EXCLUSIVE FOR © NATALIA DI BARTOLO, operaeopera.com —
New York, October 23, 2015 –
Roberto Frontali, baritone: no need to submit it.
He played the role of Scarpia in Tosca at the Met last October 18, 2015. Big, bigger… But always lovable as I met him in Catania in 1997, where he played at Teatro Massimo Bellini the role of Filippo Maria Visconti in “Beatrice di Tenda” just by Bellini, along with Lucia Aliberti and Bruce Ford. Unnecessary pleasantries with him: is the sympathy and simplicity itself, then as now.
Natalia Dantas: Master, what happened, to large tracts, to his career from that Beatrice di Tenda in Catania, which led her to deserved goals achieved? What is left of that Roberto Frontali, vocally, scenically and interpretatively? What has changed in her ever since, as a person and as a performer?
Roberto Frontali: Remained the same joy and the same motivation in making music and theatre with others and for others. Is a profession that requires study application and checks are continuous. The physical changes and privacy affect business. Our tool can't leave him somewhere finished the job: is always with us. We eat, breathe and grow old with us. Managing such a sportsman is very important if you want to have a long career.
Natalia Dantas: Because years ago dedicated itself to the Bel Canto and opera buffa, the Barber of Seville in particular?
Roberto Frontali: I started as a lyric baritone and for years I sang all the Bel Canto repertoire. Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini. A great school that allowed me to deal with the Greens in the right way and now I landed to Puccini and Verismo. With Verdi and Puccini the interpretative aspect becomes critical. It is not enough to have a beautiful voice and singing, but you need to delve into the psychology of the characters and make them live on stage.
Natalia Dantas: What changes has found its voice, if you have encountered? Which path he followed to get from Bel Canto to Verdi and Puccini? Which roles helped “pass” from one directory to another and how?
Roberto Frontali: Of course the item undergoes’ natural evolution given by time, the technique and the search continues. Going from Rossini to Verdi also changes. To sing Rossini takes agility and brilliance, to sing Verdi there needs to be a great bound, greater support and deeper. I sang Verdi early career (Traviata, Don Carlo, Ford in Falstaff) but only when I started to do the big roles of Verdi I figured out how to deal with his scores.
Natalia Dantas: Now she is an acclaimed interpreter of Verdi, also a high yield and Jago success, and Puccini. Several of these characters are defined “bad”. Cosa prova una persona aperta, simpatica, “normal” like her to play roles like Iago or Scarpia? What clicks into Roberto Frontali at the scene that led him to be a character credibly “negative”? They are also the characteristics of his voice? And’ a hidden side of his character? What is the secret of your success?
Roberto Frontali: I think the biggest challenge is to divest themselves of their cloths and best characters to life. You don't have to be bad in life to interpret roles called from “bad”. In fact they are very often pathos-filled stereotypes of mania, perverse and schizophrenics, basically very modern. So just be observant of human vices and virtues to be good performers. A little’ the work they do imitators with their victims.
Natalia Dantas: At that point in his career is believed to have reached?
Roberto Frontali: At any point. I started in 86 28 years have passed and no I didn't notice. The study, changes in repertoire and vocal trends did not give me time to set a goal or a point of arrival. Just seeing my children now adults are conscious that time has passed and in a hurry.
Natalia Dantas: Qual/li is/are still, even today, the character (s) he loves most interpret and which one (s) you plan to stage? And why?
Roberto Frontali: The next character is always the most interesting. I do not deny however to have a predilection for Iago, Falstaff and Scarpia just for the opportunity to give every word and every sentence a color and a different intention.
Natalia Dantas: In addition to the roles that have been fully tested, that you like to explore repertoire not yet explored?
Roberto Frontali: Maybe I'd do the Flying Dutchman.
Natalia Dantas: There is a character who would love so much impersonate, but that is considered unlikely, if not impossible, for its vocal characteristics of baritone?
Roberto Frontali: I think it will be difficult to do Mozart's don Giovanni a bit’ because a few Italian singers are allowed to approach this author (I can't imagine why!!) and then for reasons even personal details unless you want to do a don Juan schnitzleriano!!!
Natalia Dantas: This Tosca at the Met who just played what he means to you? We can mention his thoughts on production?
Roberto Frontali: Tosca has marked my return to the Met after 6 years of absence. A theater where I sang almost a hundred times, debuting in ' 92 with elixir of love (the same work with which I made my debut in Catania) then Lucia, Traviata, Trovatore, Luisa Miller, Falstaff, Boheme, Barber, Adriana Lecouveur, Rigoletto and Tosca now. This Tosca is a minimalist, where there are elements reminiscent of Rome, but nothing Sant'Andrea della Valle, Palazzo Farnese and Castel St Angelo nothing nothing. In this case the artists is the full brunt of the success of the show. You have to be credible at 100%.
Natalia Dantas: What do you think of staging and directing "discounted" ranging today for a major, like the one in which was set the Tosca in New York?
Roberto Frontali: The Royal are a real problem for the Opera. Often the directors of cinema or Theatre near the Opera without understanding neither the music nor the language. For example, I believe that some works need greater spectacle: Turandot, Aida, Nabucco; while others may lend itself well to most updated readings. But it takes a genius both in the case of a traditional show that in one. To be concrete, I believe that the Turandot by Zeffirelli represented these days here in New York is still highly enjoyable and spectacular despite many years after its first performance, while on the other side I found brilliant a triptych in modern version in which I participated and directed by Maitra, which among other things will be restated in season Rome Opera and performed for the first time in Italy and which will take part.
Natalia Dantas: His relationship with the public. In particular, something changes between European and non-European audiences?
Roberto Frontali: Each audience has its own characteristics: it is clear that Italian audiences can follow more closely the text. Donizetti said that Opera's words to music. It can happen for example, as here at the Met, which the audience guffaws when Tosca tells Cavaradossi "But give her black eyes ...", thinking perhaps a knockout blow.
Natalia Dantas: His future plans?
Roberto Frontali: Future engagements makes me even as Scarpia in Tokyo and London and follow sing Adriana in Brussels and Luisa Miller in Hamburg. Then, as I was saying, Tabard and Schicchi in Puccini's Triptych and Traviata at the Rome Opera.
I think it goes without saying anything but a smile and a hug.
© Natalia Dantas
Photos: © Mary Sohl/METROPOLITAN OPERA, © Marc Vanappelghem courtesy of OPERA DE LAUSANNE, © Roberto Ricci TEATRO REGIO DI PARMA, TEATRO REGIO TORINO, © Javier del Real TEATRO REAL MADRID, FACEBOOK PROFILE M° ROBERTO FRONTALI, AA. VV.