|
The Norwegian / Danish pianist and baritone singer Odd Johan Wolstad [Wollstad], already started singing as a boy in the church at home in Ålesund. He came to Denmark in the late 1940's as a tenor singer and had an early career as a pianist, opera singer and performance in the cabaret "Mon Coeur". Among his popular recordings were "Kari venter mig derhjemme" (Kari Waiting for Me at Home).
Odd Wolstad made his debut at Jutland Opera in 1957 as the Commendatore in W.A. Mozart's Don Giovanni and sang the same place the year after the role of Hermit in C.M.v. Weber's Der Freischütz. He became associated with the Royal Theater in 1961, where he made his debut in 1962 as Monterone in Rigoletto, and is remembered as one of the opera's finest bass singers. He was, for example, Don Fernando (King's minister) in L.v. Beethoven's Fidelio, Sarastro in W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Samuel in C. Nielsen's Saul og David, Colline in G. Puccini's La Boheme, The King of Egypt in Aida, Hermann (Landgrave of Thuringia) in R. Wagner's Tannhaüser and Varlaam (a vagabond) in M. Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov where he and Poul Bundgaard made precious figures together. His repertoire included also King Marke, Escamillo in Georges Bizet's Carmen, King Philip, Amonasro and Boris.
His fiequent radio appearances included Mefisto in Charles Gounod's Faust in 1962 and Wotan and Hagen in Der Ring des Nibelungen in 1963-1964 (or 1961-1963), and on television he played Ramiro (a muleteer) in M. Ravel's L'heure espagnole in 1960 and the Great Inquisitor in Don Carlos in 1963. In the fall In 1970 he was Monterone in the Jutland opera's Rigoletto and only a week before his death he sang in Salome at the King's Nytorv. He also made numerous oratorio perfomances, including J.S. Bach's Passions, Verdi's Requiem etc. |
