JBS-USA is privileged to present Jussi’s son Lars Björling in a special Zoom presentation from Sweden for the Jussi Björling Society USA on Tuesday, August 22, 2023, at 7:30 pm ET., which will be repeated on Saturday, August 26 at 12 noon ET. Following the presentation will be a Q & A segment, to which attendees may submit questions.
Lars will recall the fabled performances by his father, on returning to the Met in November of 1959 after an absence of more than 2 ½ years. At Jussi’s first performance of Cavalleria rusticana, according to Harald Henrysson, “his entry was so wildly greeted that in order to continue the performance, he had to leave and enter again with his entrance music played a second time..” His subsequent performances of Tosca and Faust were also the stuff of legends, remembered, recounted, and celebrated by opera aficionados and critics then and now.
Lars has personal memories of some of these performances which he and his sister Ann-Charlotte attended – priceless memories of the events leading up to Jussi’s return to the Met, of the other singers in the casts, and of the performances themselves.
Lars Björling’s presentation is the second in our series of three Silver Anniversary zoom presentations for 2023. This series by acclaimed figures in the opera world will continue in future seasons, and is unique to JBS-USA.
Members Registration
JBS-USA members in good standing will receive a free link to the presentations by registering on our website, and will also have the opportunity to send in questions for the concluding Q & A segment.
*Members of the Swedish Jussi Björling Sällskapet and the Jussi Björling Appreciation Society UK will also receive a free link to the August 22 presentation and may submit questions by registering on our website.
Non-members Registration
Non-members may register and submit questions on our website for a $35. fee.
Lars Björling to speak on “Remembering my Father’s Met Performances, Fall 1959”
Lars Björling was born in 1939 in Stockholm, Sweden. Jussi and Anna-Lisa Björling’s youngest son, Lars has sung for as long as he can remember. His father encouraged him in his musical interests, but wanted Lars to get a real academic education, something he himself did not have the opportunity to pursue. Lars graduated from the Stockholm School of Economics in 1966, studied Spanish in Madrid, and for many years worked in banks in Paris and Stockholm.
He was married to Veronica Kempe, daughter of a prominent Swedish industrialist, who urged him to return to his tenor singing studies in a more serious and committed way. Lars and Veronica spent several years in Rome where he was able to study with Debora Fambri. After Fambri’s premature death, Lars returned to Sweden and turned to Harry Ebert, one of Jussi Björling’s regular accompanists, for further guidance and technical help.
He also became close to his uncle Olle Björling, Jussi’s older brother, who shared with him and helped clarify some of his father David Björling’s technical wisdom. In a series of elegantly-produced CDs (Sterling, The Art of Singing, Lars Björling, a Tribute to David Björling, Volume 1-3), one can find, to paraphrase his words, a development of sound-production technique as well as the gradual stabilization of breathing technique in an enormous and widely varied repertoire.
Currently married to artist Leila Gandefelt, Lars continues to be an invaluable resource and enthusiastic representative of his father’s legend, and an accomplished singer in his own right.
Your link to attend this Zoom presentation will be sent to you by email in August. All questions will be considered by the panel of moderators, and selections will be made according to time constraints. The panel will present the questions to Mr. Björling during the Question and Answer segment following the presentation.