"We have great chemistry on stage"

...said Roberto in an interview published on musicalcriticism.com, speaking of his partner in Carmen, Elina Garanca. The revival of Francesca Zambello's production of Carmen is due to start at the Royal Opera House in London on October 3rd. He goes on adding "I think she will be the most complete Carmen I have ever seen". Well, we'll see about that. But the verdict will be uttered next year, if everything goes as planned. If not, I'll come back to this post and say "yes, Elina is the best Carmen I've ever seen live". She's singing this part at least in three different opera houses: ROH, Met and Staatsoper Vienna.

This is Alagna's first Don José in the UK. What does he think about this role? "I love it, because all the time the character grows from my own life experience. As you grow older, you think in a different way and you can bring this to your interpretation. This man is crazy because of love. Because of this he will destroy himself and also Carmen". I don't know why but this statement makes me think of something else...

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He also speaks about how he began to sing, how he won the audition at Glyndebourne and got his first Alfredo and later on confirms what Angela said in a previous interview: "I never take holidays – after 1 week I get bored. Maybe I don't like to be in the real world, because reality has sometimes been very difficult and it is easier in this imaginary world where you can forget everything".

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Asked about his future projects, he replies: "They are releasing Le Jongleur de Notre Dame, L'Amico Fritz, and the DVD of Orphée of which I am very proud. I also have a new DVD of Sicilian repertoire coming out in November, a CD of jazz with a gypsy guitarist, and a DVD of melodies composed by my two brothers called 'L'invitation au voyage''.

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He'd like to sing some German repertoire in the future but for the moment he's still deep in the Italian opera. For 2011 and 2012 he'll return to ROH. Good news for everybody! First it's La Boheme (Rodolfo) and La Rondine (Ruggiero) and in 2012 L'elisir D'amore (Nemorino) and Aida (Radames). Who's going to be his Mimi/Magda/Adina?

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You can read the entire interview HERE.

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Also on musicalcriticism.com there's an interview with the director, Francesca Zambello - HERE and one with Elina Garanca - HERE. They both speak about this revival of Carmen.