Nila Parly
Background
Nila Parly is a librettist, opera scholar, dramaturg, and author. She is an M.A. in musicology and literary studies and achieved a Ph.D. from the University of Copenhagen with a dissertation on Richard Wagner’s female characters. In addition, she has an artistic education as an opera singer from the conservatory Santa Cecilia, Rome, Italy.
teaching
Nila Parly is a former chief promoter at the Royal Opera, where she among other things trained opera promoters. She has also been employed as a lecturer and associate professor at the Theatre and Performance Studies Section, Department of Art and Culture Studies, University of Copenhagen, where she has taught theatre history, dramaturgy, aesthetics, and scientific theory, and a several specific subjects concerning opera to students from both Theatre and Literature Studies and Musicology.
artistic practice
Nila Parly was for a number of years a pupil at the Ballet School of the Royal Theatre and performed in those years and later in a great number of ballets, operas and plays there. She also trained at the Show and Theatre School of Denmark and has performed in several revues and musicals, including West Side Story at the Circus Building Stage (Cirkusbygningen), Copenhagen.
Libretti
- Nordkraft. Libretto based on Jacob Ejersbo’s eponymous novel. Composer: Signe Lykke. Copenhagen Opera Festival. Published by Edition Wilhelm Hansen (EWH). First performance August 2021 at Nordkraft, Aalborg, subsequently at Takkelloftet, The Royal Opera, Copenhagen.
- The Gospel of Mary. Oratorio text, with Niels Brunse. Composer: Hugi Gudmundsson. Published by EWH. First performance 6 June 2022 in Reykjavik. Subsquently in Oslo, Aarhus, and Copenhagen. Will be released on CD.
- Shakespeare’s Shadow. Opera libretto, with Niels Brunse and Sam Brown (completed). Music: Andy Pape (in progress). EWH. First performance scheduled at HamletScenen, Kronborg, Denmark, August 2024.
Has worked since 2007 as an opera dramaturg in cooperation with directors such as Elisabeth Linton, Christian Lollike and Elisa Kragerup.
- Trained as a lyric/dramatic soprano at the conservatory Santa Cecilia, Rome, Italy (1992).
- Visiting scholar at Princeton University, New Jersey, in 2002, and visiting scholar at Freie Universität, Berlin, in 2007.
- Three-year Ph.D. scholarship from the Research Council for Culture and Communication (2001-2005).
- Three-year postdoc scholarship from the Carlsberg Foundation (2007-2010).
- Several grants and scholarships from, among others, the Danish Arts Foundation, and the Augustinus Foundation for work with libretti and book projects.
- Several Reumert Prizes and nominations for operas which she has co-authored as a librettist or dramaturg.
Professional postgraduate teacher training, University of Copenhagen (2009).
Appointed since the 2010’s as an external examiner for, among other things, theatre history and dramaturgy at Department of Art and Culture Studies, University of Copenhagen, and at Department of Communication and Culture, Aarhus University.
Has served as peer reviewer at Department of Musicology, University of Oslo, for a professorship employment procedure.
Chairperson of the Music Theatre SAUM, specializing in contemporary opera for children (2016-2019).
Scholarly monographs
- Opera. 56 pages. Peer-reviewed guidebook to opera history in Denmark. Part of the book series Iscenesat, Society for Danish Theatre History, Kronstork, 2022.
- Vocal Victories, Wagner’s Female Characters from Senta to Kundry. 431 pages. Revised version of Ph.D. dissertation Absolut sang. Translated by Gaye Kynoch, Museum Tusculanum Press, University of Copenhagen, 2011.
- Absolut sang. Klang, køn og kvinderoller i Wagners værker. 386 pages. Multivers Academic, 2007.
- Kundrys afspejlinger. Parsifal 1882 - Salome 1905 - Lulu 1937. 172 pages. Multivers Academic, 2004.
Scholarly articles (selection)
- “Lars von Trier’s lost Ring” in Cambridge Opera Journal, vol. 30, Cambridge University Press, 2018.
- ”Doing the Diva Dying: The Performative Power of Isolde’s Liebestod” in The Wagner Journal, vol. 10 no. 1, March 2016.
- ”Flying a Wagner Kite: Subjunctive Performances of a Rheingold Scene Based on a Dramaturgical Sketch by Carolyn Abbate” in Cambridge Opera Journal. Celebrating twenty years of publication, vol. 21, no. 2 (page 159 - 180), Cambridge University Press, 2010.
- ”Singers playing Singers playing Characters” in The Wagner Journal vol. 3 no. 3 (page 76 - 83), 2009.
A wide range of articles and interviews for the general audience on opera, and the book:
- Med Dronningen i Det Kgl. Teater (With the Queen at the Royal Theatre). 328 pages. A volume of interviews with H. M. Queen Margrethe II about her experiences at the Royal Theatre in the fields of ballet, drama, and opera. Politiken Publishers, 2020.