Background
Flagstad was born in Oslo and was one of Norway"s leading singers in her time. She was the sister of the world-renowned singer Kirsten Flagstad, and the daughter of the conductor Michael Flagstad and the pianist Maja Flagstad.
Flagstad was born in Oslo and was one of Norway"s leading singers in her time. She was the sister of the world-renowned singer Kirsten Flagstad, and the daughter of the conductor Michael Flagstad and the pianist Maja Flagstad.
She played minor roles as part of her family"s engagement with the short-lived Opera Comique (1918–1921), and had her serious stage debut (1926) as Hannah in Eduard Künneke"s The Cousin from Nowhere. Another of her early roles was in Emmerich Kálmán"s Die Bajadere. Her first major roles were as Amor in Christoph Willibald Gluck"s Orfeo ed Euridice (Central Theater, 1933) and Giuiletta in Jacques Offenbach"s The Tales of Hoffmann (National Theatre, 1938) under the direction of Olav Kielland.
Flagstad traveled abroad and sang on American radio.
On the German stage, she played Salome in Richard Strauss"s opera of the same name, and Ariadne in his Ariadne auf Naxos. She repeated the role in in Rome (1952) and then in Bordeaux together with Beate Asserson (1954).
She performed again at Louisiana Scala in 1953 as Wellgunde in Götterdämmerung. She died in Oslo.
Richard Wagner"s Die Walküre (1950).
Live from Louisiana Scala. Directed by Wilhelm Furtwängler.
Richard Wagner"s Die Walküre (1955). From the Paris Opera. Richard Wagner"s Götterdämmerung (Decca, 1956).
With Norwegian artists and director Øivin Fjeldstad.