Interview: LUCA PISARONI bass-baritone debuts at the Rossini Opera Festival 2017 in the new critical edition production of Le siège de Corinthe
By William Fratti
Internationally known for being one of the most charismatic and versatile singers of his generation, the Italian bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni makes his debut at the 2017 Rossini Opera Festival in the new critical edition production of Le siège de Corinthe. “It was a wonderful experience, a very long period, but with a pleasant atmosphere. For me it was the first time in Pesaro, the first with Roberto Abbado and the first with La Fura dels Baus. Initially we are a little scared, because it is a Festival with a long history of great artists who have sung this repertoire, but we all came here to try to do the best, to get the best we can, so we gradually abandon this awe and after the first few days we work normally. The environment helps a lot, from production to the master collaborators. This opera was a new experience for everyone, in a critical edition, with a lot of music that had never been performed in modern times, including the first act concertato, some passages of the duet and many parts of the dance songs, so in the beginning we all tried to take measurements. The 2000 production was very different, it doesn't seem like it, but seventeen years makes a big difference. It was a very static show, like many others of the same repertoire, but today this has changed and little by little Rossini has been brought back to the theater thanks to the ROF. I believe that a dramatic reason must be found for everything that Rossini wrote, coloratura must not only be a bravura performance, but must also have a dramatic value and in this the Festival has changed a lot. I especially find that accompanied recitatives are beautiful and if they are performed starting from the idea that the words have the greatest importance and the music helps to comment on them, then what happens is that they acquire a power, an intention and in this I believe that we succeeded with Maestro Abbado. Ever since I worked with Harnoncourt in Salzburg, I believe that recitatives are written simply to have a structure, but then it is the performer who must give dramatic strength and phrasing, otherwise it makes no sense and that is why we have here worked a lot, because exactly like in Mozart in recitatives there is much more action than in an aria or an ensemble and the story is carried forward".
Having become famous for his Mozart singing and for having taken on the role of various characters from the classical and baroque periods, Luca Pisaroni also sang many Italian bel canto roles. “I have always kept Rossini in my repertoire and in my opinion this idea that one must specialize is no longer true for my type of voice. This is not the case for certain types of soprano, contralto or tenor, but for my vocality there is no longer this need. Think of Samuel Ramey, the great interpreter of Attila, but also the Rossini bass of reference for everyone. In the fifties these categories of singers did not exist, everything was sung and I think it is right, since there are musical intentions and a way of singing that are not only specific to Rossini, who is a somewhat hybrid composer, he has the coloratura of baroque, but the phrasing and long phrases of bel canto, a sort of bridge between these repertoires. For me these roles must be tackled by immersing oneself completely in the drama, while the idea of singing and not moving has passed. In this part I try to really give everything from an emotional point of view, I love Mahomet very much, it's a lot of fun playing bad guys on stage. It is a very complex and interesting role, because from the moment he hears Pamyra's voice his world changes. This character, who is thought to have no feelings, who is cold and only authoritarian, is not in the work; maybe it was in the real story, but here there are a lot more insecurities and a strong romantic side, especially in Le siège de Corinthe. In Mohammed II his warrior side comes out more, while in the French version I have the impression that there is less violence, especially if you think about the moment he arrives, the duet with Pamyra and the trios. I have always sung Rossini and I will continue to do so, the important thing is to sing well: I will debut in Mustafà in October in Vienna, where I will then return to Alidoro in February and honestly I would gladly return to Pesaro, but it doesn't depend on me".
The bass-baritone's vocality is also particularly suited to the French repertoire. “I have had a very cautious career, as I always thought that tackling certain roles too early was a mistake. In the Baroque and Mozart repertoire the orchestra is different and the specific weight required by the voice is less than in Rossini and even more so in the French repertoire. I waited for the right moment and last year I debuted in Méphistophélès in Faust, I will debut in Golaud in Pélleas et Mélisande in September in Paris, then in the future there will be Les contes d'Hoffmann and I would also really like La damnation de Faust, because I find that these roles are rightly written for my type of voice, which is a hybrid, it's right in the middle between bass and baritone. When I tackled Faust I was a little hesitant, because it has almost always been interpreted by pure bass vocals, but the positive discovery was that the tessitura tends towards baritone and the same goes for Golaud. I don't like categorizing voices and fortunately abroad it is done less than in Italy, in fact the importance of having the widest spectrum of repertoire is even recommended, from Lieder, to concerts, up to opera, without this idea of purity that if you sing Schubert can't sing anything else. My idea is to sing what I sing well. An older colleague once pointed out to me that if I had waited for people to tell me that I was ready to sing something other than Mozart, I would never have expanded my repertoire, because they would never have told me. You always have to push your limits a little to understand what you can sing and the truth is that you don't know if a role is right until you sing it. Sometimes you look at the score and think it's easy, then while singing there are passages with a certain texture and orchestral weight that suddenly become difficult, and other parts that seem particularly arduous but then are written so well that they succeed much more easily. There is no other way, you have to sing and sometimes you have to do a series of performances to understand if a character is really right. You develop a role by singing it, it's really difficult to completely master it the first time, while the second time it's always easier."
Luca Pisaroni made his debut with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt at the Salzburg Festival at the age of twenty-six and since then he has always been present in the most important theaters and halls in the world, while his presence in Italy can be counted on the fingers of a hand. “It wasn't my choice but it happened that way, simply because I took part in a series of auditions abroad and they started offering me roles. I find it funny that it was Alexander Pereira who invited me to La Scala and Ernesto Palacio to the Rossini Opera Festival, both non-Italian. Objectively, I grew up musically and artistically abroad and it wasn't wanted, I simply always tried to choose my commitments based on the roles that I thought I could make my own and in which I thought I could make a personal mark. I have never chosen the theaters in which to sing, while I have always been very curious about the repertoire and interested in exploring it. If I'm not mistaken, Mahomet is my thirty-second role and I have also performed many unknown works, believing that the life of a singer is beautiful because there is so much variety that keeps it interesting. I will return to La Scala next June with Fidelio and with a concert with the Philharmonic in a program of orchestrated Schubert Lieder. I love Fidelio and I'm very happy, especially I like it when a theater asks me to do these somewhat unusual roles for an Italian singer. Personally I continue to fight against stereotypes, it must not be unimaginable that an Italian is interested in singing lieder, rather than Brahms' Requiem, or other operatic repertoire other than Belcanto, Verdi and Puccini. Unfortunately it is now commonplace in Europe and also for this reason in the concert on August 15th I performed some German Lieder, I think it is right to tackle a different repertoire, since as musicians we have something unique to say regarding attention to the word, as provide sound, diction, legate and phrasing. It is important for young singers to tackle the repertoire of songs and melodies, you learn a lot about how to express something in a recital, since the first thing is to communicate with the audience, to make clear what you think of what you are singing and this helps very much also in the work”.
In June Luca Pisaroni will also be engaged in Italy with the RAI National Symphony Orchestra of Turin in a concert directed by Fabio Luisi during the Spring Festival entirely dedicated to the memory of Gioachino Rossini.
William Fratti
PHOTOS Studio Amati Bacciardi, Pesaro