The coming of age of a singer into an important Dramatic baritone is a transformation to reckon with, and Danish/Norwegian baritone Lars Fosser’s musical and theatrical heritage is a reflection of life with a stage director father, and a singer mother. His artistic upbringing introduced him to a long and loving relationship with Grand Opera, intimate lieder, and even American show tunes.
The baritone’s exuberant performances in such magnificent roles as Verdi’s Rigoletto, Nabucco, Posa in Don Carlos, and Don Carlo in Ernani, as well as Puccini’s Scarpia in Tosca, and Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, shower him with critical acclaim in this repertoire, dubbing him a “magnificent baritone with a weighty and well balanced voice, that will bring anyone who hears him to ecstasy,” — as well as — “the new Danish superbaritone.”
2011 brought him to Austria to perform Orff’s Carmina Burana with Artensemble, in Vienna in May and again in Oslo, Norway, at the Oslo Fortress Festival in August, and saw his first Count Luna in Verdi’s Il Trovatore at the Danish National Opera.
He made his debut at the Royal Danish Opera as the Mandarin in Puccini’s Turandot. He also performed Rigoletto at the Aalborg Opera Festival, in their production at the beginning of the year. He sang with Odense Symphony Orchestra in August at their 10th anniversary of “Opera på Engen,” singing exerps from La Traviata, Carmen and Porgy and Bess.
November saw him in Vilnius, Lithuania to sing at the Kristian Benedikt Gala, at the National Opera and Ballet Theatre. He finishes off the year singing Händel’s Messiah with the Århus Symphony Orchestra.
The new year (2012) brings exiting new challenges, singing the Duke in Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle in Copenhagen under the Direction of Tamas Vetö, concerts with the Norwegian Rikskoncertene, and the World Premiere of Orpheus68 by American composer Paul Schwarz at Operaen i Midten.
The summer of 2010 began a busy schedule with liederabends with the Societa Pro Musica and St. Markus Church in Arhus, Denmark. He appeared as Marquis de Chevreuse in Donizetti’s Maria de Rohan for the Danish Bel Canto Society, and joined the International Operafestival in Fredrikstad, Norway, for a series of Opera Gala Concerts and as Scarpia in Tosca.
He sang Leporello in Don Giovanni with the Steyr Music Festival in Austria, followed by a newly commissioned work by Fredrik Österling, Robert and Clara, the story of the Schumans, with the Helsingborg Symphony in Sweden.
His debut aria recording, The Bad Guy on the Danish CDKLASSISK label – a collection of baritone leading roles from I Pagliacci to Tosca -was hailed by the critical press as operatic “pure song” – proclaiming “What a voice, and what an interpretation! One has to listen when Fosser sings and one can do nothing but to be captivated by it
Recordings
The Bad Guy – Aria CD with an all Italian repertoire consisting solely of villains and antiheroes. – Label ClassicO 2009
Stig Fogh Andersen (tenor) – Wagner Live from Ruse – ClassicO 2009
Elias – Mendelsohn – Kongsberg Kantori & Oslo Symphony Orchestra – 1998 -KKCD 1-98