Following her tremendous success in New York as Elettra in Idomeneo, Elza van den Heever travels to Dallas to star in the title role of Bellini’s Norma. In a production by Nic Muni, Ms. van den Heever is joined by Yonghoon Lee as Pollione and Christian van Horn as Oroveso. Maestro Emmanuel Villaume leads the cast from the podium for all performances April 21, 23, 26, 29 and May 7. Visit dallasopera.org for additional information and tickets.
“…van den Heever makes a very beautiful sound, without a cutting edge. She is also a very fine actress, her Act 2 very moving. Her more lyric sound is closer in timbre and volume to the Adalgisa of Isabel Leonard, and the two blended very beautifully in “Mira, o Norma.” – Joseph So, Musical Toronto
Elza van den Heever stars in the virtuosic role of Elettra in Mozart’s Idomeneo at the Metropolitan Opera. She is joined by a stellar cast including Matthew Polenzani as Idomeneo, Nadine Sierra as Illia, and Alice Coote as Idamante in Jean–Pierre Ponnelle’s classic production. Under the baton of the Metropolitan Opera’s famed Music Director Emeritus James Levine, performances take place on March 6, 10, 13, 17, 21 & 25. Visit the metopera.orgfor additional information and tickets.
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On February 3, Elza van den Heever sings Strauss’ Four Last Songs with l’Orchestre de l’Opéra de Limoges and conductor Robert Tuohy. The “Enigma” themed programme also includes Mahler’s Totenfeier and Elgar’s Enigma Variations. Tickets and additional information about the concert can be found at the following link.
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Elza van den Heever sings Elvira in Verdi’s Ernani, in concert on January 20 & 22 at Oper Frankfurt. Ms. van den Heever is joined by an illustrious international cast, including Alfred Kim in the title role and Quinn Kelsey as Don Carlos, with conductor Simone Young leading the Frankfurter Opern und Museumsorchester and Oper Frankfurt Chorus.
Plot synopsis from Oper Frankfurt: Three men are squabbling over the heart of the beautiful Elvira: her uncle, the vindictive, ageing, Spanish Grande Don Ruy Gomez de Silva, an aristocratic scion, Ernani, whose affections she returns, who travels around with a band of robbers, and the hot-blooded Spanish King, Carlos who, after being elected German Emperor, turns into a wise, noble and self sacrificing do-gooder. When a happy end for the two lovers seems almost within reach, an abstruse sense of honour ruins everything.
After Giuseppe Verdi’s first big success with Nabucco in 1842 he wanted to explore new avenues: for Ernani, written for La Fenice in Venice, he chose a play by Victor Hugo, not by chance a key French romantic work. In the foreword to his 1827 verse drama Cromwell, Hugo drew up a manifesto for a new literary movement which turned its back, once and for all, on classical aesthetics and looked back with renewed interest to the past values of Shakespeare, to perverse, horrible, grotesque driven extremes. Inspired by the vascillating, fragile characters in Hugo’s Hernani ou L’Honneur castillian, Verdi created an exciting opera, breathing life into the inwardly torn figures on stage.
The December 21 performance of Britten’s Peter Grimes from the Wiener Staatsoper will be streamed LIVE online worldwide, via the Staatsoper’s streaming service. Elza van den Heever stars as Ellen Orford, with Stephen Gould in the title role, and Brian Mulligan as Balstrode. Graeme Jenkins conducts the Staatsopernorchester, with stage direction by Christine Mielitz. Visit the Staatsoper onlineto see the broadcast time in your area.
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On December 13, 16, 18 & 21Elza van den Heever sings the role of Ellen Orford in Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes at the Wiener Staatsoper.Stephen Gould stars in the title role, with Brian Mulligan featured as Balstrode. Graeme Jenkins leads the Staatsopernorchester for these performances, with stage direction by Christine Mielitz.
Ms. van den Heever previously sang the role to great acclaim with the San Francisco Symphony and English National Opera:
“Elza van den Heever, a superb South African soprano who looks and sounds remarkably like the young Joan Sutherland, stands out from the herd as a stolid and sensible Ellen Orford, with a voice of angelic sheen and purity promising hope and redemption.” (The Telegraph)
“Former San Francisco Opera Merola and Adler Fellow Elza van den Heever, who made her debut in the role of Ellen Orford opposite Skelton in the English National Opera‘s “Grimes” earlier this year, continues to show why she is a singer to watch and hear at any opportunity. Here, she maintains a dramatically significant control in Ellen’s early scenes. The voice is clear, precise, reflecting Ellen‘s quiet determination to stand up to the villagers in her defense of the man she hopes to marry. … Later, when she discovers a bruise on the neck of the new apprentice… and wavers in her belief in Peter, van den Heever unleashes a glorious lyrical ribbon of pain and beauty, every bit of loneliness and heartbreak spilling out of her. Her rendition of the “Embroidery Aria” in the third act, that quiet moment meant to suggest the calm between an ebbing and crashing wave, was etched in wistful resignation. ” (San Francisco Chronicle)
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Elza van den Heever returns to the Canadian Opera Company this season, to star in the title role of Bellini’s timeless tragedy, Norma. Performances take place October 23, 26 & 28 and November 5at the Four Seasons Centre, and also feature Russell Thomas as Pollione, Isabel Leonard as Adalgisa, and Dimitry Ivashchenko as Oroveso, with Maestro Stephen Lord and the COC Orchestra and Chorus. The production, featuring stage direction by Kevin Newbury, was first seen at San Francisco Opera.
Ms. van den Heever previously performed the role to an enthusiastic response from audiences and critics at the Opéra National de Bordeaux:
“The role of Norma is considered a great platform of the lyric repertoire, and the South African Elza van den Heever makes the most of her abilities in this production. It is an opportunity for truly bravura singing, with demands on the soprano for accuracy in the upper reaches, concentration in rapid passages and sheer endurance for the two hours and 30 minutes of music.” (Facts & Arts)
Elsa will also sing Norma later this season (April-May) at The Dallas Opera.
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Elza van den Heever sings Strauss’ Four Last Songs on August 23 with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, at Suntory Hall in Tokyo. Conductor Sebastian Weigle leads the all-Strauss programme, which also includes Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, Op. 28 and Sinfonia domestica, Op. 53.
