

Elizabeth Norberg-Schulz is the daughter of Norwegian architectural historian and theorist, Christian Norberg-Schulz (1926–2000), and Italian translator and writer Anna Maria de Dominicis. She grew up in Ris, Oslo. When she was young she took lessons in voice with Anne Brown, as well as lessons in piano, ballet and theatre.

She started studies at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia in Rome in 1974, first piano and from 1974 in voice with Rosina Vedrani Laporta, with whom she studied for ten years. She got a diploma in piano in 1978 and in voice in 1982.

She has also studied with John Shirley-Quirk, Peter Pears, and for a number of years with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf.

Career

She has performed in many of the world's leading opera houses and companies, including La Scala, Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Teatro Massimo di Palermo, Teatro Regio di Torino, Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, La Fenice in Venice, the New York Metropolitan Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Royal Opera, Covent Garden, Opéra Bastille, La Monnaie in Brussels, Teatro Real in Madrid, Opéra de Genève, Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Vienna State Opera and the Norwegian National Opera.

Since 2006 she has been professor in voice and interpretation at the University of Stavanger in Norway.

Opera roles

Her principal roles include (in alphabetical order):

Her festival appearances include the Rossini Opera Festival of Pesaro, where she has sung Corinna (Il viaggio a Reims, Rossini), Anaïs (Anaï) (Mosè in Egitto, Moses in Egypt, Rossini), Jemmy (Guglielmo Tell, William Tell, Rossini) and Giulia (La scala di seta, The Silken Ladder, Rossini). They also include Salzburg, Montreux, Spoleto, Macerata, the Beethoven Festival (de) in Bonn, and the Handel Festival, Halle.

Concert repertoire

Her concert appearances have included (in alphabetical order of orchestras, and conductors):

Awards

Early in her career she won the Salzburg "Mozart Wettbewerb" and the Spoleto "Sperimentale" prizes, and in 1993, she was awarded the Grieg Prize by the Grieg Academy in Oslo. She has also received the "Minerva Prize" (2004) and the "Verdi Prize" (2006). In 2004, King Harald V of Norway, made her a Knight of the Order of St. Olav, and in 2006, the Italian President Giorgio Napolitano made her a "Commander of the Italian Republic".

Recordings

Norberg-Schulz's recordings for Philips, Decca, EMI, Ricordi and BMG include Mozart's Mass in C minor, Verdi's Falstaff with Solti (Nanetta), Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem with Blomstedt (Grammy Award), Mahler's Symphony Number 8 with Sir Colin Davis, and Tamerlano with Trevor Pinnock (Asteria). She has also recorded a recital disc of songs by Edvard Grieg with the pianist Håvard Gims which received the Grieg Award.

Personal life

Norberg-Schulz is married to Italian conductor Vittorio Bonolis. The couple have one son.