
Nina Stemme says farewell to Isolde after 126 performances
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Nina Stemme tilted back her head after the final notes of her 126th and last Isolde performance, and her eyes filled with tears.
She was hugged by tenor Stuart Skelton and mezzo-soprano Karen Cargill as the audience in Marian Anderson Hall stood and applauded Sunday evening.
A few days earlier, Stemme thought back to April 2000, when Glyndebourne Festival general director Nicholas Snowman and opera director Nikolaus Lehnhoff walked into her dressing room in Antwerp, Belgium, asking her to sing in the English company's first-ever performance of Wagner's 'Tristan und Isolde.'
'I really did think they were joking,' she recalled. 'My colleague, Christopher Ventris, said, 'No. No. They're not joking. You have to be careful.''
Stemme went home to Sweden, considered the offer with vocal coach Richard Trimborn and made her Isolde debut on May 19, 2003, at the Glyndebourne Festival with Robert Gambill as Tristan and Jiří Bělohlávek conducting. She chose to sing her final two Isoldes 22 years later with the Philadelphia Orchestra and music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who conducted the opera for the first time on June 1 and coaxed a luminous rendition from a premier orchestra at its peak.
'I'm 62 now. I gave it to my 60s to sing these big roles and now I've dropped Elektra and Brünnhilde, and Isolde is the last daughter on stage that I'm singing,' Stemme said. 'I decided this years ago. This is how it works and every year that I was able to sing Isolde feels like a bonus and a privilege.'
Connection to Birgit Nilsson
Stemme was friends with Birgit Nilsson, one of the greatest Isoldes and Brünnhildes, who died in 2005 at age 87.
'I was on the verge to go down to her in south Sweden to study Isolde but of course me as a young singer with little kids at home, I never felt ready,' Stemme said. 'At that time when we got to know each other, I was singing mostly a lyric repertoire.'
Skelton sang with Stemme in Wagner's 'Der Fliegende Holländer' at the Vienna State Opera in 2004 and his Tristan was paired with Stemme's Isolde in New York, Munich and Naples, Italy.
'It's as radiant now as it was when I first heard her sing it in Glyndebourne way back in the day,' he said. 'No one knew really who Nina Stemme was to a certain extent. Certainly I don't think anyone was ready for what she brought to Isolde even then.'
A conductor learning from the singer
Nézet-Séguin first worked with Stemme in a performance of Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in 2007, didn't collaborate again until performances of Strauss' 'Die Frau ohne Schatten' at the Met last fall.
'The breadth of her experience with the role is just guiding all of us, me, but also the orchestra, who is playing it for the first time in understanding the flow of the piece, understanding their shades and the colors, and that is invaluable,' Nézet-Séguin said of Stemme's Isolde. 'It was wonderful for me to benefit from it.'
Singers were on a platform above and behind the orchestra, with LED lights below setting a mood: red in the first act, dark blue in the second and light blue in the third.
Stemme wore a dark gown in the first and third acts and a shimmering silver dress in the second, while Skelton, baritone Brian Mulligan (Kurwenal), bass Tareq Nazmi (King Marke) and tenor Freddie Ballentine (Melot) were largely in black, and Cargill (Brangäne) in a lighter-colored costume. Showing sets and complicated directions weren't necessary, she conveyed Isolde's emptions with her eyes, smiles and nods. During the great second-act love duet, Stemme and Skelton clinked water canisters.
'Twenty-two years ago I could act the young princess that was in love or hated her love for Tristan,' she said. 'I have other colors to my voice now and I'm older so of course this interpretation will change. I feel more at home in the middle range and with age, of course, the top notes are not as gleaming as they used to be, but I can make up for that in other ways hopefully — on a good day.'
Stemme's future schedule includes less-taxing roles, such as Klytämnestra in Strauss' 'Elektra' and Waltraute in Wagner's 'Götterdämmerung.' She leaves behind an outstanding recording of her Isolde, made from November 2004 through January 2005 at London's Abbey Road Studios with tenor Plácido Domingo and conductor Antonio Pappano.
Lise Davidsen makes her Isolde debut next year
Anticipation is building for the next great Isolde. Lise Davidsen is scheduled to make her role debut on Jan. 12 at Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu and then open a new production at New York's Metropolitan Opera on March 9 with Nézet-Séguin.
'She said how happy she is to in a way symbolically pass this role, pass it on to her, in a way through me,' Nézet-Séguin said of Stemme. 'That is almost like a torch that has been carried.'
After all those Isoldes, Stemme feels more a Puccini heroine than a Wagnerian star.
'At heart,' she said, 'I'm still Madama Butterfly or Mimì.'
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Toronto Sun
an hour ago
- Toronto Sun
Judge dismisses Justin Baldoni's $400M lawsuit against 'It Ends With Us' co-star Blake Lively
Published Jun 09, 2025 • 2 minute read Blake Lively appears at the SNL50: The Anniversary Special at Rockefeller Plaza in New York on Feb. 16, 2025, left, and Justin Baldoni appears at a special screening of "The Boys in the Boat" in New York on Dec. 13, 2023. Photo by Evan Agostini / AP A judge on Monday dismissed the lawsuit filed by actor and director Justin Baldoni against his 'It Ends With Us' co-star Blake Lively after she sued him for sexual harassment and retaliation. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Liman's decision is the latest development in the bitter legal battle surrounding the dark romantic drama that includes Lively suing Baldoni in late December. Baldoni and production company Wayfarer Studios countersued in January for $400 million, accusing Lively and her husband, 'Deadpool' actor Ryan Reynolds, of defamation and extortion. The judge ruled that Baldoni can't sue Lively for defamation over claims she made in her lawsuit, because allegations made in a lawsuit are exempt from libel claims. Liman also ruled that Baldoni's claims that Lively stole creative control of the film didn't count as extortion under California law. While Lively was accused in the lawsuit of threatening to refuse to promote the film, Wayfarer does 'not allege facts showing that Lively had an obligation to promote the film or to approve marketing materials,' Liman wrote. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Baldoni's legal team can revise the lawsuit if they want to pursue different claims related to whether Lively breached a contract, the judge said. 'It Ends With Us,' an adaptation of Colleen Hoover's bestselling 2016 novel that begins as a romance but takes a dark turn into domestic violence, was released in August, exceeding box office expectations with a $50 million debut. But the movie's release was shrouded by speculation over discord between Lively and Baldoni. The judge also dismissed Baldoni's defamation lawsuit against The New York Times, which had reported on Lively's sexual harassment allegations. 'Today's opinion is a total victory and a complete vindication for Blake Lively, along with those that Justin Baldoni and the Wayfarer Parties dragged into their retaliatory lawsuit, including Ryan Reynolds, (publicist) Leslie Sloane and The New York Times,' Lively's attorneys, Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb, said in a prepared statement. The lawyers said they 'look forward to the next round' of seeking attorneys' fees, treble damages and punitive damages. The Associated Press sent emails seeking comment to Baldoni's attorneys. Lively appeared in the 2005 film 'The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants' and the TV series 'Gossip Girl' from 2007 to 2012 before starring in films including 'The Town' and 'The Shallows.' Baldoni starred in the TV comedy 'Jane the Virgin,' directed the 2019 film 'Five Feet Apart' and wrote 'Man Enough,' a book challenging traditional notions of masculinity. Toronto Blue Jays Olympics World Celebrity Olympics


Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Sly Stone, leader of funk revolutionaries Sly and the Family Stone, dies at 82
NEW YORK (AP) — Sly Stone, the revolutionary musician and dynamic showman whose Sly and the Family Stone transformed popular music in the 1960s and '70s and beyond with such hits as 'Everyday People,' 'Stand!' and 'Family Affair,' has died. He was 82 Stone, born Sylvester Stewart, had been in poor health in recent years. His publicist Carleen Donovan said Monday that Stone died surrounded by family after contending with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other ailments. Formed in 1966-67, Sly and the Family Stone was the first major group to include Black and white men and women, and well embodied a time when anything seemed possible — riots and assassinations, communes and love-ins. The singers screeched, chanted, crooned and hollered. The music was a blowout of frantic horns, rapid-fire guitar and locomotive rhythms, a melting pot of jazz, psychedelic rock, doo-wop, soul and the early grooves of funk. Sly's time on top was brief, roughly from 1968-1971, but profound. No band better captured the gravity-defying euphoria of the Woodstock era or more bravely addressed the crash which followed. From early songs as rousing as their titles — 'I Want To Take You Higher,' 'Stand!' — to the sober aftermath of 'Family Affair' and 'Runnin' Away,' Sly and the Family Stone spoke for a generation whether or not it liked what they had to say. Stone's group began as a Bay Area sextet featuring Sly on keyboards, Larry Graham on bass; Sly's brother, Freddie, on guitar; sister Rose on vocals; Cynthia Robinson and Jerry Martini horns and Greg Errico on drums. They debuted with the album 'A Whole New Thing' and earned the title with their breakthrough single, 'Dance to the Music.' It hit the top 10 in April 1968, the week the Rev. Martin Luther King was murdered, and helped launch an era when the polish of Motown and the understatement of Stax suddenly seemed of another time. Led by Sly Stone, with his leather jumpsuits and goggle shades, mile-wide grin and mile-high Afro, the band dazzled in 1969 at the Woodstock festival and set a new pace on the radio. 'Everyday People,' 'I Wanna Take You Higher' and other songs were anthems of community, non-conformity and a brash and hopeful spirit, built around such catchphrases as 'different strokes for different folks.' The group released five top 10 singles, three of them hitting No. 1, and three million-selling albums: 'Stand!', 'There's a Riot Goin' On' and 'Greatest Hits.' Weekly A weekly look at what's happening in Winnipeg's arts and entertainment scene. For a time, countless performers wanted to look and sound like Sly and the Family Stone. The Jackson Five's breakthrough hit, 'I Want You Back' and the Temptations' 'I Can't Get Next to You' were among the many songs from the late 1960s that mimicked Sly's vocal and instrumental arrangements. Miles Davis' landmark blend of jazz, rock and funk, 'Bitches Brew,' was inspired in part by Sly, while fellow jazz artist Herbie Hancock even named a song after him. 'He had a way of talking, moving from playful to earnest at will. He had a look, belts, and hats and jewelry,' Questlove wrote in the foreword to Stone's memoir, 'Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin),' named for one of his biggest hits and published through Questlove's imprint in 2023. 'He was a special case, cooler than everything around him by a factor of infinity.' In 2025, Questlove released the documentary 'Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius).' Sly's influence has endured for decades. The top funk artist of the 1970s, Parliament-Funkadelic creator George Clinton, was a Stone disciple. Prince, Rick James and the Black-Eyed Peas were among the many performers from the 1980s and after influenced by Sly, and countless rap and hip-hop artists have sampled his riffs, from the Beastie Boys to Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. A 2005 tribute record included Maroon 5, John Legend and the Roots. 'Sly did so many things so well that he turned my head all the way around,' Clinton once wrote. 'He could create polished R&B that sounded like it came from an act that had gigged at clubs for years, and then in the next breath he could be as psychedelic as the heaviest rock band.'


Winnipeg Free Press
2 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Tony Awards highlights: Radio City becomes the room where it happens for a ‘Hamilton' reunion
NEW YORK (AP) — Even the ushers at Radio City Music Hall seemed thrilled to be in the room where it happened. A few of them could be seen grooving, like everyone else at Sunday's Tony Awards, to the 'Hamilton' reunion performance — a medley of some of that blockbuster musical's biggest songs, performed by the original cast. The occasion was the 10th Broadway anniversary of Lin-Manuel Miranda's juggernaut that spawned multiple touring companies, a West End production and a live-capture film — and is still going strong. But while the theater was buzzing to songs like 'My Shot,' 'The Schuyler Sisters,' 'History Has Its Eyes on You' and 'The Room Where It Happens,' some people were unfortunately NOT in the room where, er, it was happening. They were the ones who'd taken a trip to the bar or a stroll around the lobby, and were then held from entering until the next commercial break — missing perhaps the night's most anticipated highlight. They also missed the entire audience singing along with Jonathan Groff, aka King George, 'Da-da-da, dat-da, dat, da-da-da, da-ya-da, Da-da, dat, dat, da-ya-da.' Note for next year: Exit at your own peril! Some other notable moments from Tony night: Cole Escola plans a call to Mom, thanks a Grindr date Most award winners thank Mom, their agents, their co-stars and their spouses. Cole Escola, one of the major stars of this Tony night, promised Mom a call, but also decided to thank 'Teebo from Grindr' — the dating app — when accepting the award for lead actor in a play. Escola is star and writer of the riotous 'Oh, Mary!' — a reimagining of the life of Mary Todd Lincoln (and her beleaguered husband, Abe) that addresses the question: What if the Lincoln assassination wasn't such a bad thing for Mary? (Mary wants to be a cabaret star, you see.) The show is seeing audiences collapse in laughter for 80 minutes every night on Broadway. Escola, a downtown cabaret star, beat out high-wattage competitors like George Clooney and Daniel Dae Kim for the acting award. They mentioned their co-nominees in their speech, saying they had enjoyed sharing 'warm salads' at pre-awards lunches. Escola is the first nonbinary actor to win a Tony in the category. And this guy's still single When 'Maybe Happy Ending' writers Hue Park and Will Aronson accepted the award for best book of a musical, the first handed out, Park felt it necessary to point out that they weren't an actual couple. 'I am very much single,' he clarified, for anyone wondering. Then later, when the duo won for best score, Park deemed a reminder necessary: 'By the way, I'm still single.' And then at the end of the night, 'Maybe Happy Ending,' the charming and quirky romance between decommissioned robots in a futuristic Korea, won the big prize: best musical. Park did not get the mic. But producer Jeffrey Richards did, and he reminded the crowd: 'Hue is still single.' Broadway as home, sweet home Cynthia Erivo, the 'Wicked' star and powerhouse vocalist hosting the evening, said it first: 'As they apparently say in a very fertile piece of intellectual property,' she said with a wink, 'there's no place like home. And Broadway has always been mine.' It's a familiar theme on Tony night: the theater community as a welcoming haven for those who may feel different or unseen. It was echoed by Harvey Fierstein, winner of a lifetime achievement award, describing how he joined the theater after being welcomed by a company in Brooklyn. And it was expressed very emotionally by Nicole Scherzinger, winning best actress in a musical for 'Sunset Blvd.' 'Growing up, I always felt like I didn't belong,' said Scherzinger, former lead singer of the pop group Pussycat Dolls who plays Norma Desmond in the minimalist version of the Andrew Lloyd Webber show. 'But you all have made me feel like I belong, and I have come home at last.' Those last words echo the lyrics of one of Desmond's big numbers, 'As If We Never Said Goodbye.' 'So if there's anyone out there who feels like they don't belong, or your time hasn't come, don't give up,' Scherzinger continued. 'Just keep on giving and giving because the world needs your love and your light now more than ever.' You really COULD have heard a pin drop There's always lots of chatter going on during an awards show. But the way the crowd quieted down during Audra McDonald's powerful, agonized performance of 'Rose's Turn' from 'Gypsy' was striking. In the song's quiet moments, you heard utter silence in the vast room. McDonald, the Tonys' most awarded actor, is clearly revered by the theater community, who cheered her with standing ovations. But the award she was up for went to Scherzinger. 'Succession,' succeeding again It's been two years since HBO's 'Succession' ended, but its stars keep turning up at awards shows — and often winning. Jeremy Strong won a Tony last year and was nominated for an Oscar this year. Kieran Culkin won an Oscar this year and is appearing on Broadway this season, though he wasn't nominated. And now it was the turn of Sarah Snook — Emmy and Golden Globe winner — to win a Tony. Snook, who played mercurial sibling Shiv Roy in the series, took the Tony for best actress in a play for 'The Picture of Dorian Gray,' in which she plays all 26 roles. Remembering a friend Tony winner and musical theater regular Gavin Creel, who died last year of cancer, was a friend to many in the theater community, and was remembered more than once on Tony evening. During the early pre-show, actor Celia Keenan-Bolger was honored with the Isabelle Stevenson award, for her advocacy work in the arts. She spoke movingly of her deep friendship with Creel and their advocacy work together. Later, singer and actor Sara Bareilles performed a soulful duet of 'Tomorrow' from 'Annie,' harmonizing with Erivo, during the memorial segment. That segment ended with a photo of Creel, also a dear friend to Bareilles, who teared up. Both Bareilles and Keenan-Bolger are involved with the Gavin Creel Fellowship, an initiative that plans to provide $25,000 grants to five emerging theater actors each year. And she is telling you she's not going Every Second Friday The latest on food and drink in Winnipeg and beyond from arts writers Ben Sigurdson and Eva Wasney. The final award had been announced by presenter Miranda — best musical to 'Maybe Happy Ending' — and the audience started to disperse. But Erivo had another idea. Riffing on the concept of leaving, she launched into the famous 'Dreamgirls' ballad 'And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going' — with rewritten lyrics. It was a yet another powerhouse performance from someone who has one of the best voices on the planet. The audience stopped dispersing — and started cheering. ___ For more coverage of the 2025 Tony Awards, visit