Lena Nordin, soprano
About Jenufa. premiere at the Royal Opera of Stockholm the 18th of March 2017;
Svenska Dagbladet, 20 March, 2017:
”Lena Nordin is magnificent in the role as Kostelnicka, portraying a suffering and komplex woman.”
Dagens Nyheter, 20 March, 2017:
”Malin Byström and Lena Nordin is a stunning and touching new cast. Byström is the frail beauty in this village and Nordin is the religious authority of the parish – but not as the usual austere and masculine personality we usually see on stage, but a woman full of empathy who cares for her step-dauhgter in a genuine though misapplied way. With those two sopranos, vocally at their very best, the two tenors seems more like subordinate characters.”
Expressen, 19 March, 2017:
”This is Lena Nordin’s evening as much as Malin Byström’s. You could actually see this performance only for her sake. Lena Nordin’s Kostelnicka is exceptional in the big scene where she convinces herself to commit the unthinkable; killing Jenufa’s child. With simplicity and without big gestures her voice and acting seem to impersonate the whole opera’s deepest meaning.”
Aftonbladet, 20 March, 2017:
”Lena Nordin’s Kostelnicka, the step-mother, gives us a taut and solid performance.”
Swedish Television/Kulturnyheterna, 20 March, 2017:
”Lena Nordin sang furiously! This child murderess is almost the greatest star of the evening.”
Seen and Heard International: 24 March, 2017:
”Malin Byström was not alone in vocal excellence. Lena Nordin, a pillar of strength since the late 1980s, retired a few years ago, but was now back as a guest, giving us a Callas-like Kostelnicka.”
Swedish Radio/Kulturnytt: 18 March, 2017:
”Lena Nordin is a distinguished actress in the role of the step-mother…”
Bachtrack.com: 20 March, 2017:
”Her stepmother, the Kostelnicka, was Lena Nordin, an experienced dramatic coloratura soprano who has recently, in her maturity, added heavier roles to her repertoire. Her soprano is still centred towards the high register, so her high notes were full and unforced, but her voice lacked a bit of strenght in the middle register, where one hoped to hear a more metallic and deep sound. Maybe it is a matter of expectations: Kostelnicka is usually assocoated with a Slavic timbre, while Nordin’s voice has a more classical colour. Her interpretation of the severe moral authority figure, when she decides to kill the baby, was fantastic. Her madness scene was extremely effective. Kostenicka believes in heaven and hell; she knows that murder means losing the grace of God, giving up any hope of eternal life. But her pride and the love of her dauhter are stronger. Her final scene, in which she confesses her crime, was strongly reminiscent of Norma’s finale; her demeanour and accent was very much ”Norma non mente”.”
New York Times, April 2012
Lohengrin:…”the soprano Lena Nordin contributes an intelligent portrayal of the opera’s villain and is credible in Ortrud’s outburst ” Entweihte Götter!”
Södermanlands Nyheter, April 2012
”Not surprisingly is the evil the most interesting, and Lena Nordin and Johan Edholm spread welding sparks with their singing….”
Seen and Heard International, April 2012
”…the principals had to rely more on themselves and their experience than on an overriding concept… The best in this respect was Lena Nordin, a singer with strong integrity and charisma, and she certainly seemed in her element as Ortrud, he Wagnerian equivalent of Verdi’s Lady Macbeth. Her sneer and and her stature revealed all the despotism, all the vindictiveness inherent in this power-seeking individual.”
Dagens Nyheter, April 2012
”Lena Nordin dominates her husband with sex and chosen information, and she sounds most dangerous when she pretends to be tame.”
Svenska Dagbladet, April, 2012
”Lena Nordin throws herself death-defying into Ortrud’s venomous lines – wonderfully wicked…”
Opera, October 2011
Stiffelio:”The strongest features of the Stockholm Royal Opera’s new production were undoubtedly the presence of Lena Nordin as Lina and Lars Cleveman as Stiffelio… Nordin… with her excellent technique and distinctive voice, redolent of Maria Callas in its timbre as well in moments of apparent, almost inviting fragility, she certainly equals the talents of her more famous compatriots, delivering a wonderfully intens performance here. The shattered poise she braught to her Act 2 appeal to her dead mother was extremely moving, asher ability to add to the part’s complexity by not playing the foolish young wife but the mature mother whose choices have been weighed and considered. Nordin’s intelligencen and intensity….”
Opernglas, June 2011
”Lena Nordin sang sie (Lina in Stiffelio) kraftvoll, den prunkvollen Saal der königlichen Oper mühelos ausfüllend. Sie verfügt über eine klare Intonation und in alle Lagen ansprechende Stimme…”
Operanow, 2011
”Stealing the show was Lena Nordin as Lina… her voice retains an expansive quality, and she spins out some fine International Opera, 2011examples of true Verdian singing.”
International Opera, 2011
”In Lena Nordin he has a worthy partner, s intense as Lars Cleveman, but also vulnerable and subservient. In both looks and timbre she has much of Callas – and I can’t praise a soprano higher than that. Her aria in Act 1, sung with restrained glow, is masterly.”
Musicweb.international, May 2010
Macbeth:”…matched by Lena Nordin on top form. She has been for many years one of the formost dramatic actresses in Stockholm. Her Norma and Tosca in recent years have been all-embracing in a Callas-like mould. She has both the looks and the voice of her great predecessor, though vocally she is much more reliable than Callas ever was.”
Opera UK
Norma:”…the Nordin Norma outstripped all possible expectation. She grew from a well-moulded but slightly cautious, hollow-toned ”Casta Diva” – is there a more difficult entrance in all opera? – to potency and eloquence of expression; she not only sustained the great role but expanded in it, explored its substance, in a way betokened a genuine match of means and matter. The voice, not huge and not perhaps naturally beautiful in timbre, is capable of exquisite colour-shadings, wide dynamic variation over the roll’s full range, fine-spun messa di voce. It is allways well protected: its owner here proved that, pace Bonynge, in Norma vocal size matters less than vocal focus, in particular the melding of clear words and clearly-sounded notes into a dramatically-focused and – directed long line… Miss Nordin seems to have absorbed the most important of Callas’ lessons: that is line, line , and line. The supreme Callas-moments”…were here so nobly, simply, and above all firmly drawn, with so fresh and truthful a feeling for the emotional weight of every syllable, that the rarest of musico-dramatic tightrope were achieved, ’the proper balance between bel-canto and dramatic tension’….