Elizabeth Norberg-Schulz (born 27 January 1959, Oslo) is a Norwegian/Italian operatic soprano.
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Elizabeth Norberg-Schulz is the daughter of the Norwegian architectural historian and theorist, Christian Norberg-Schulz (1926–2000), and the Italian translator and writer Anna Maria de Dominicis. She studied at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia in Rome as well as with John Shirley-Quirk, Peter Pears, and for a number of years Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, before beginning her career as an opera and concert singer. 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.
Her principal roles include: Pamina (Chicago, Madrid, Salzburg Festspiele, Staatsoper Vienna, Bologna), Susanna (Teatro la Scala Milano, Vienna), Zerlina (Rome, Napoli, Vienna), Asteria Tamerlano (Firenze, Halle, London, Teatre des Champs Elysees Paris), Adina (Teatro alla Scala Milano, Rome, Napoli, Staatsoper Vienna), Lucia (Staatsoper Vienna, Spoleto, Oslo), Norina (Munich, Hamburg, Macerata, Napoli), Nannetta (Scala Milano, Salzburg,Staatsoper Vienna, Madrid), Gilda (Vienna, Spoleto, Palermo, Treviso, Oslo), Oscar (Metropolitan Opera, Chicago, Staatsoper Vienna, Oslo), Micaëla (Opera Bastille, Rome, Oslo), Liù (Covent Garden, Athens, Bologna), Mimì (Glyndebourne Festival, Oslo), Musetta (Firenze, Staatsoper Vienna), Adele Die Fledermaus (Metropolitan Opera), Gretel (Chicago), Constance Dialogues des Carmélites (Teatro alla Scala Milano), Manon of Massenet (Staatsoper Vienna).
Her festival appearances include the Rossini Opera Festival of Pesaro where she has sung Corinna Viaggio a Riems, Anais Moise, Jemmy Guilielomo Tell and Giulia La scala di seta, Salzburg, Montreux, Spoleto, Macerata, the Beethoven Festival in Bonn, and the Handel Festival, Halle.
Her concert appearances have included: the Berlin Philharmonic (Schumann Requiem für Mignon and Brahms Requiem with Abbado), Vienna Philharmonic (Mozart Mass in C minor with Solti, Brahms Requiem with Abbado), I Filarmonici della Scala (Mozart Requiem with Muti, and with Gergiev), Orchestra Nazionale di RAI (Mahler 2 and 4. and Der Wein with Tate), Dresden Staatskapelle (Beethoven 9, Strauss Lieder and Mozart Requiem, all with Sinopoli), Munich Philharmonic (Pergolesi Salve Regina with Abbado and Lily Boulanger Clarières dans le Ciel with Viotti), Bayersicher Rundfunk (Mahler 8 with Sir Colin Davis), Oslo Philharmonic (Mahler 4° with Sinopoli, opera recital with Jansons), Bergen Philharmonic (Mahler 4° , Berg Sieben Furhe Lieder, De Falla Atlantide, Brahms Requiem with Ceccato), New York Philharmonic (Debussy Le Martyr de Saint Sebastien with Masur), Chicago Symphony (Haydn Creation with Solti), San Francisco Symphony (Brahms Requiem with Blomstedt), Boston Symphony (L’Enfant et les Sortilèges with Ozawa), Orchestre de Paris (Mahler 2° and Beethoven 9° with Bychkow).
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".
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.