The Norwegian soprano, Kari Lövaas, began at 16 piano and singing studies at the Conservatory of Oslo. She was promoted in her career by the famous soprano Kirsten Flagstad, and made her debut in 1959 at the Opera of Oslo as Nuri in Tiefland by Eugen d'Albert. Following that she was very successful there as Pamina, and then received a scholarship from the Norwegian state for two years to study at the Wiener Musikakademie.
In 1964 Kari Lövaas was engaged at the Opernhaus of Dortmund; in 1965-1966 she sang at the Stadttheater of Mainz. She had an international concert and guest performance career. In 1969 she sang at the Salzburg Festival Marianne Leitmetzerin in Der Rosenkavalier; in 1970 Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro; on August 20, 1973 in the world premiere of Carl Orff's De temporum fine comoedia. In 1973, she sang at the Münchner Festwochen the soprano solo in Petite Messe solennelle by Rossini. In 1973, she embarked on an extensive Australian tour. She has performed in concerts in New York and Washington and at the Lucerne Festival. In 1976 she toured Japan and performed in the same year at the Staatsoper Berlin. In 1973 she sang her first Wagner role at the Opernhaus of Zürich Sieglinde in Die Walküre. On stage, she had her greatest successes in the lyrical vocal category; in the concert hall in a variety of parts, primarily as a Lieder interpreter. After her marriage to Manfred Gerber, she also appeared under the name Lövaas-Gerber.
Recordings: DGG (De temporum fine comoedia, Lieder), Berlin Classics (War Requiem Benjamin Britten), HMV-Electrola (Orpheus in der Unterwelt by Offenbach, Boccaccio by Suppe, Die Opernprobe by Lortzing, Der Rose Pilgerfahrt by R. Schumann), Phillips (La fedeltà premiata and La vera costanza by J. Haydn, Betulia liberata by Mozart), Obligat (C minor Mass by Mozart), Orfeo (Peer Gynt by W.Egk, Die Feen by Richard Wagner). |