ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Danielle de Niese - Soprano
Her voice described as a “sweet gleaming soprano,” Danielle de Niese breathes new life into opera, astonishing critics and making audiences sit up and listen.

Why you should listen

It’s not every day that an opera singer is deemed “cool.” But Danielle de Niese does look and act, at times, more like a pop singer than an opera star. Born in Melbourne of Dutch/Scottish/Sri Lankan parents, de Niese started classical voice lessons at 8, and moved at 10 to Los Angeles to attend a school of performing arts, while working as a television presenter on a teen show called LA Kids. But de Niese always knew she would be a singer. At the startlingly young age of 19 she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera, singing Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro. At 25, de Niese stunned audiences and garnered international acclaim with her sultry portrayal of Cleopatra in Handel’s Giulio Cesare at the 2005 Glyndebourne Festival in the UK.

Gracing the world’s great opera stages and an exclusive recording contract with Decca may seem an unlikely fate for a former teen TV host born Down Under, but de Niese embraces contrasts and challenges. She’s already starred in her own BBC4 reality show, Diva Diaries, and soon fans will be seeing her on the big screen, playing her first major film role in the Maria Callas biopic Master Class.

She says: "What I do demands the same kind of expertise as a professional athlete."

More profile about the speaker
Danielle de Niese | Speaker | TED.com
TEDGlobal 2011

Danielle de Niese: A flirtatious aria

Danielle de Niese: Eine kokette Arie

Filmed:
882,890 views

Kann Operngesang so sexy sein? Die wunderbare Sopranistin Danielle de Niese beweist es mit ihrem Vortrag der koketten Arie "Meine Lippen, sie küssen so heiß" aus der Operette Guiditta von Franz Lehár. Begleitung: Ingrid Surgenor.
- Soprano
Her voice described as a “sweet gleaming soprano,” Danielle de Niese breathes new life into opera, astonishing critics and making audiences sit up and listen. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:16
(MusicMusik)
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(Musik)
00:31
♫ I don't understandverstehen myselfmich selber, ♫
1
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♫ Ich weiß es selber nicht, ♫
00:34
♫ why they keep talkingim Gespräch of love, ♫
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♫ warum man gleich von Liebe spricht, ♫
00:39
♫ if they come nearin der Nähe von me, ♫
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♫ wenn man in meiner Nähe ist, ♫
00:42
♫ if they look into my eyesAugen and kissKuss my handHand. ♫
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♫ und in meine Augen schaut
und meine Hände küsst. ♫
00:48
♫ I don't understandverstehen myselfmich selber, ♫
5
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♫ Ich weiß es selber nicht, ♫
00:51
♫ why they talk of magicMagie, ♫
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♫ warum man von dem Zauber spricht, ♫
00:56
♫ that no one withstandswidersteht, ♫
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♫ dem keiner widersteht, ♫
00:58
♫ if he seessieht me, if he passesgeht vorbei by. ♫
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♫ wenn er mich sieht,
wenn er an mir vorüber geht. ♫
01:07
♫ But if the redrot lightLicht is on ♫
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♫ Dann will das rote Licht erglüh'n, ♫
01:13
♫ in the middleMitte of the night ♫
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♫ zur mitternächt’gen Stund’ ♫
01:16
♫ and everybodyjeder listensPlays to my songLied, ♫
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♫ und alle lauschen meinem Lied, ♫
01:20
♫ then it is plaineinfach to see. ♫
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♫ dann wird mir klar der Grund. ♫
01:30
♫ My lipsLippen, they give so fieryfeurige a kissKuss, ♫
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♫ Meine Lippen, sie küssen so heiß, ♫
01:39
♫ my limbsGliedmaßen, they are supplegeschmeidig and whiteWeiß. ♫
14
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♫ meine Glieder
sind schmiegsam und weich. ♫
01:48
♫ It is writtengeschrieben for me in the starsSterne, ♫
15
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7000
♫ In den Sternen,
da steht es geschrieben, ♫
01:55
thouDu shaltsollst kissKuss, thouDu shaltsollst love. ♫
16
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♫ du sollst küssen, du sollst lieben. ♫
02:02
♫ My feetFüße, they glidegleiten and floatFloat, ♫
17
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♫ Meine Füße, sie schweben dahin, ♫
02:08
♫ my eyesAugen, they lurelocken and glowGlühen. ♫
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♫ meine Augen, sie locken und glüh'n. ♫
02:17
♫ And I dancetanzen as if entrancedhingerissen, 'causedenn I know, ♫
19
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10000
♫ Und ich tanz' wie im Rausch,
denn ich weiß, ♫
02:27
♫ my lipsLippen give so fieryfeurige a kissKuss. ♫
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♫ meine Lippen, sie küssen so heiß. ♫
03:16
♫ In my veinsVenen, ♫
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♫ In meinen Adern drin, ♫
03:19
runsläuft a dancer'sdes Tänzers bloodBlut, ♫
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♫ da rollt das Blut der Tänzerin, ♫
03:23
♫ because my beautifulschön motherMutter
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♫ denn meine schöne Mutter war ♫
03:26
♫ was the QueenKönigin of dancetanzen
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♫ des Tanzes Königin ♫
03:29
♫ in the gildedvergoldet AlcazarAlcazar. ♫
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♫ im gold'nen Alcazar. ♫
03:33
♫ She was so very beautifulschön, ♫
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♫ Sie war so wunderschön, ♫
03:36
♫ I oftenhäufig saw her in my dreamsTräume. ♫
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♫ ich hab' sie oft im Traum geseh'n. ♫
03:41
♫ If she beatschlagen the tambourineTamburin
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♫ Schlug sie das Tambourin ♫
03:44
♫ to her beguilingbetörende dancetanzen, all eyesAugen were glowingGlühen admiringlybewundernd. ♫
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♫ so wild im Tanz,
da sah man alle Augen glüh'n. ♫
03:54
♫ She reawakenedwieder erwacht in me, ♫
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♫ Sie ist in mir aufs Neu' erwacht, ♫
03:59
mineBergwerk is the samegleich lot. ♫
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♫ ich hab' das gleiche Los. ♫
04:02
♫ I dancetanzen like her at midnightMitternacht
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♫ Ich tanz' wie sie um Mitternacht ♫
04:05
♫ and from deeptief withininnerhalb I feel: ♫
33
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♫ und fühl' das Eine bloß: ♫
04:15
♫ My lipsLippen, they give so fieryfeurige a kissKuss, ♫
34
240000
9000
♫ Meine Lippen, sie küssen so heiß, ♫
04:24
♫ my limbsGliedmaßen, they are supplegeschmeidig and whiteWeiß. ♫
35
249000
9000
♫ meine Glieder sind
schmiegsam und weich. ♫
04:33
♫ It is writtengeschrieben for me in the starsSterne, ♫
36
258000
8000
♫ In den Sternen,
da steht es geschrieben, ♫
04:41
thouDu shaltsollst kissKuss, thouDu shaltsollst love. ♫
37
266000
8000
♫ du sollst küssen, du sollst lieben. ♫
05:01
♫ And I dancetanzen as if entrancedhingerissen, 'causedenn I know, ♫
38
286000
12000
♫ Und ich tanz' wie im Rausch,
denn ich weiß, ♫
05:13
♫ my lipsLippen give so fieryfeurige a kissKuss. ♫
39
298000
17000
♫ meine Lippen, sie küssen so heiß. ♫
05:30
(ApplauseApplaus)
40
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(Applaus)
Translated by Katja Tongucer
Reviewed by TED Open Translation

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Danielle de Niese - Soprano
Her voice described as a “sweet gleaming soprano,” Danielle de Niese breathes new life into opera, astonishing critics and making audiences sit up and listen.

Why you should listen

It’s not every day that an opera singer is deemed “cool.” But Danielle de Niese does look and act, at times, more like a pop singer than an opera star. Born in Melbourne of Dutch/Scottish/Sri Lankan parents, de Niese started classical voice lessons at 8, and moved at 10 to Los Angeles to attend a school of performing arts, while working as a television presenter on a teen show called LA Kids. But de Niese always knew she would be a singer. At the startlingly young age of 19 she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera, singing Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro. At 25, de Niese stunned audiences and garnered international acclaim with her sultry portrayal of Cleopatra in Handel’s Giulio Cesare at the 2005 Glyndebourne Festival in the UK.

Gracing the world’s great opera stages and an exclusive recording contract with Decca may seem an unlikely fate for a former teen TV host born Down Under, but de Niese embraces contrasts and challenges. She’s already starred in her own BBC4 reality show, Diva Diaries, and soon fans will be seeing her on the big screen, playing her first major film role in the Maria Callas biopic Master Class.

She says: "What I do demands the same kind of expertise as a professional athlete."

More profile about the speaker
Danielle de Niese | Speaker | TED.com