| So how do you feel about your first
Tamino at the Met? Yes, it’s my first Tamino here, which is
really exciting. I was really looking forward to doing that role here,
because it’s just so gorgeous to sing in this huge house, with such
fantastic acoustics.
Is it true that at the beginning of your career in Germany, you
fought against the size of your voice?
When I was still studying and had started professional singing, people
would say, “Well, you’re young, you’re German, so you should sound like
Peter Schreier,” the symbol of this light German tenor timbre. [Schreier, a
German lyric tenor, made his Met debut as Tamino in 1967.] And it took a
while to figure out that my voice is not like his. So I shouldn’t try to
imitate him, or try to fulfill all the expectations of a young German tenor,
but just to do my thing.
You have such a wide repertoire. Do you approach different roles
differently?
Technically it’s all the same thing, and that’s one of the secrets to
keep you in shape and healthy: to sing as many different things as possible
but always with your voice. With good technique, even with a bigger voice
you’re able to sing the lightest piano, and you can show every aspect of
your vocal abilities. Especially in things like Zauberflöte, or a recital.
Mozart is really close to recital singing, because it really gives you the
possibility to do some magical things with your voice.
Is it difficult to sing in that very personalized way?
It sounds so easy to say, “Just discover your own voice,” but actually it
really takes a while until you realize “that is my sound.” And I shouldn’t
try to manipulate that; I should just let it out as it is. That’s one of the
main secrets: that singing in the end should be as natural as talking. You
just open your mouth and without thinking of any technical difficulties,
just sing as if you wanted to talk to somebody. Then it all makes sense,
since it’s much more realistic than if you just hear somebody singing a
beautiful line without any real meaning. It comes automatically once you
don’t think of technical problems. You just sing and interpret the text.
It all comes easily to you, then?
[Embarrassed laughter.] Well, surprisingly, I have to say… It frightens
me a little bit, but so far, it’s very, very easy. And that’s what for me
makes this job so much fun. Because I just say, “Oh, yes, okay, let’s go.”
It’s like being in a candy shop and saying “Oh, yes, I want to try this, and
I want to try this,” and there still is no dentist telling you should stop
eating sweets!
How did you first get into opera?
My family loves opera and classical music, so there were always the radio
or recordings of classical things playing at home. We had many subscriptions
to concert halls and to the opera, to everything, and my parents took me
even as a very young child. Everybody was playing the piano—not
performing—but just for fun. And I was always singing. In school and
everywhere.
It’s seems like you’re constantly moving in this production. Is
it hard to sing with all the set changes?
No, it’s not overly difficult. I’ve done so many German productions, very
crazy ones, where there’s much more going on, and you’re out of breath and
can hardly go on singing. This is one of the very positive things here in
the Met—that the musical quality has a very high position in the decisions
they make. I have sometimes in other theaters the impression that it’s the
other way around, that the show and all the effects is more important than
the people who are singing in the production, and it’s such a pity. The most
important point must be, “Does it work musically?” That’s why I generally
don’t think a director should decide on the singers that he is working with.
It’s the choice of the music department or of the general management, but
not for the director to say I only work with her because she is able to
climb up or jump down there.
Many reviews and other publications have addressed your sexy
image.
When people mention that, I have to tell them, “You know, I can’t build
my career on that, because this image will be going away pretty soon. The
time is ticking!” So if it’s something that is added to your ability to act
and to sing, then I’m absolutely fine with that. But if it’s only that, then
I’m starting to get in difficulties, because you can’t do that forever—just
being good-looking! |
