Photo @ Cotidianul.
A new interview was published today in Cotidianul, a Romanian online newspaper, signed by Mrs Magdalena Popa Buluc. Before getting too excited, let me tell you that there's nothing new in it (from my point of view and the point of view of other people that have been reading the interviews in the past few years). I'm glad that people ask questions. I'm sorry that they ask the same questions again and again. You know, same questions lead to similar answers. Nobody asks about future plans. It's always about the past. There are two CD's coming and a possible recording of Adriana Lecouvreur. I would really want to know if there's any chance for a Romeo&Juliette in Europe. I crossed the pond once, but it's not that easy to do it again. You know, things like that. But then again, it's just me.
A new interview was published today in Cotidianul, a Romanian online newspaper, signed by Mrs Magdalena Popa Buluc. Before getting too excited, let me tell you that there's nothing new in it (from my point of view and the point of view of other people that have been reading the interviews in the past few years). I'm glad that people ask questions. I'm sorry that they ask the same questions again and again. You know, same questions lead to similar answers. Nobody asks about future plans. It's always about the past. There are two CD's coming and a possible recording of Adriana Lecouvreur. I would really want to know if there's any chance for a Romeo&Juliette in Europe. I crossed the pond once, but it's not that easy to do it again. You know, things like that. But then again, it's just me.
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That's why I decided to translate only some parts. There's a lot of "literature", hundreds of adjectives introducing a rather short question. "Diva" is involved too. There are questions like
* "how was the road to celebrity?" (and the answer contains the story from Brahms's lied to 1994 Traviata at ROH and Goerg Solti's tears)
* "what followed after that Traviata?" (New York, London, Paris, Salzburg, Berlin, Tokyo, Rome, Seul, Venice, Athens, Monte-Carlo, Chicago, Sao Paolo, Los Angeles, Lisbon, Palermo, Beirut, Amsterdam, Kuala Lumpur, Zürich, Vienna, Madrid, Montreal, Chicago, Valencia)
* "how do you see the evolution of opera? do you obey the director?" (it follows the story of the Traviata in Madrid with the SS soldiers when she left the production. Also see here)
* "what character is closer to your soul?"
* "in Fall you'll be Adriana Lecouvreur at ROH. What does this production bring you? What sources did you use?" (Also read here in Romanian)
* "you were invited to the White House with many celebrities" (she said she always gives her best no matter who's in the audience and that she has been invited to a lot of ceremonies along the years)
* "is the audience different from one country to another?" (she replied that she believes in the quality of the performance)
* "what is music for you?" ("my passion and destiny")
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And now some Q&A from the interview:
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How do you feel before entering the stage and what’s more important to you, the rehearsals or the performance? Stabilty is important and it comes from Shakespeare’s “Dream…”: “Rehears today to perform tomorrow”. As Peter Brook said, to rehears means to think out loud.
I’m still very nervous before entering the stage. It’s about starting again, about improving. Any opera is a field to be explored. The singer looking for the character is actually looking for herself. To rehears also mean to rebuild. Hate and love, as well as rehearsals, have multiple aspects. I care a lot about the results of the first rehearsals. I try to think the rehearsal as the lab of a question: why do I sing opera for? [...] I’m very nervous in front of the orchestra and my colleagues. People want perfection, but it’s hard to achieve. Other people imagine I belong to them. They think I’m always Violetta Valery because I portray her for 2 hours. I’m one with the character when I’m still at home. There’s a ritual, starting with the makeup that I do myself. You don’t know how difficult it is to give everything. Every time I want to offer something else to the audience. There are fans that take flights and go from a country to another to rediscover me.
I’m still very nervous before entering the stage. It’s about starting again, about improving. Any opera is a field to be explored. The singer looking for the character is actually looking for herself. To rehears also mean to rebuild. Hate and love, as well as rehearsals, have multiple aspects. I care a lot about the results of the first rehearsals. I try to think the rehearsal as the lab of a question: why do I sing opera for? [...] I’m very nervous in front of the orchestra and my colleagues. People want perfection, but it’s hard to achieve. Other people imagine I belong to them. They think I’m always Violetta Valery because I portray her for 2 hours. I’m one with the character when I’m still at home. There’s a ritual, starting with the makeup that I do myself. You don’t know how difficult it is to give everything. Every time I want to offer something else to the audience. There are fans that take flights and go from a country to another to rediscover me.
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Which are the partners that you felt most confortable on stage with?
There is a long list and I kept good relationships with all my partners. I won’t name anyone for them not to be jealous. I want to have the best and most good looking around me. I don’t like to be surrownded by uninteresting people. I don’t want to be alone out there. Everything around me has to be at high standard. When I saw Roberto Alagna I wanted to sing with him and Antonio Pappano to be the conductor. And it happened. I wanted to sing with tenors with a special timbre, with perfect pronunciation. And it happened. When I record, I try to have the best studio, an excellent orchestra and conductor because these things are made to last. I like to be proud of what I did.
There is a long list and I kept good relationships with all my partners. I won’t name anyone for them not to be jealous. I want to have the best and most good looking around me. I don’t like to be surrownded by uninteresting people. I don’t want to be alone out there. Everything around me has to be at high standard. When I saw Roberto Alagna I wanted to sing with him and Antonio Pappano to be the conductor. And it happened. I wanted to sing with tenors with a special timbre, with perfect pronunciation. And it happened. When I record, I try to have the best studio, an excellent orchestra and conductor because these things are made to last. I like to be proud of what I did.
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90% of your performances are already scheduled. But still, why do you sing so seldom in Romania?
In Romania things change after signing an agreement. I can’t sing where there’s not a good venue, with poor acoustics. Some time ago I performed at Palace Hall. The agreement was not obeyed and the show did not fulfill my requirements. Romania is my home country and I sing Romanian songs in every concert. I don’t really like small venues, that look more like reception rooms. If we talk about a concert with orchestra, I like a rich sound. I’m sorry to say that people want to listen to the voice at the same intensity as on CDs at home. The sonority is louder and louder. They want our voices to be louder and this can be a trauma for us.
In Romania things change after signing an agreement. I can’t sing where there’s not a good venue, with poor acoustics. Some time ago I performed at Palace Hall. The agreement was not obeyed and the show did not fulfill my requirements. Romania is my home country and I sing Romanian songs in every concert. I don’t really like small venues, that look more like reception rooms. If we talk about a concert with orchestra, I like a rich sound. I’m sorry to say that people want to listen to the voice at the same intensity as on CDs at home. The sonority is louder and louder. They want our voices to be louder and this can be a trauma for us.
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This was it. Glad to know she's fine. Waiting for more news.
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