Nicolai Elsberg

Bass

Biography

Danish bass Nicolai Ellsberg’s rich sonorous voice has been described as having sonic power and his performance as Oroveso as “a beauty of musical line and feeling”.

This upcoming season he will perform as Masetto in Don Giovanni at Malmö Opera, Sarastro/der Sprecher in The Magic Flute at Royal Danish Opera and at Opera de Rouen as Il Commendatore in Don Giovanni. In addition, he will make his debut as König Marke in Tristan und Isolde at Opera de Rouen.

In the 2022/2023 season he performed the role of Sarastro in The Magic Flute at Opera National du Rhin as well as the Johannes Passion with Aalborg Symphony Orchestra and Beethoven IX with the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra. He made his debut in the role of Oroveso in Norma at the Opera de Lausanne. In addition, he celebrated his Japan debut in the role of Il Commendatore in Don Giovanni at Hyōgo Performing Arts Center.

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Reviews

“With the black color of a Hunding, a Fafner, a König Marke, Nicolai Elsberg has no trouble portraying Oroveso as a hard-edged, peremptory druid chief rather than a compassionate father.”

Crescendo Magazine

” Equally precise, solid and firm is the first chorus, “Dell’aura tua profetica”, responding to the sepulchral, telluric timbre of Oroveso, the young Danish bass Nicolai Elsberg, whose stature is as imposing as his sonic power (and his aria with the chorus, “Guerrieri! A voi venirme!”, in Act II, is a beauty of musical line and feeling).”

Forum Opera

“The cast is dominated by the Danish bass Nicolai Elsberg‘s mighty Sarastro. He has an imposing voice, powerfully projected and sonorous, put at the service of a particularly beautiful vocal line, very expressive and endowed with a deep bass. His tall figure is impressive!”

Olyrix

“But how can you take your eyes off of the huge Danish bass Nicolai Elsberg who doubles Sarastro, towering above all the other protagonists? …Detaching each syllable in a skillful rhythm that sublimates the tired nobility of the character, endowed with a rare delicacy, his cavernous bass touches the heart and delights the ear thanks to a dark timbre and a powerful voice with immense potential.”

Forum Opera

More Reviews

“…but the most breathtaking, Nicolai Elsberg with an often richly colored, deep bass…”

Nicolai Elsberg then truly unfolded in the section about the flames of hell, “Confutatis”. He created an intensely lectured scene with equal parts excitement and powerlessness, and no matter where he was, in depth or height, in powerful or soft dynamics, the bass voice was projected into an expressive and sonorous aura.”

Information

“The Great-singing, sky-tall bass Nicolai Elsberg, needs to be highlighted for eminent presence as arrogant Newspaper Clerk in wheelchair and decorative Doctor, as a take-off from the Russian country-aristocracy.”

Information

“Talent spotters may already have caught sight and sound of Nicolai Elsberg, a Danish basso profundo who in 2021 represented his country at both Cardiff Singer of the World and Operalia in Moscow. He has swept the board of opera prizes at home in Denmark, where in 2020 he joined the ensemble of the Royal Danish Opera. His voice has extraordinary presence. And as the former frontman of a Danish pop group, he knows how to hold the stage.”

Opera Now

“The sky-tall new Danish Bass Nicolai Elsberg was outstanding as the Commendatore.”

Politiken

Elsberg mediates with immense authority and timbre Sarastro’s composite ethos.”

Nordjyske

“An elegant performer and a very exciting voice!”

Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts, BBC Cardiff Singer of the World

“Elsberg’s coat aria is the best interpretation I have yet heard – maybe helped by that his bass voice was more beautiful than any.”

Ascolta Opera Magazine