{"id":4391,"date":"2025-04-23T12:57:40","date_gmt":"2025-04-23T12:57:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2025\/04\/23\/observer-culture-interviews-soprano-elza-van-den-heever\/"},"modified":"2025-04-23T12:57:45","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T12:57:45","slug":"observer-culture-interviews-soprano-elza-van-den-heever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2025\/04\/23\/observer-culture-interviews-soprano-elza-van-den-heever\/","title":{"rendered":"Observer Culture Interviews: Soprano Elza van den Heever"},"content":{"rendered":"<div itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<figure id=\"attachment_1547405\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1547405\" style=\"width: 970px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/observer.com\/?attachment_id=1547405\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1547405\" data-lasso-id=\"2745857\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1547405\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Elza van den Heever at the Kaiserin in <em>Die Frau ohne Schatten<\/em>. <span class=\"media-credit\">Evan Zimmerman\/Met Opera<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In early December, after the final two performances of <a href=\"https:\/\/observer.com\/person\/richard-strauss\/\" title=\"Richard Strauss\" class=\"company-link\">Richard Strauss<\/a>\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/observer.com\/2024\/12\/opera-review-die-frau-ohne-schatten-at-the-met\/\" data-lasso-id=\"2745858\"><i>Die Frau ohne Schatten <\/i>at the Metropolitan Opera<\/a>, something out of the ordinary happened. Amid the thunderous cheers when South African-born soprano <a href=\"https:\/\/observer.com\/person\/elza-van-den-heever\/\" title=\"Elza van den Heever\" class=\"company-link\">Elza van den Heever<\/a>\u2014who had just sung the title role\u2014appeared for her solo bow, a shower of confetti made from torn-up programs rained down on the stage from high up in the opera house. This rarely offered (if officially frowned-upon) tribute marked a seismic advance in the local appreciation of a versatile performer who had been sensational as the Kaiserin in the splashy <i>Frau <\/i>revival. Van den Heever had ascended to true Met stardom! As the vigorous applause continued, the soprano admitted she was at first confused, then \u201cgobsmacked\u201d by the surprising confetti tribute. \u201cReceiving love and appreciation from an audience is truly one of the best feelings in the world,\u201d she told Observer.<\/p>\n<section class=\"wp-block-observer-newsletters observer-newsletters--in-content\">\n<\/section>\n<p>On April 29, the soprano\u2019s triple-Strauss Met season continues with the title role in an eagerly-awaited new production of <i>Salome, <\/i>the composer\u2019s riveting early one-act shocker drawn from <a href=\"https:\/\/observer.com\/person\/oscar-wilde\/\" title=\"Oscar Wilde\" class=\"company-link\">Oscar Wilde<\/a>\u2019s purple adaptation of the lurid Biblical story of a capricious young girl who demanded the beheading of John the Baptist as payment for her provocative dance for King Herod. Long delayed by pandemic closures and the resulting scheduling chaos, the production will mark the Met debut of noted German director <a href=\"https:\/\/observer.com\/person\/claus-guth\/\" title=\"Claus Guth\" class=\"company-link\">Claus Guth<\/a>, whose work has only previously been seen in New York when he and tenor <a href=\"https:\/\/observer.com\/person\/jonas-kaufmann\/\" title=\"Jonas Kaufmann\" class=\"company-link\">Jonas Kaufmann<\/a> collaborated on <a href=\"https:\/\/observer.com\/2023\/09\/the-park-avenue-armory-welcomes-jonas-kaufmann-back-to-new-york-city\/\" data-lasso-id=\"2745859\"><i>Doppelganger <\/i>at the Park Avenue Armory<\/a> several years ago<i>.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n<p><div class=\"youtube-embed\" data-video_id=\"06fHNo2fkg4\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Die Frau ohne Schatten: \u201cWehe, mein Mann!\u201d\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/06fHNo2fkg4?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p>Over the course of several refreshingly frank conversations, van den Heever shared reflections on her career and why the music of Strauss has proven so special to her. \u201cI love how his music, in learning it, makes me a smarter individual, and I feel like I am embraced in a hug that lasts for all of the hours the piece is long,\u201d she said. \u201cStrauss makes me feel loved and like I am part of a world that is supernatural and extremely special.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since her Met debut in 2012 as Elizabeth I in the opera house\u2019s premiere of Donizetti\u2019s <i>Maria Stuarda <\/i>(for which she shaved her head to emulate the Virgin Queen\u2019s signature look), the soprano has shone there in operas from Handel and Mozart to Wagner and Berg. \u201cI have been very lucky in my early life to have had mentors who insisted that I keep the versatility in my instrument alive and well.\u201d Wholly trained in the U.S., van den Heever arrived at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music at age eighteen as a mezzo soprano pursuing first her bachelor\u2019s, then a master\u2019s. While she was in the Merola Opera Program at the San Francisco Opera, <a href=\"https:\/\/observer.com\/person\/dolora-zajick\/\" title=\"Dolora Zajick\" class=\"company-link\">Dolora Zajick<\/a> took the young singer aside to tell her she wasn\u2019t a mezzo after all but a soprano\u2014one her future manager, <a href=\"https:\/\/observer.com\/person\/matthew-epstein\/\" title=\"Matthew Epstein\" class=\"company-link\">Matthew Epstein<\/a>, would dub \u201cthe real deal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To the astonished, newly annointed soprano, Epstein laid out his vision for her: a steady, patient path in which she would \u201cmake haste slowly.\u201d When she was just 25, he predicted that she had the potential to conquer the lyric dramatic roles in which she\u2019s now enjoying wild acclaim at many of the world\u2019s major opera houses. During her formative years at the Frankfurt opera, she solidified her technique by first taking on Mozart and <i>bel canto<\/i> operas like <a href=\"https:\/\/observer.com\/2023\/03\/review-mcvicars-norma-opera-met\/\" data-lasso-id=\"2745860\"><i>Norma<\/i><\/a> and <i>Anna Bolena. <\/i>She also dipped into Puccini as Giorgetta in <i>Il Tabarro <\/i>for a staging by Guth that was her introduction to <i>regietheater, <\/i>a non-traditional approach to opera that proved a revelation to the rising singer. She realized that she didn\u2019t want to perform in \u201cboring\u201d productions but ones that stimulated both performers and audiences.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1547406\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1547406\" style=\"width: 970px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/observer.com\/?attachment_id=1547406\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1547406\" data-lasso-id=\"2745861\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload size-full-width wp-image-1547406\" src=\"https:\/\/observer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/04\/Salome_115.jpg?quality=80&amp;w=970\" alt=\"A close-up of a woman with light blonde hair holding a split pomegranate against her forehead, with red juice dripping down, referencing a promotional image for the Metropolitan Opera\u2019s new production of Salome.\" width=\"970\" height=\"1477\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload size-full-width wp-image-1547406\" src=\"https:\/\/observer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/04\/Salome_115.jpg?quality=80&amp;w=970\" alt=\"A close-up of a woman with light blonde hair holding a split pomegranate against her forehead, with red juice dripping down, referencing a promotional image for the Metropolitan Opera\u2019s new production of Salome.\" width=\"970\" height=\"1477\"\/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1547406\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Elza van den Heever as Salome. <span class=\"media-credit\">Paola Kudacki\/Met Opera<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Epstein believes that the challenges stemming from her dyslexia, combined with her quiet determination, have created an artist supremely prepared to conquer demanding German roles like the Kaiserin and Salome (the latter <i>persona <\/i>is on stage for nearly all of the opera\u2019s 110 minutes). \u201cIt\u2019s all about patience and hard, long hours in the practice room,\u201d van den Heever said. \u201cLike any athlete, we as singers have to train our muscles to be able to build up the stamina it requires to sing those long, difficult monologues. Pacing is also about fueling your body properly and staying hydrated!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Normally, van den Heever prepares her roles with coaches who are experts on the opera she\u2019s learning. They were particularly helpful last year, as <i>Frau <\/i>was \u201cthe most difficult singing I have ever done.\u201d But the lockdown of 2020 meant that she had to work on <i>Salome <\/i>by herself in the small French village she calls home. When she wasn\u2019t immersed in Strauss, she became one of the pandemic\u2019s most surprising social media breakout stars when she began to regularly post photos of her extraordinary cakes. Since resuming performing, the singer still carves out time to exercise her baking muscles for delicious, if dangerous-looking, <i>Salome<\/i>-themed creations. For her role debut in Paris, she <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/ChSWDwuMSIN\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&amp;igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==\" data-lasso-id=\"2745862\">proffered the prophet\u2019s severed head to her thousands of Instagram followers<\/a>. More recently in New York, she baked up a <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DIcNTz0Si_s\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&amp;igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==\" data-lasso-id=\"2745863\">remarkably detailed pomegranate<\/a> like the one to which Salome lasciviously compares the red mouth of Jochanaan\u2014a fruit prominently featured in promotional posters and clips the Met has created anticipating van den Heever\u2019s Salome.<\/p>\n<p><div class=\"youtube-embed\" data-video_id=\"mwhjzrL98Ds\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Salome: All the Stories on One Stage\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mwhjzrL98Ds?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p>She is reticent to divulge too many spoilers about the upcoming Met production, which will reunite van den Heever with\u2014as the doomed Jochanaan\u2014Swedish baritone <a href=\"https:\/\/observer.com\/person\/peter-mattei\/\" title=\"peter mattei\" class=\"company-link\">peter mattei<\/a>, her partner in <a href=\"https:\/\/observer.com\/person\/william-kentridge\/\" title=\"William Kentridge\" class=\"company-link\">William Kentridge<\/a>\u2019s 2019 Met <i>Wozzeck. <\/i>She would say that she believes Guth is creating a very sympathetic portrait of Salome, and that when opera companies hire her for the role, they\u2019re getting a \u201csix-foot, lumpy\u201d soprano unsuited for a striptease to the celebrated Dance of the Seven Veils. Guth\u2019s vision of that crucial episode features six \u201cmini-Salomes\u201d from age eight and up, who share the dance with van den Heever and a double for Herod, her leering stepfather.<\/p>\n<p>Yannick N\u00e9zet-S\u00e9guin, the Met\u2019s Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director, praised \u201cher voice as truly one of a kind\u2014vibrant, crystal clear, and yet powerfully expressive. Elza is the consummate artist, and her star quality is undeniable.\u201d In 2018 N\u00e9zet-S\u00e9guin was on the podium for <i>Elektra, <\/i>both his and van den Heever\u2019s first Strauss opera in New York. As Chrysothemis, she stole the show by bringing to startlingly vivid life the heart-wrenching fears of the protagonist\u2019s younger sister with soaring, gleaming high notes that are the essential attributes of a true Strauss soprano. He then led both her first Kaiserin in concert in Europe just before the pandemic, as well as last fall\u2019s Met <i>Frau <\/i>run, and he will again be in charge of the new <i>Salome.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n<p>At Carnegie Hall in June, he and van den Heever will conclude their Strauss season with a Met Orchestra concert featuring five favorite orchestral songs including \u201cZueignung\u201d and \u201cC\u00e4cilie\u201d because N\u00e9zet-S\u00e9guin believes \u201cElza is the ideal artist to bring [Strauss\u2019 works] to life.\u201d Before she appears that evening, the orchestra will play a suite from <i>Der Rosenkavalier, <\/i>so I asked her if she has her eye on the Marschallin, that opera\u2019s heroine. She demurred, shaking her head as she replied, \u201cNot yet!\u201d But she does have her eye on the title role of Strauss\u2019 <i>Ariadne auf Naxos, <\/i>an opera in which she appeared earlier in her career as the boyish Composer.<\/p>\n<p>But for now, she is \u201cfinally at a place in my career where I can start to repeat roles!\u201d <i>Salome <\/i>at the Met follows a controversial 2022 Paris production by American director <a href=\"https:\/\/observer.com\/person\/lydia-steier\/\" title=\"Lydia Steier\" class=\"company-link\">Lydia Steier<\/a> that featured the diva vigorously straddling Herod during the Dance of the Seven Veils. What van den Heever and Guth have in store for that eagerly anticipated sequence and the rest of <i>Salome <\/i>will be revealed on April 29, with seven more performances continuing through May 24. The Saturday matinee on May 17 will be transmitted in HD to theaters worldwide, which the soprano is grateful for\u2014her parents in South Africa, along with thousands of other people, will be watching.<\/p>\n<p>When I shared that it was disappointing that she won\u2019t be appearing with the Met next season, she winked and whispered, \u201cI\u2019ll be back!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" itemprop=\"image\" src=\"https:\/\/observer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/04\/Salome_115-e1745006015693.jpg?quality=80&amp;w=970\" alt=\"Soprano Elza van den Heever Is Tackling the Met\u2019s \u2018Salome\u2019 Head On\u2014or Off!\" style=\"display:none;width:0;\"\/><\/p><\/div>\n<p><script>\n\t!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n\t{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n\t\tn.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n\t\tif(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n\t\tn.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n\t\tt.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n\t\ts.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',\n\t\t'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n\tfbq('init', '618909876214345');\n\tfbq('track', 'PageView');\n<\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Elza van den Heever at the Kaiserin in Die Frau ohne Schatten. Evan Zimmerman\/Met Opera In early December, after the final two performances of Richard Strauss\u2019 Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Metropolitan Opera, something out of the ordinary happened. Amid the thunderous cheers when South African-born soprano Elza van den Heever\u2014who had just sung [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4392,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-usa-news"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4391"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4393,"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4391\/revisions\/4393"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}