Frode Olsen, bass

Frode Olsen was born in Oslo, Norway where he studied at National Opera Conservatory. He then joined the operastudio at Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf. He became a regular member of the company and sang parts like Masetto, Colline and Don Alfonso in 'Cosi fan tutte'.

Between 1986 and 1992 he was engaged at Badisches Staatstheater in Karlsruhe where his roles included Sarastro, Pimen, Gremin, Zaccaria, Pogner, Marke, Landgraf, Orest, Basilio and Timur. Guesting engagements took him to Dresden, Leipzig, Strasbourg, Dortmund, Bern, Wiener Volksoper, Oslo and La Monnaie in Brussels where he  sang the role of Fasolt in a new production of the Ring in 1991. In August 1992 he made his debut at Salzburger Festival as 1^st Soldat in 'Salome' which later transferred to La Monnaie. He returned to Brussels in 1992 as Sarastro and to Salzburg in 1993 for 'Salome' and a concert performance of Ulisse by Dallapiccola.

In past seasons he has established himself as one of the most distinguished basses in Europe with invitations as Pogner in Dresden, König Ludwig in 'Euryanthe' in Aix-en-Provence, Doktor in 'Wozzeck' in Frankfurt and Bologna, Abimelech in Oslo, Commendatore in Lyon and Elviro in Rossinis 'Otello' in Brussels.

He made his debut  in Glyndebourne as Gremin and returned there as Truelove  and as Valens in Peter Sellars new production of Händels 'Theodora' in 1996. Other roles have included Hunding (Karlsruhe), Gurnemanz (Opera de Normandie), Melchtal in 'Guillaume Tell' in Pesaro, Procida in 'Vespri Siciliani' in Oslo, Landgraf in 'Tannhäuser' in Leipzig, König Marke in Brussels and Leipzig, Selim in Turco in Italia in Nantes and his debut at the New Israeli Opera in a new production of 'Freischütz'. He appeared as Claggart in 'Billy Budd' in Antwerp, and at Salzburger Festival in 'Wozzeck' and 'Le grand Macabre', the latter revived at Châtelet in Paris. He sang Gurnemanz in Brussels, 'Mahlers 8^th.' at La Fenice in Venice,  Doktor in Hamburg (also on CD), the title role in 'St. Francois d'Assise' in Leipzig and Marke in Washington and Strasbourg.

Recent engagements include the part of Wesener at Ruhr-Triennale in Bochum, Peneios in 'Daphne' in Amsterdam, Walküre-Wotan in Freiburg, Philippe in Oslo and Vodnik in 'Rusalka' in Brussels (with a revival in 2010/11). New engagements include Astradmors/Grand Macabre in Brussels, with Adelaide Festival in Australia, in Barcelona and with ENO London, Rocco/Fidelio in Garsington, Ramphis in Oslo, Marke/Tristan in Genova, a world premiere (Matsukatse) with La Monnaie in Brüssel  and Kottwitz/Prinz von Homburg at Theater an der Wien.

Frode Olsen can be heard on CD-recordings of 'Salome' (Decca), with Dohnanyi, 'Le  grand Macabre' with Salonen (Sony), as Doktor in 'Wozzeck' (EMI) with Metzmacher and on DVD as Valens in 'Theodora' and Gremin in 'Onegin' from Glyndebourne.

He has worked with conductors like Claudio Abbado, Sylvain Cambreling, Antonio Pappano, Esa Pekka Salonen, Andrew Davies, Jiri Kout and Kent Nagano and stage directors like Willy Decker, Stefan Herheim, Peter Konwitschny, Herbert Wernicke, Peter Mussbach, Peter Sellars, Luc Bondy, Graham Vick and David Pountney.  

- kr 08/10 -