A COMMEMORATIVE EXHIBITION

BIRGIT NILSSON 1918–2005

The closest Birgit Nilsson came to dance was probably when she performed the Dance of the seven veils in Salome. But as the Dansmuseet in Stockholm is a museum for the performing arts, for visual art and photography, it is very fitting that we this summer are presenting an exhibition dedicated to this one of Sweden's greatest artists who passed away on December 25 2005.

Her glorious career, from the debut at the Stockholm Opera as Agathe in Der Freischütz in 1946 and her breakthrough as Lady Macbeth in 1947, is a true Cinderella story. It started as a farmer's daughter in the south of Sweden and took her, through a combination of remarkable talent, extraordinary physical conditions and hard labour, out in the international opera world which she galvanized with her golden voice made of Nordic steel.

She did her first foreign appearances already in 1951 in Berlin and in Glyndebourne, five years after her debut. In 1953 she appeared at the Bayreuth festival for the first time – in Beethoven's Ninth – and from 1954 until 1970 she took centre stage at the Wagner shrine. In 1954 she sang for the first time at the Vienna Staatsoper and for more than twenty years she remained one of the most cherished singers of the Viennese. She made her US debut in 1956, in Chicago and San Francisco, but her thunderous international breakthrough came with her Met debut as Isolde in 1959.

She sang a total of 30 roles, and 26 of them she performed for the first time in Stockholm, her last role being the Dyer's Wife in Strauss' Die Frau ohne Schatten in 1975. She continued to sing well after retirement age and then took up her 31^st part, that as a teacher. She gave appreciated master classes around the world.

Costumes from some of her major parts – Isolde, Brünnhilde, Tosca, Turandot – will have an important place in this exhibition as well as photos, audiovisual excerpts and other memorabilia. Several of the opera houses where she performed, have generously contributed to the exhibition in Birgit Nilsson's memory.

The exhibition is guided daily at 1 pm (Swedish speaking guide).

Admission SEK 40

Pictures from the exhibition
Click pictures for enlargement. Photo: Nils-Albert Eriksson.