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SEEN AND HEARD INTERVIEW
Pure and Poignant:
Bettina Mara talks to the Greek soprano Alexia Voulgaridou (BM)
As beautiful as the city of Kavala, her hometown in Northern Greece,
Alexia Voulgaridou is an extraordinary and sought-after soprano who
built her career in Germany and has now made the hills of Tuscany
her home. She was kind enough to find time to speak to Seen and
Heard in connection with her appearances with Jonas Kaufmann in
La Bohème at Berlin’s Staatsoper unter den Linden (reviewed
here), and the first thing that struck me as we sat down in the
Staatsoper’s artists’ cafeteria was that she had lost nothing of the
unpretentious sincerity I remembered from our first brief encounter
some years ago, backstage at Mannheim’s Nationaltheater – when she
autographed my daughter’s program, saying how delighted she was to
be able to speak to her in Greek – after which she set off for home
on her bicycle. So it didn’t feel at all awkward to start out by
inquiring about her family background:
Not at all, but I do remember that my grandfather had a lovely voice
– the story in our family is that my grandmother decided to marry
him the minute she heard him sing, before she had even laid eyes on
him. But music always occupied a special place in my heart and soul
and has the capacity to move me like nothing else in the world; at
first I learned to play the piano, at one point practicing up to six
hours a day while at the same time studying law at Athens
University, until I woke up one morning and realized that all I
really wanted was to sing, to be on stage, to be an opera singer.
After studying voice at the National Conservatory, I went to Munich,
and, more or less by coincidence, was given an opportunity to have
Daphne Evangelatos listen to me sing. She told me to go back to
Athens and start over, so to speak, studying nothing but technique
with her own teacher for a while, and then come back – which I did:
I auditioned and was one of the 7 (out of 300) candidates admitted
to the “Musikhochschule” that year, and was lucky enough to be
accepted in Professor Evangelatos’ class.
And this is how you set out to make your fortune in Germany?
Yes, after completing my studies, the Munich Opernstudio provided me
with my first opportunities to appear on stage, under the guidance
of Astrid Varnay. It wasn’t long before she took me aside and told
me “Alexia, there’s nothing more for you to learn here, you need to
go move on” – and luckily I was asked to become an ensemble member
at “Nationaltheater Mannheim”, which provided me with the
opportunity to sing a wide range of roles during my five years
there. My breakthrough came when I appeared in La Bohème in
Bregenz alongside Rolando Villazon, himself a new face and fresh out
of Domingo’s Operalia competition at the time.
And Villazon is now something of an opera superstar…
Yes, but I must say that I don’t envy him his fame. Rolando is
an example of how a fine artist can be pressured to achieve too much
too quickly. You have no idea how overwhelming the stress can become
when we are expected to perform exceptionally all the time and no
matter where we may happen to be. Too much travel is imposed on us
these days as well, which may sound like a glamorous life – but
spending an enormous amount of time in airplanes, hotels, being
exposed to air conditioning, is all simply exhausting and often more
than two poor little vocal cords can bear. Mirella Freni and her
generation were never expected to work like this! Today’s massive CD
industry does a great service to the dissemination of classical
music, but it also means that live performances are oftentimes
compared to “perfect” studio recordings. Not to mention that we are
expected to somehow find access to the fountain of eternal youth
(and never, ever put on weight).
Which have been your favorite roles?
That is not entirely easy to answer, as I have loved almost
every role I have sung, but since you’ve put me on the spot, I would
probably say Desdemona – or Anna Bolena – and certainly Mimì. And I
would have to say that perhaps my favorite La Bohème was the
one in Bregenz, with those fantastic supra-dimensional sets and the
outdoor setting on the lake, the way we could hear the water
whispering and the soft breeze rustling during the performances…and
my most memorable La Bohème for me personally was definitely
the one I sang in Teneriffe in 2005 not long after my father passed
away. I remember standing on stage and feeling a new sort of
immunity – if I could bear my father’s death I could bear almost
anything, it was as if no one could harm me anymore…
You have expressed a great deal of enthusiasm about the production
of “Dialogue des Carmelites” in which you appeared in this January
in Hamburg – was this your debut as Blanche, and what was special
about it?
It was special because it was plain, in the sense of simple or pure,
but also extremely poignant, and yes, this was my debut as Blanche –
a great challenge, since it was a role that calls for an excellent
command of technique. I had to practically speak as I sang, or
include elements of my singing in my speaking voice, to put it the
other way around – which was very demanding and hard work, as
obviously this is not the kind of opera that provides singers with
romantic arias which have that popular delirium-inducing effect on
audiences…Every new role is a discovery, and this was a particularly
intense one.
What are your plans for the near future?
I’m looking forward to singing Violetta in October under Maestro
Lorin Maazel, and Liù in Sydney under Zubin Mehta, and of course
Mimì at La Scala this summer – under Gustavo Dudamel, whom I greatly
enjoyed working with here in Berlin. His is an extraordinary talent
– I don’t think I have ever seen a cast need so few rehearsals as
under his guidance.
Any dream roles you haven’t had a chance to perform yet?
Well, one is certainly Tosca, and another Madame Butterfly, when I
am ready for them – and I think that would be the just about maximum
of drama my voice can handle.
Many Greek singers who study abroad do so on a Maria Callas
scholarship, but I seem to remember you are no great friend of these
contests – would you go as far as the great musician who once said
that competitions are for horses?
I’m not sure I would go quite that far, but I’m certainly not much
in favor of them, because I feel they are often counter-productive,
in that they promote “shooting stars”, who end up singing at
countless major theaters at the age of (say) 23, and ruining a
beautiful voice; and because performing four or five arias doesn’t
mean one has what it takes to be on stage for three or four hours
during an entire opera. Having said that, I was lucky in that my
parents were able to support me financially during my studies, and I
appreciate that many young artists need scholarships, so I would
never criticize a young singer for taking part in a contest.
You do seem to miss Greece – why is it that you don’t accept work
“at home” more often?
It is strange, but Greek theaters tend to prefer to recruit foreign
artists to sing in Greece, more than Greek singers like myself
who are based abroad. Often they maintain that we demand exorbitant
fees, which is absolute nonsense. I don’t know of a single Greek
artist who would turn down an opportunity to work at home just
because of money. The last time I appeared in Greece was when I sang
Mimì
in Thessaloniki, for what I would call a token fee, but I was
thrilled to do it: it was a great honor for me to sing in my own
country, and hopefully I will be given another chance soon. It’s not
as if the theaters in Greece don’t know me.
What do you like most and what do you like least about your
profession?
Good question! By the way, my colleague Jonas Kaufmann was telling
me just the other day that a journalist interviewing him recently
asked him what his favorite drink was – can you believe that?
What I like best is how I feel when I walk out on stage. Perhaps it
could be compared to the feeling induced by an obsession or a drug:
it’s as if for days I had been hungry but denied nourishment, as if
I had been thirsty and denied water, and then all of a sudden here
is a great table laden with the finest food and drink imaginable. I
am the audience’s mother and they are my children, I have so much to
give them, but so much to take from them as well.
What I like least are perhaps the stereotypes connected to the
profession of opera singing (and perpetuated by some or our
colleagues who favor fur coats and flashy jewellery). Of course we
are special, but because of what we do on stage, and due to the
extraordinary kind of instrument we have, which needs to be
protected with great care.
What about your personal plans for the future? You seem to have left
Germany for Italy?
Yes, my home is in Tuscany how, where my fiancée lives, but I still
have a professional address in Mannheim from my days at the “Nationaltheater”.
I intend to try to spend as much time as possible at home in the
future – living out of a suitcase is not much fun in the long run,
and I’d like to start a family.
Throughout our conversation, I keep thinking that Alexia
Voulgaridou has truly come into her own: she is an artist of
exceptional poise who knows where she is headed and what is
important to her in life – and at the same time she has remained
exceptionally easygoing and pleasant to talk to. One can only look
forward to seeing and hearing as much as possible from her in
future!
Bettina Mara
Alexia Voulgarido's website is
www.voulgaridou.com
A German version of this interview appears in
Orpheus Oper
International