Tessan-Maria Lehmussaari to sing in staged Dichterliebe at Folkoperan, Stockholm
The soprano Tessan-Maria Lehmussaari will sing in a newly-staged, orchestrated version of Schumann’s Dichterliebe at Stockholm’s Folkoperan in May 2021. She will be one of six soloist, four of which are children.
From Folkoperan’s website:
This is a story of loss: lost youth, lost life and lost love. But also how the memory of love lives on within us in parallel with the painful feeling of what did not happen. About losing each other despite great love and the pain of the loss that can’t be prevented.
"Christian Jost's remarkable and suggestive interpretation of Schumann's eternal classics makes us rediscover this work with contemporary eyes and ears," says Tobias Theorell, director and artistic director of the Folkoperan.
The poet's fate is difficult not to link to Robert Schumann's own. He suffered from severe depression and mental illness and was admitted to a psychiatric clinic at the end of his short life. On the last day of his life, he is visited by his beloved wife, the composer Clara Schumann. She met her husband, who was then completely silent and stopped eating. The meeting with Clara was his last and the next day he died.
Tobias Theorell's staging has been inspired by the very last meeting between Robert and Clara Schumann. Together, they recreate and play out their life together. The sweet falling in love that is followed by an everyday life with episodes of adversity, illness and sorrow and which ends in a definite farewell. Schumann's song cycle Dichterliebe, which is usually played with only piano, is now performed for the first time in Sweden in an orchestral arrangement by Christian Jost. Participating are six soloists, four of whom are children.
Dichterliebe will be performed at Folkoperan on 27, 28, 29 and 30 May. The Folkoperan receives audiences in accordance with current restrictions.
Information in Swedish on Folkoperan’s website: https://folkoperan.se/uppsattningar/dichterliebe/
You can hear Tessan-Maria Lehmussaari singing here: https://youtu.be/dNCz_uVHZ7U