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Rossini: Colbran, the Muse
Joyce DiDonato

CDs: 1
Tracks: 16

Virgin Classics
Rel. 6 Oct 2009

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On Wednesday, October 14, 2009, Artistic Director Dr. Nolan Gasser spoke with acclaimed mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, then a week into a celebrated Metropolitan Opera run of Rossini's comedic masterpiece, Il barbiere di Siviglia, where she reprises her signature role of Rosina through November 4. In this compelling interview, Ms. DiDonato discusses the origins of her thrilling new Virgin Classics collection of Rossini arias, Colbran, the Muse, and her deliberate approach to producing a studio recording of operatic masterworks. Ms. DiDonato also discusses her musical approach to the coloratura repertories of composers like Handel, Mozart, and Rossini, the career insights she shares with young singers, and much more. There's even a comic word about her now-infamous "break a leg" moment at the Royal Opera House last July.

“I think it's quite an amazing opportunity to explore these compositions that a husband wrote for his wife in such a spectacular fashion!”

• Nolan Gasser: Let's start with the new album, the collection of Rossini arias entitled Colbran the Muse: I can sense from your blog, your website, and from other things I've read that there's been a lot of enthusiasm leading up to this release. Can you talk about what this project has meant to you personally and professionally, and perhaps a bit about your specific idea to focus on the passionate, creative relationship between Rossini and his long-time prima donna Isabella Colbran – with whom I assume you've formed a kind of spiritual bond?

• Joyce DiDonato: Yes, I have a lot of enthusiasm about it! I intentionally set up the chronology of my solo discs: I wanted to start with Handel [Furore: Handel Opera Arias] and do something a bit more boutique and specialized. And with Rossini, I didn't want to do an easy compilation disc, of which there are already a lot – with "Una voce poco fa" [Il barbiere di Siviglia] and "Non più mesta" [La cenerentola], etc. I wanted to do a "big-girl grown-up" disc. The Colbran roles have long been on my radar screen, and now it seemed that the timing was right. I've recently added a few more dramatic roles to my repertoire, along with more bel canto singing, and I thought: these things I've previously dipped my toe into have set the stage for me to attack this repertoire in a manner you can't do halfway. Certainly a number of these roles – from Semiramide to Elena to Armida – have such a history of the greatest singers putting their stamp on them. And I knew that when I did this disc, it would have to be my voice and my temperament 100%. This is something I've been building up to over the years; Rossini has probably been the most prominent composer in my career, and I wanted to do him justice. I wanted to show the world that he's not just an "oom-pa-pa" composer – though the cognoscenti already know that – that some of the music he wrote, especially for his wife [Isabella Colbran], was so rich, and a real precursor to Verdi and to the verismo movement. And it was important for me to take that very seriously.

  As for the idea of his operas for Isabella, it's interesting to me from a scholastic point of view; there's a lot of intrigue in trying to dissect what her voice was all about, and how quickly it failed her, but also how much she must have been able to do in her prime. I tend to romanticize it a bit and get away from the history books. My imagination runs with the idea of her leaning over his shoulder saying, "Give me a high c' there... ," or "Oh, let's do a big chromatic run there so I can really shine...", or "I need a little bit more time after I faint..." – you know, we have that interminable minute in the Armida Finale, where the second violins just repeat the same note: dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun... [laughter]. I'm curious to know how some of those things came about, whether it was his idea inspired by her artistry and dramatic temperament, or if she was pushing him to make it more exciting and to challenge her. I think it's quite an amazing opportunity to explore these compositions that a husband wrote for his wife in such a spectacular fashion!

• NG: I guess that's why it's called Colbran, the Muse and not Colbran, the Wife...

• JD: Or, the prima donna...

• NG: That makes a lot of sense; and given your following, you have the ability to help your fans and fellow music-lovers better explore Rossini's music. Because even if people do know that he's not just the "oom-pa-pa" or the William Tell Overture composer, we all can use a reminder of the glorious music that he wrote.

• JD: Yes, and I think it's also interesting to put them all into one place, so you can compare, say, Armida's big aria ["Dove son'io"] with that of Desdemona ["Deh calma, o ciel, nel sonno"]. You get this nice cross-reference of a composer at his peak. Yes, he recycled things and could get a bit formulaic, but there's nothing really formulaic here. Even "Tanti affetti" [La donna del lago] is such an inspired culmination of that opera. It's quite spectacular. The other thing that was really important for me on this disc was finding the right orchestra and conductor, who would take this music seriously. And Santa Cecilia – my gosh – they've got this in their veins! And they played it with a bit of blood, you know, it wasn't "precious" – they really played into it. And, the chorus as well; having the chorus on some six or eight of the numbers, you get a bit of the majesty of the opera – that this was a grand opera. There's nothing apologetic about it.

• NG: Yes, there's something special when Italians perform Italian music.

• JD: Oh, there is!

• NG: It seems as if one of the great advantages for an opera singer who attains a noted level of success, as you have, is the ability to not only perform and record complete operas, but also to focus on a more purely "musical" approach – on the arias of a single composer, as you have done here, as with your album Furore, dedicated to Handel arias. Can you talk about this more purely musical approach of being in the studio, and how singing arias in this more "absolute" environment, away from the drama, affects how you approach the music?

• JD: It's interesting: one of the things I've had to do is learn how to record and how to perform in the studio. I'm quite fortunate in that I've had a lot of opportunity to do it over the years, which has been great. In the beginning, I would worry about being perfect, and that inhibits expression because you're worried about vocal alignment; you're worried about precision because it's going to be recorded for all of prosperity. So, I've had to learn how to take the straight jacket off and really attack things right from the beginning and not wait until the fifth take to loosen up and get into the mode.

  It's a bit of a sterile environment if you're not careful. You've got this metallic microphone right in front of you, staring down at you, waiting for you to fail or to blow the high note. The mental workout and the concentration that you go through in a recording is quite extreme, I have to say. So, it's different than a performance. A performance you get in a groove and you have this big arc, whereas in a recording, from the first note of the first take, you have to be fully engaged in the character. Actually, it's more engaged than on stage because you don't have the help of tools such as costumes and movement and facial expressions and gestures. It's strictly acting with the voice. And so there has to be... I won't say an exaggeration, but the expression has to be very very concise, clear and strong, so that the listener, who has no benefit of any kind of physical visual aid, can get the extremity of these emotions of these characters. It's something I've had to learn – and that's why I don't think I would have been ready to make this disc five years ago.

• NG: I'm sure this is especially interesting when it's an aria you've sung on stage – and in fact, I understand that you've recorded in these same sessions some arias from roles that you've clearly owned in performance, most notably Rosina's "Una voce poco fa" from Il barbiere – which you're singing right now at the Met? What was that like?

• JD: It was a lot of fun actually, and sort of the barometer for me, of how I wanted to feel about these other arias, because I have yet not performed any of those other roles [featured on the album] on stage. I will debut La donna del lago this year, but I haven't yet performed any of them, and so it was easy to feel that I was at a disadvantage. But "Una voce" we actually recorded on the first day, and it really set the temperature for the freedom and the elasticity I wanted with the rest of the pieces. I had to have a strong imagination. I had to work out my approach without the benefit of having sung the roles on stage; I had to really find the character, where she was emotionally in that moment in the drama, and to bring that to life. I'm certain that my "Tanti affetti" will be very different at the end of my Paris run next year, after I've done ten performances [as Elena]. I'm sure I would record it very differently as well, but I made some very strong choices in all these pieces, and splashed the paint on the wall, so to speak.

• NG: You spoke about how supportive your label EMI has been toward keeping the artistic standards high, in spite of our troubling industry; how specifically did the Rossini project come to be – was it your own inspiration? And all the details – to get to record it in Rome with the Santa Cecilia Academy – that must have been nice?

• JD: Absolutely. I know that the opportunities for recording are getting fewer and fewer. But, I'll tell you, I have such faith in what we do and in the importance and necessity of this kind of music! We're in a transitional period, and maybe it's the fact that nobody really knows where exactly it's going. But [operatic] music has been around for 400 years, and the recorded voice has been around for some hundred years now. So, I have real faith that as a society we need this in our lives, and I do think it's going to survive. It's going to morph, and maybe we have to be creative, perhaps changing ours idea from what's worked in the past. But, the biggest mistake would be to start "dumbing it down", and to start compromising the artistic ideals of what we've worked for these last decades. I'm very happy to be with EMI and Virgin, and to be part of a team that feels strongly about the quality of what we do. That they invest in the cost of an Italian orchestra and chorus to put something like this on – that's just quite spectacular!

• NG: It's in the nature of art to lift us up, and so it's important that we don't dip down simply to satisfy the economic need of the moment.

• JD: Exactly, I agree.

• NG: I recently read your quite evocative praise of working with Maestro [Valery] Gergiev in London on Berlioz' Damnation of Faust, in your first experience as Marguerite – was that a concert version?

• JD: Yes, a one-off concert.

• NG: You've now sung a number of roles and works of Berlioz – in France and in the States – and you've recorded Benvenuto Cellini. I liked what you wrote about his "near demented, yet utterly enthralling music". Indeed, you seem to have an affinity for his music, which in general is getting a lot of attention lately. Any plans for a dedicated Berlioz album?

• JD: Well, not necessarily dedicated only to Berlioz, but he will absolutely play a part in future projects – definitely. He certainly had a real affinity, and a wonderful way with a mezzo voice. And, boy, to sing his music... it's my Puccini, it's the closest I'll get to singing Puccini.

• NG: Sticking with questions of repertory for a bit more; you have a broad portfolio, though with a sweet spot ranging from the late-Baroque (Handel) to Mozart to the early Romantic era (with Rossini and Berlioz); so much of this music, of course, combines wonderful melodic lyricism with the more technically challenging coloratura effects of tricky runs, trills, etc. (as in "Quant'è grato all'alma mia", from Elisabetta, regina d'Inghliterra). Is this combination part of your attraction to the repertoire – to be able to use not only your espressivo and cantabile gifts, but also to employ your obvious technical chops?

• JD: Absolutely. The more I do it, the more I focus on how much Handel requires, and how much singing his music has taught me. You have to actually work quite hard to make those pieces come to life. There's such repetition of text and of notes. And when you have these wonderful composers who employ both ends of the spectrum – from the slow legato, piano, heart-wrenching torment to the jubilant fortissimo, prestissimo, fireworks type of thing – I find myself in every direction as an artist. And that's thrilling! It's not necessarily always the easiest path, but it's certainly the most rewarding. These composers – all of the ones that you listed – even Berlioz... he asks a lot of the voice. I think number one, it's going to put me in good stead for longevity, because you have to keep your voice in good shape to pull off, technically, the things that are asked for. You can't have excess tension, or push too much, because otherwise you get in trouble that way. It's quite exciting and wonderful.

• NG: I see that you've also done a fair bit of contemporary opera, especially earlier in your career, as well as other contemporary works – such as Peter Lieberson's song cycle with Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic – how does this experience differ from embodying more standard rep roles; and do you have any upcoming plans for new operas and new works?

• JD: I hope so. I'll revisit [Jake Hegge's] Dead Man Walking in Houston. The wonderful thing this did was to teach me how to really read a score. When you're doing a premiere where there's no recorded history or tradition, you're strictly relying on what the composer gives you on the page; and perhaps a conversation or two about what his vision was. And that gave me a new idea of how to approach a role: so, when I'm to sing [Donna] Elvira, I'm not going to first listen to a bunch of recordings; rather, I'm going to sit at the piano with the score and see what Mozart actually put on the page. It's really revolutionized the way I prepare music.

• NG: Interesting. Speaking of embodying roles, you've been quite adept at debuting new roles for yourself, often several in the same season; and I liked the advice you recently gave a group of young singers at a Master Class, about asking questions of the characters they sing, and about the psychology behind their expressions – as with Donna Elvira's state of mind toward Don Giovanni when she sings her arias, etc. Can you talk a bit about your approach to "inhabiting", as you say, the roles you sing?

• JD: A lot of that has come from the Handel and the bel canto roles I've sung; you have these long extended vocal runs that could be just vocalizes. But in order for me to sell them when I'm on stage, I have to understand the psychology behind them. Why is this character, in this moment, having to explore the emotion through all these runs?

  For example, one of the arias I worked on in that class was the "Ah! chi mi dice mai", Elvira's entrance aria [from Don Giovanni]. At the very end of that she has [JD sings an arpeggio run], and she repeats it. And so I said, "This can't be just repetition for the sake of repetition, because Mozart didn't work that way." It could be a couple things: maybe the first time she's not convinced that she'll really be able to exact revenge on Giovanni, or that she has the nerve to do it. So, maybe she's working up the nerve [JD sings the same arpeggio passage, though now with more intensity], saying, "C'mon, you can do it!" And with this second time, she's decided: "Yes, actually, I do have the power", and then it's fire and determination and no looking back! Or, as another take, on the first one, she's thinks, carelessly, "Yes, I can do that." But with the second one she thinks, "Oh, now I'm not so sure I can."

  So, that there's always a subtext – there's always a question being asked. There's always some sort of explanation happening with these characters. To me, there's a real individuality that comes out on stage with these characters. My Elvira would not be like the great Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, no matter how hard I tried [laughter]. It's something individual, and you're actually saying something meaningful; you're not just vocalizing – and there's nothing I detest more than just vocalizing [laughter]!

• NG: It's also part of the challenge of singing those da capo arias of Handel: how do you get a new sense of meaning and a new sense of forward development in the reprise?

• JD: Yes, absolutely – there has to be a reason for it. Sometimes it is to show off the voice – there is that element. And the audience wants that, and the composer, I think, wants that as well. But at the same time, there has to be dramatic impulse. I think that's one of the great things with this Handel resurgence that we've had recently. We've had real theatrical directors come in and explore what these possibilities might be, so it's not just empty singing. I think that's why people sometimes say, "Oh, Handel is boring", or "Rossini is boring." Yes, sometimes [their music] is – if the singer is not saying anything with all those notes; yes, then it's ridiculous. But, maybe, it's not such a high artistic thing, maybe it's just that I don't want to look stupid [laughter]. If I'm just going "La-la-la-la-la," it doesn't mean anything. So, you know, it might just be self-preservation more than anything.

• NG: Well, fear is always a good motivator.

• JD: It is, absolutely. It may not be ideal, but it does motivate.

• NG: One last question about repertoire: I read that prior to having an interest in opera, you had your sights set on Broadway. To my knowledge, you haven't really gone back in that direction since your operatic career has taken off. Has the interest in Broadway waned, or can we expect at some time a Broadway album, or perhaps even a role on stage?

• JD: Oh, my gosh! Can you imagine me playing Gypsy Rose or Auntie Mame? I would never, ever put limitations on anything I do. I look at ten years ago, if somebody had told me I'd be doing what I'm doing right now, I would have said, "You're crazy!" What I've learned is that the last thing I want to do is put any kind of limitations on anything – so I'm open. Again, if I have something to say, and if it's a worthwhile quality project, I'm probably game for just about anything [laughter].

• NG: Well, as artists, we have to keep our options open, both in terms of our artistic needs and our career needs.

• JD: Absolutely. That's certainly what the great artists did in the past, and what the great composers have done. So, I'll follow their lead happily.

• NG: I'm also intrigued – as you perhaps can tell – by your heavy involvement in the social media realm – with a steady blog and on-line journal (both going back to 2005). Clearly you enjoy keeping in touch with your fans. What does this process mean for you as an artist, and keeping your sanity as a person. And do you think this is now an integral part of being an artist in the early 21st Century?

• JD: I think it is, if you're interested in doing that. I don't think it's interesting if you just do it because everybody else is doing it; only if you actually have something to say... For me, I've always enjoyed writing, and I think there's a hunger from people to understand the process behind the scenes. People write me, and they're sometimes very appreciative of the things I say. It's also a chance for me to express gratitude and share my thoughts. Sometimes, if I've been dormant on [the blog], they'll say, "Where have you been?" And I'll say, "Sorry, but writing is not my career – it's supplemental; I'm a singer first..." Well, actually, I'm a person first, and I happen to sing. But I think my interest in writing goes back to my roots, in wanting to be a teacher and an educator: I like to give a full picture and have it available there if people want it.

• NG: I read an interview with you a few years ago by Opera News, where you accounted your less than golden-spooned career ascent, and the challenges you had in your early schooling, especially at the Academy of Vocal Arts (in Philadelphia) – and the lessons you learned about how building a career lies in your own hands, not those of a manager or teacher. Is this part of your agenda in teaching young singers now?

• JD: Yes, because the really harsh reality is that among the students who start out wanting to sing, the number of them that are actually going to make it is quite small. So, my approach is always sort of holistic: the goal isn't necessarily to open the season at the Met; the goal has to be a musical journey, a personal journey. Then, if they have to take a different path, to be a teacher, to be an accountant, to be an arts administrator – they have this strong foundation as a human being. Not just this small, tunnel-vision, small-world view of what it is to be a singer. I'm a big believer in that.

• NG: As an aside, have you received any subsequent "mea culpas" from the Academy, wanting to claim back their very distinguished alum?

• JD: Well, no. Sometimes it's easy for people to sort of re-write history a little bit. For me, I wouldn't change anything that happened. My experience at Academy of Vocal Arts, and at other venues as well, was exactly what it needed to be. And it was hard! But, come on – I mean you're talking about being an artist! It's not always an easy, direct path. So, I wouldn't change a thing. They have been very generous and have supported me, and I'm going back to sing on their 75th Anniversary Gala; and I'm honored and thrilled to do it.

• NG: So, all is good there?

• JD: Yeah, all is good.

• NG: Finally, and I know you've written and spoken all too much about this, but I have to ask if you can reflect a bit for us on that fateful day this past July at the Royal Opera House in London, when you literally "broke a leg" [during a performance of Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia]? Thinking back, what happened, and how, if at all, has that endearing story affected your career – or how you walk on stage?

• JD: Well, it's changed the kind of shoes that I wear, and I've put into my contracts that I have to approve the shoes and footwear, so that's my first real move into "divadom" [laughter]. In fact, one of the things it did was to prove that "the show must go on." It put me back into the sense of improvising on stage – which is something I've always aspired to do, so that it never feels canned, and always feels fresh. But this was certainly a literal example of having to listen and improvise. Because that second night out – well, even the first night when I was hobbling along on a leg – I had about an hour and a half to get used to a wheelchair.

  And the cast was told about an hour beforehand, "She's going to be in a wheelchair down in front of the stage." And we simply had to make it work. And it was thrilling, dare I say – it was a really exciting show! And I hope to always carry that with me – that sense of: "you never really know what's going to happen next!"

• NG: Right, the precariousness of life.

• JD: Exactly.

• NG: Well, I won't tell you to "break a leg". I will instead wish you "in the mouth of the wolf".

• JD: I appreciate that [laughter].