Lise Davidsen

• Name — Lise Davidsen • Born — 8 February 1987 • Birthplace — Stokke, Norway • Genre — Classical music • Occupation — Opera singer (Soprano) • Spouse — Ben Adler

Lise Davidsen was born in 1987 in Stokke, Norway, and began playing guitar and singing at age 15. As she progressed, she focused on singing. In 2010, she received a bachelor's degree from the Grieg Academy of Music. During this period she sang as a mezzo-soprano with the Norwegian Soloists' Choir. Davidsen then began studying for a master's degree at the Royal Opera Academy in Copenhagen, and her teacher helped her develop as an operatic soprano. In 2014, she performed as a soloist with the Berlin Philharmonic at a Royal Danish Music Conservatory concert, graduated from the Royal Opera Academy, and received the Léonie Sonning talent prize and the Danish Singers Award. She also received financial support from the Skipsreder Tom Wilhelmsen, Karen and Arthur Feldthusens, and Sine Butenschøns Foundations. Davidsen made her first appearances with the Royal Danish Opera during the 2012–13 season, as the Dog and Owl in The Cunning Little Vixen. She then sang Emilia in Verdi's Otello and Rosalinde in Strauss's Die Fledermaus, and won the Reumert Talentpris. In 2015, she won first prize in the Queen Sonja Competition and first prize and audience prize in the Operalia competition in London. She also won three prizes at the 2015 Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition in Amsterdam, was an HSBC Aix-en-Provence Laureate, and received a Statoil Talent Bursary Award, the Léonie Sonning Music Prize, and the Kirsten Flagstad Prize. In 2018, she received the Queen Ingrid Prize and was named the Gramophone Magazine Young Artist of the Year. In 2017, Davidsen made her debut at Glyndebourne, singing the title role in Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos, gave her first recital at Wigmore Hall, and gave her first performance at the BBC Proms. She has also performed at the Zurich Opera House, Vienna State Opera, Aix-en-Provence Festival, Royal Opera House, Teatro Colón, and the Bavarian State Opera. During the 2017–18 season, she was an artist-in-residence with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2019, she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, in the leading role of Lisa in Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades. Davidsen debuted on 10 May 2021 at La Scala when the opera house reopened after having shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She sang arias by Tchaikovsky, Henry Purcell, Richard Wagner, Richard Strauss, and Giuseppe Verdi. On 9 September 2023, Davidsen closed out the Last Night of the Proms as the vocal soloist. She had been scheduled to fill this role in 2022, but the event was canceled that year following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Davidsen appeared as Leonora in the Metropolitan Opera's production of Verdi's La forza del destino (directed by Mariusz Treliński) that opened on 26 February 2024. In March 2026, she starred in the Met's production of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde directed by Yuval Sharon, which New York Times critic Joshua Barone called "the event of the season". Her collaboration with Sharon and the Met is scheduled to continue with a new production of Wagner's Ring Cycle with Davidsen as Brünnhilde. She will open the Met's 2026-2027 season with a house role debut in Verdi's Macbeth. On June 5, 2026, at Carnegie Hall, Davidsen gave a performance of Schubert Lieder, accompanied by James Baillieu on piano.

Davidsen is married to filmmaker Ben Adler. She suffered a miscarriage in autumn 2023, and another in spring 2024. She gave birth to twin sons in spring 2025.