Attuned to possibilities

IT’S not every singer who can move effortlessly from ABBA tunes to duets with Elvis Costello to Wagner, but for mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter, such disparate musical forays are her life’s passion.

“I guess I have a love of doing different things,” the nearly 6-foot Swede said recently as she sipped Perrier at a cafe near her rented apartment in Pasadena, her pale blue eyes sparkling, a chic pink muffler protecting her neck from the wind. “Exploring keeps me on my toes.”

It has also kept her in the operatic limelight for more than two decades, both onstage and on disc. Having sung on more than 100 recordings since 1985, Von Otter has also staked out claims in opera houses worldwide in works by, among others, Monteverdi, Gluck and Handel and has distinguished herself in several “trouser” roles, including Octavian in Strauss’ “Der Rosenkavalier” and Sesto in Mozart’s “La Clemenza di Tito.”

Now 51, this anti-diva -- the mother of two teenage sons, who fancies jeans over ball gowns and for whom sneakers trump stilettos -- is in town to tackle her newest role: Brangane in the return of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s “Tristan Project.” She is scheduled to take part in the first of five performances Thursday at Walt Disney Concert Hall, where the multidisciplinary interpretation of Wagner’s opera “Tristan and Isolde” premiered in December 2004.

Featuring Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting the Philharmonic, unorthodox staging by Peter Sellars and lush video imagery by Bill Viola, this radical take on the iconic love story traveled to Paris in 2005 and is to move to New York’s Lincoln Center next month. Of its debut here, Times classical music critic Mark Swed wrote, “If the ‘Tristan Project’ is not the greatest moment in the orchestra’s history, I can’t imagine what was.”

And though the role of Isolde’s confidante Brangane is new to Von Otter, the daughter of a diplomat who came to singing relatively late, she and the Finnish-born Salonen have worked together a number of times, most recently in London in December. It was, in fact, his idea to cast her in the work, which will also star Christine Brewer and Alan Woodrow as the titular lovers.

“When I first met Esa-Pekka, he was conductor of the Swedish Radio Orchestra,” Von Otter recalled. “He had chubby baby cheeks and all that long hair. Now he’s got cheekbones,” she said with a silky laugh. “It was three years ago when he said that if I’m ever going to do this, now would be the time.”

Says Salonen: “Anne Sofie has branched out a little bit lately, doing things that have, strictly speaking, been beyond her fach -- that’s German for ‘tessitura,’ or type of singing. She’s a very intelligent person and approaches everything she sings through very careful preparation and analysis.

“Quite often,” he points out, “when singers get more experienced and get older, they venture into territories where they haven’t been before. In the case of Anne Sofie, she did her first ‘Carmen,’ and now she’s doing her first Wagner role ever. I’m sure there’s something very interesting emerging out of this.”

Director Sellars concurs. “The extremely subtle, high level of artistry that characterizes her phrasing and word inflections,” he says, “brings a new dimension to the role.”

Von Otter called the “Tristan” story itself “fantastic” and said she had found the character of Brangane, who slips Tristan and Isolde their fateful love potion, a warm one. “It’s Isolde who is angry,” she said half-defiantly. “But it is quite nice to have this sniff at Wagner, because for many people, he is a god. For me, it is a real adventure.”

That journey, she said, has included investing time to study, understand and appreciate music she deems “so full” as well as to listen to recordings by Krista Ludwig, the now-retired German mezzo whose musicianship, intelligence and sense of style have been sources of inspiration for her.

Indeed, Von Otter likened singing Wagner to being in school, which may be one reason she has preferred to stay close to downtown for the month she’s here, hopping on the Gold Line, disembarking at Union Station and walking up the hill to Disney Hall. For her, she said, the controversial 19th century German composer is the antithesis of spontaneity. “He’s thought it all out in a clever way -- unlike Berlioz, for example, who, when he’s got an idea, just writes it.”

Her educational process has also included learning how to husband her vocal resources for the role. Brangane is difficult, she said, partly because Wagner’s orchestral accompaniment is often extremely loud, but Disney Hall’s pristine acoustics have been a big help.

For this run of “The Tristan Project,” one act will be performed on each of three successive nights (and paired with works by Debussy) before the complete opera is mounted on two separate evenings. And this too, Von Otter said, will help her conserve her energy.

Critics have found much to praise in Von Otter’s myriad performances. Her signature style has been described as one of “striking technical fluidity,” her voice singled out for its “lovely, warm and lyrical” qualities. But when Santa Fe Opera announced that she would be singing Bizet’s hotblooded gypsy, Carmen -- a role she had already tackled at England’s Glyndebourne Festival -- many questioned the against-type casting of a statuesque Swede.

But all doubts were dispelled when she triumphed in the role in August. The New York Times’ James Oestreich wrote: “This thinking woman’s ‘Carmen’ was oddly compelling. Ms. Von Otter also sang the role beautifully, gauging and placing each note with consummate artistry -- again not necessarily what you most look for in a ‘Carmen,’ but wondrous to hear.”

*

Pop goes the opera singer

CRITICAL reaction was much the same five years earlier when Von Otter ventured into pop territory with a CD called “For the Stars” that paired her with Costello on songs by, among others, the Beatles and the Beach Boys. Equally surprising was last year’s disc “I Let the Music Speak.” Made up of tunes by Benny Andersson of ABBA fame, including a haunting “The Winner Takes It All,” the record represents yet another facet of her kaleidoscopic abilities.

To Von Otter, however -- who admits to having seen the ABBA musical “Mamma Mia!” three times and declares she’s a huge Andersson fan -- the selections on that disc are not true pop songs. “I prefer a natural way of singing,” she explained, “without too much scooping or chesting -- or using big effects. I can’t belt. I’ve tried, but it’s a different way of using your muscles and your air.”

Her next CD, slated for a fall release, will represent still another departure. It will focus on music written by composers in the Nazi concentration camp Terezin. And like other opera stars, she has performances booked for the next several years. She will soon take on the role of the Carthaginian queen Dido in Berlioz’s mammoth opera “The Trojans,” a part she has already recorded but that is likely to heighten her profile as a Nordic blond who’s also a fearless vocal warrior. And in 2009, she is scheduled to once more tackle Wagner when she sings the Valkyrie Waltraute in a “Ring” cycle conducted by Simon Rattle.

For now, though, this singer who confesses to a penchant for American tabloids and says she feels sorry for “young girls like Britney Spears” is throwing her formidable skills and energy into Wagner.

“I’ve had a wonderful career, but hunting around for new operas has been difficult,” she said as she buttoned up her white wool Icelandic coat. “I may be older, but my voice hasn’t aged -- meaning nothing astonishing has happened to it. It’s still lyrical, so I’m giving this thing a good workout -- and then I’ll lie low.”

But not, one feels, for long.

*

‘The Tristan Project’

Where: Walt Disney Concert Hall, 151 S. Grand Ave., L.A.

When: 8 p.m. Thursday (Act 1), Friday (Act 2) and Saturday (Act 3); 6 p.m. April 18 and 24 (complete opera)

Price: $39 to $150

Contact: (323) 850-2000 or www.laphil.org