“I’ve always said: if I sing Amneris, I might as well stop singing, because I’ve achieved everything I wanted to achieve. But really – there’s a new stage right now, a new maturity and a new vocal development – it’s a world I feel I belong to. Temperament, inner drama, culminations characteristic of Verdi’s music – that’s exactly what I feel closest to my heart,” says singer Elina Garanca. The role of Amneris in Giuseppe Verdi’s opera “Aida” is her current Everest.
About what was the path to the debut of this role at the Vienna State Operahow the dream team fared during the production process and what kind of future we see for the genre, Elīna Garanča reveals in an exclusive conversation with the director of “Klasikas” Gunda Vaivodi.
Gunda Vaivode: Our conversation takes place on the morning of January 24, when you have already performed three performances of “Aida” and the last one in this series is expected tonight. Your long cherished dream – Amneris – has finally come true. Is Vienna a grateful and good place for a role debut?
Elīna Garanča: I think that Vienna is a special city for all Latvians. Those who come here always feel very nice and cozy. The Vienna Opera is special for me because this is my basic theater: I have already sung about 165 performances here, I have made my debut here with a lot of parts, and in a sense it is such an irony of fate that I also made my debut with the role of Amneris right here in the theater because two other productions were canceled due to the pandemic, but well – apparently it had to happen. With this debut, a symbolic twenty-five-year cycle ends for me, such a big circle, because
In 1998, when I came here as a tourist, as a student, preparing for the Belvedere competition, I watched this very production at the Vienna Opera House: the role of Amneris was sung by Dolora Zajick, and I, at the age of twenty-one, thought to myself: if ever could stand on this stage in a choir or a small part and sing along to enjoy – how it is… And now, twenty-five years later, I experienced the debut of Amneris in this same production…
In Vienna, as in Milan, everyone knows how to sing?
(laughs) More or less – yes. The Viennese audience is special in that they have listened to all the big megastars and good singers in any combination, even if the evening was not so successful. I guess it really is that
everyone here knows how to: you can’t really tell, but hey – everyone has an opinion, and then they discuss it with each other either during the break or after the show…
But Vienna is a special city, and this opera is also special to me. I am very happy, pleased and happy that I made my debut in this theater with this part.
You have “splashed” through various authors and styles: you have sparkled in Mozart and Rossini, you have swam in bel canto boats, you have dived into the depths of Wagner just like an amphibian. What would you compare Verdi to?
Verdi is extremely talented, a phenomenal dramatist and perfectly versed in the possibilities of the human voice. He helps a lot in creating drama: everything is prepared for the performance – before and after that, the environment is created so that the particular aria, scene or duet stands out. This internal drama helps the singer a lot to create parts. I used to dream a lot about Verdi’s repertoire, although he didn’t write so many parts for the mezzo-soprano, so Amnerisa is somehow complete Obsession and an ideal that a singer could achieve. That’s why I’ve always said: if I sing Amneris, I might as well stop singing, because I’ve achieved everything I wanted to achieve. But really – there is currently a new stage, a new maturity and a new vocal development – this is the world to which I feel I belong. Wagner’s music is wonderful, but Wagner seems to me to be reserved, distant, observant, but Italian opera music, especially Verdi, is the one where you feel that you as an artist are creating something at the exact moment, here and now, you are an active participant in the game.
And it is precisely this temperament, precisely this music, its inner drama and climaxes that are characteristic of Verdi’s music – somehow I feel that I feel them closest to my heart.
Wagner requires a lot of strength, but it seems to me that you can also hide a little there, while Verdi is very naked: you have to be very precise for the singer to position himself. Everything in the palm of your hand!
I could compare them both like this: in Wagner’s operas, the singer is one of the members of the orchestra – endurance is needed, even more psychological, because in the case of his operas the evening is extremely long – you must not relax. If we look at the same Kundri or Venus that I am currently preparing – Wagner’s singing is quite monotonous. You are not given time to make flourishes and sing different vocals.
In terms of stylistics and also vocal technique, bel canto is and remains the most difficult. I can unequivocally state this now, having tried these in very different styles, because there are the most technical precisions and variations that the singer has to manage. In Wagner, it’s like this: as you stand, sing in the same manner. Of course, one must have some technical ability and technical techniques, but if you have understood it, then singing Wagner is actually not that extremely difficult.
It’s more of a stretched physical, monotonous job. Verdi, on the other hand, is insanely physical, psychological and emotional. With a pronounced inner drama, where you have a crazy battle going on inside! So that you don’t hurt yourself, the energy that comes from both the orchestra and the stage has to be channeled somehow. You can only do it a few percent with your voice, because otherwise you can also shout your voice, but its energy has to be channeled somewhere. After such performances, for example, Eboli’s part in Don Carlos, my leg muscles, buttock muscles, and back muscles physically hurt, because the energy is so abnormally concentrated! It is the inner passion that happens here and now. In Verdi’s music, you burn here and now. You yourself are the center of the volcanic eruption, the very core. So both of them – both Wagner and Verdi – are very exciting, but in terms of temperament, Verdi is still closer to me.
The full text of the conversation will soon be available on the public media portal lsm.lv.
***
Latvijas Radio invites you to express your opinion about what you heard in the program and supports discussions among listeners, however, reserves the right to delete comments that violate the boundaries of respectful attitude and ethical behavior.
