After a series of auspicious performances at the Metropolitan Opera, Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen takes on the role of Leonore, the protagonist of the only opera composed by Beethoven, here conducted by Susanna Mälkki. After two other approaches to Jean-Nicolas Bouilly’s libretto, Beethoven was determined to write for this story of a woman who risks everything to save her husband, the political prisoner Florestan, from the clutches of tyranny. Premiered in 1805, when Vienna was under occupation by Napoleonic forces, Fidelio would later gain a prominent place in the operatic canon.