Frode Olsen Bass
One of the most distinguished basses Europe has produced, Frode Olsen’s most recent and future engagements include the role of OTTO KOTTWITZ in Der Prinz von Homburg for Theater an der Wien, and ASTRADAMORS Le Grand Macabre for English National Opera and Théâtre La Monnaie, role that he will also sing for Adelaide Festival in 2010 and for Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona in 2011.
One of the most distinguished basses Europe has produced, Frode Olsen’s most recent and future engagements include the role of OTTO KOTTWITZ in Der Prinz von Homburg for Theater an der Wien, and ASTRADAMORS Le Grand Macabre for English National Opera and Théâtre La Monnaie, role that he will also sing for Adelaide Festival in 2010 and for Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona in 2011.
Frode Olsen was born in Oslo, Norway, where he studied at the National Opera Conservatory. He joined the Opera Studio of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Düsseldorf, where he sang MASETTO in Don Giovanni, DON ALFONSO in Così fan tutte and COLLINE in La Bohème. Until 1992 he was a member of the Badisches Staatstheater, Karlsruhe where his roles included SARASTRO, PIMEN, GREMIN, ZACCARIA, POGNER, MARKE, LANDGRAF, OREST, BASILIO and TIMUR. Guest engagements took him to Dresden, Leipzig, Strasbourg, Dortmund, Bern, the Wiener Volksoper, Oslo and to La Monnaie Brussels, where in the autumn of 1991 he sang the role of FASOLT in the new production of the Ring. He made his debut at the Salzburger Festspiele as ERSTE SOLDAT in Luc Bondy's production of Salome, which later transferred to La Monnaie, Brussels where he returned to sing SARASTRO in a new production of Die Zauberflöte.
Highlights of his career include POGNER in Dresden, KING LUDWIG in a new production of Euryanthe at Aix-en Provence, DOKTOR in new productions of Wozzeck in Frankfurt and Bologna, ABIMILECH in Oslo, IL COMMENDATORE at the Lyon Opera and ELMIRO in Rossini's Otello in Brussels. He made his debut at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera as GREMIN and returned there as TRUELOVE The Rake's Progress and as VALENS in Peter Sellars’ new production of Theodora in 1996. Other roles have included GURNEMANZ (Opera de Normandie), MELCHTAL Guillaume Tell at the Rossini Opera Festival, Pesaro, PROCIDA in Vespri Siciliani in Olso, LANDGRAF Tannhäuser in Leipzig, KÖNIG MARKE in new productions of Tristan und Isolde in Bruxelles and Leipzig, SELIM in Il Turco in Italia in Nantes and his debut at the New Israeli Opera in a new production of Der Freischütz. He appeared as CLAGGART in Billy Budd at the Vlaamse Opera, Antwerp, at the Salzburg Festival in Wozzeck and in Le Grande Macabre, the latter revived at the Châtelet.
He sang GURNEMANZ at La Monnaie and in Mahler's 8th at La Fenice in Venice, the DOKTOR in Hamburg (also on CD) and Messiaen's SAINT FRANÇOIS D'ASSISE in Leipzig and KING MARKE at the Washington Opera and the Opera du Rhin, Strasbourg. He performed the part of the GENERAL Cronaca del Luogo a new opera by Berio for the Salzburg Festival and made a successful role debut as WANDERER Siegfried at the Oper der Stadt Bonn.
He performed ORESTE in Elektra, DIKOY in Katia and PIMEN Boris Godunov at the Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam, WOTAN Die Walküre for the Oper Bonn and the Staatstheater Stuttgart, KING MARKE Tristan und Isolde at De Vlaamse Opera and Opéra National du Rhin, Strasbourg, where he sang his first HOLLÄNDER in Der fliegende Holländer.
Frode Olsen is also a distinguished concert artist with notable successes in the Verdi Requiem, Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle and Stabat Mater, Dvorak's Stabat Mater, Händel's Messias, Haydn's Schöpfung and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis. He has worked under the direction of Claudio Abbado, Sylvain Cambreling, Andrew Davies, Jiri Kout, Kent Nagano, Antonio Pappano, Esa-Peka Salonen, Isaac Karabtechevsky and Jeffrey Tate. Mr. Olsen can be heard on CD recordings of Salome (Decca) conductor Christoph von Dohnanyi, Le Grand Macabre (Sony) and on video as VALENS in the Glyndebourne production of Theodora by Peter Sellars.
Mr Olsen has performed WOTAN Der Ring des Nibelungen in concert in Ireland and the UK, the title role of Saint Francois d’Assise at the Deutsche Oper Berlin where he has also performed CREON in Medee and Der fliegende Holländer at the Oper der Stadt Bonn. He returned for three more projects at the Netherlands Opera; Euryanthe, Die Soldaten and Les Troyens. He made his debut at the Opera de Lyon as ARKEL Pelleas et Melisande and returned to the Den Norske Opera to sing the title role in Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer. Other appearances include FASOLT at the Netherlands Opera, DOKTOR Wozzeck and MOSES in Schoenberg's Moses und Aron for Hamburgische Staatsoper, and HANS SACHS Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at Den Norske Opera. He made his debut as ROCCO Fidelio at both Opera de Marseille and Den Norske Opera where he returned for the main role in the world premiere of Den fjerde Nattevakt. He also sang the role of WESENER Die Soldaten for the Ruhrtriennale and PENEIOS in Strauss’ Daphne for Netherlands Opera.
In seasons 2010 and 2010 Frode Olsen will be at Den Norske Opera as RAMFIS Aida, at DNO as WESENER Die Soldaten and at La Monnaie for Matsukaze.
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