Adriana González was born in Guatemala and was First Prize and Zarzuela Prize of the Operalia Competition 2019, she has been acclaimed for her fantastic lyric voice and excellent musicality and is taken into account probably the most promising singers of her era. For Seen and Heard International she answered Joseph Alder’s questions.
Joseph Alder: You can be singing Verdi’s Requiem with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Fabio Luisi this month. You have already sung with Maestro Luisi on the Festival Toscani in Parma. What did you want most about working with him?
Adriana González: He is a really inspiring musician and conductor! His calm and magnificence could be very calming for a performer. It provides you a way of safety and peace. Apart from the truth that he understands singing and breath management very properly. It is simply an enormous pleasure and inspiration to work with him! I’m wanting ahead to his strategy to Verdi’s Requiem.
JA: Verdi’s Requiem could be very demanding for all of the singers however above all for the soprano. What’s the largest issue for a soprano on this piece?
AG: The tough a part of Verdi’s Requiem is the acute breath management it’s worthwhile to develop for the broad vary and spectrum of dynamics that the piece calls for. It has very dramatic elements that demand depth and energy, then the pious, imploring sections that decision for ‘piano’ and softer dynamics. It is likely one of the most completely written items I’ve ever sung and I take it on with large respect.
JA: You sang Verdi’s Requiem for the primary time in Lisbon with the Gulbenkian Orchestra and Choir carried out by Lorenzo Viotti. How have you ever ready? Did you hearken to some recordings through the technique of studying the piece?
AG: I began engaged on it a yr earlier than we carried out it. I at all times sight-read the piece and till the rating is obvious in my thoughts. It’s a chunk that takes time, so I visited my singing trainer. At this stage we simply strategy the piece technically, engaged on vowel formation, breath help and physique alignment. After that half was carried out, I labored with my coach in Paris to develop the phrasing and dynamics that may swimsuit my voice and the piece. I’ve heard it a number of instances, and naturally I search for references. It’s good to be told on what has been carried out after which make your individual selections on the way you personally need to carry out it. Then the conductors will work with you to develop the musical concepts. An enormous inspiration is in fact Montserrat Caballé together with her superb piani and galvanizing phrasing.
JA: Is your voice going into Verdi repertoire? Are there any Verdi roles you’d prefer to sing sooner or later?
My voice will certainly go into Verdi repertoire sooner or later however I’m not speeding into it. I’m having fun with singing Mimì, Liù, Micaëla and Contessa in the mean time and want to develop them to the fullest.
One of the primary large Verdi roles I’ve scheduled within the upcoming seasons is Desdemona in Otello. Then I wish to tackle Amelia in Simon Boccanegra. Eventually with time it could be a dream to carry out operas like Aida, Trovatore, Forza del destino and Don Carlo.
JA: You made your American debut on the Houston Grand Opera, singing the position of Juliette in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, reverse tenor Michael Spyres. Has singing on the HGO been a spotlight of your profession? Why?
AG: It is certainly was such an thrilling time! While finishing my research in Guatemala, I at all times thought: ‘singing in the US is a huge step into an international career…I don’t suppose I’ll ever get there’, after which that dream got here true due to Patrick Summers and his superb musical workers believing in my voice. I’m additionally very grateful to Patrick for serving to me discover my very own Juliette. He is an incredible musician and conductor. My debut was made all of the extra particular due to his steerage. My HGO debut was a triple debut: US debut, HGO home debut and position debut as Juliette. The HGO crew is implausible and the work we did impressed me a lot! The services, the stage, the executive and creative groups, the opposite singers – most roles had been solid from the HGO opera studio with stunning voices and top-notch singing. I’m very happy with our Romeo & Juliette manufacturing. I additionally am very grateful of the reception our present had. The public was at all times very enthusiastic and might’t wait to sing for them once more. HGO holds a particular half in my coronary heart!
JA: How do you strategy a brand new position? What course of do you undertake in studying and performing a job?
AG: As quickly as I get a proposal for a challenge, I analyze with my agent (a former singer himself) whether or not it’s good for my voice and growth. We resolve collectively and as soon as the contract is available in, I begin engaged on it. This may be as much as 4 years prematurely. My preparation for Juliette began 2 and a half years earlier than the primary efficiency. I’ll first learn the rating and be taught the music: make notes on dynamics, phrasing, rhythm and breath. I usually sight-read the music on an ‘i’ vowel, making an attempt to get all notes in line and being attentive to my breath management. After this lengthy course of is finished, I begin specializing in the textual content: I’ll learn the libretto and begin creating the character in my thoughts. At this level, I begin integrating the textual content into the music and discover totally different inflections to the music and textual content to specific what the character resides. Once the wedding between music and textual content is finished, it’s time to go to my singing lecturers for issues I can’t remedy on my own and to evaluate what I’ve learnt. We work technically on the harder elements of the rating. Then, I’ll go to my coaches and undergo the position: we’ll analyze the phrasing, intentions and expression within the music. Then come the rehearsals on the theater, which is the ultimate stage of preparation. At this stage we work with conductors and staging administrators to construct the present you’ll go and see. For the singer, this implies to work with the conductor to search out the tempi, dynamics and musical phrasing that work for the piece and for you. This occurs concurrently with the work of the staging director: discovering how your character interacts with its surroundings and different characters within the story. Then the performances come and the lifelong technique of maturing a job begins.
JA: During your performances of Roméo et Juliette on the Houston Grand Opera, you needed to step into the position of Liù of their Turandot directed by Robert Wilson. How was that have? Did you will have the prospect to rehearse somewhat bit with the conductor earlier than becoming a member of the solid?
AG: It was intense! I had carried out Liù for the primary time in 2019 and remembered the position fairly properly. The day of the efficiency we met with conductor Eun Sun Kim to undergo the position after which I observed my Liù didn’t really feel the identical – the voice had grown. So I needed to work on it earlier than the efficiency to recalibrate my breath help and in addition adapt my voice from singing Gounod to singing Puccini.
All of this occurred in the midst of Roméo et Juliette exhibits, so I needed to be cautious to be well-rested and take care of my voice. HGO was very supportive in the entire course of.
Jump-ins are at all times bittersweet, as a result of whilst you get to sing an incredible position, there’s somebody that’s sick and out of labor. Through the COVID pandemic we obtained reasonably extra acutely aware of how necessary total well being is normally and particularly for a singing profession. We must be very cautious to be in form, not get sick and nonetheless get pleasure from life.
JA: You have simply made your home debut on the Dutch National Opera singing the position of Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen staged by Robert Carsen. What do you want most about singing the position of Micaëla? How do you view the character and the way has your interpretation advanced over time?
AG: Micaëla is the position I’ve carried out probably the most up to now: six productions and counting! I really like Micaela’s music…It’s a really grateful position: has a duet, an aria and a few good scenes with the refrain, plus the storyline that wins over the general public’s sympathy. It is sort of a pause within the wild world of Carmen. Even although it’s brief, it’s fairly difficult, and relying on the staging may be fairly difficult. The aria is a continuous 5 and a half minutes of intense respiratory! Micaela is her personal particular person. She searches for the person she loves throughout the mountains and miles away from dwelling – a very tough and strenuous voyage on the time. Then when she finds him, she stands as much as a gaggle of gypsies and is dedicated to fulfilling her mission: taking him again dwelling to his dying mom with the hope that he’ll keep and marry her. This lady is brave and decided, even when very obligation certain…I at all times have thought she is a girl who stands up for obligation, honor and love.
JA: Later this month you can be singing once more this position on the Opéra Bastille in Paris. You have been a member of the Atelier Lyrique de l’Opéra nationwide de Paris. How do you’re feeling returning to the Opéra Bastille to sing for the primary time a major position in Calixto Bieto’s manufacturing of Carmen?
AG: It is like coming again dwelling. Paris is my base and has been since I arrived in 2014 to work on the Atelier Lyrique. I’m wanting ahead to seeing all of the individuals who fashioned me and to share with them what they helped develop. I at all times mentioned {that a} singer stands alone on stage, however isn’t actually alone as a result of we feature with us all of the information and help of the individuals who have fashioned us. So I’m very grateful and excited to be returning!
JA: You had been the winner of the First and Zarzuela Prizes on the Operalia Competition in 2019. What did that imply to you? Did your profession change after profitable Operalia? Are the competitions helpful for the younger singers? Why?
AG: Operalia is likely one of the greatest competitions on the market: the group, the publicity and the prospect to work with Plácido Domingo. My expertise was nice and demanding! I obtained sick and misplaced my voice proper after the semifinals… then after two days of silence, I opened my mouth for the ultimate spherical and received. It taught me loads about resilience and endurance, and that in the end the competitors is barely in opposition to your self. It meant loads to my crew and myself to win this competitors, and in addition for a lot of singers again dwelling in Guatemala. I used to be the primary Guatemalan lady to win Operalia, in order that impressed many singers again dwelling to pursue opera and for the nation to help opera a bit extra. Personally, it was additionally a reasonably bittersweet as my first singing trainer, Barbara Bickford, had simply handed away a month earlier than. She believed in me from the very begin and is the one who impressed me to sing opera on the age of 17. She would have been completely thrilled! Whether you win or not, Operalia’s group ensures that you simply audition for the casting administrators of among the most distinguished opera theaters on the earth, all in as soon as place. So be it New York, Paris, Vienna…you haven’t any have to go to all these locations to audition as a result of they’re all there within the jury, and plenty of others are watching the printed, so it is a competitors that offers you quite a lot of publicity. That being mentioned, it’s worthwhile to current your self at your greatest, displaying what you are able to do that nobody else can.
My profession did change after Operalia and folks’s curiosity in my singing grew, and with that my sense of duty additionally grew. Competitions are a very good factor, and whereas they aren’t for everybody, it’s undoubtedly a giant alternative for younger singers. It is when you’re a younger singer that you simply want probably the most assist. Consider the prices alone: coachings, singing classes, osteopaths, flights, practice tickets, resorts, agent commissions, taxes…And the listing goes on…The price of an opera profession is a giant funding, so should you get a prize at a contest it may well assist you numerous. Never hesitate to help younger singers!
I additionally received second prize within the Viñas competitors in Barcelona and first prize within the Otto Edelmann competitors in Vienna. Both competitions introduced a lot to my profession too and I extremely suggest them.
JA: What repertoire fits higher your voice? Do you will have a favorite language once you sing? Why?
AG: I’ve a particular love for Puccini. Liù and Mimì are two roles that I’ve loved performing a lot. The music has a lot emotion and wonder. It is tough for me not get emotional whereas singing this music. It is past me. I’m taking over Suor Angelica quickly and am wanting ahead to additional discovering Puccini’s music. Italian and Spanish are my languages of choice, however I additionally get pleasure from French with all its vowel complexities. These are all languages I communicate, and whereas I really like the Russian language, I wouldn’t dare to sing in it as I don’t communicate it. As a singer it’s worthwhile to perceive what you’re saying, so talking the language is a vital facet for me.
JA: Outside of what you do, what else does Adriana González have a ardour for?
AG: History, cooking and pictures. I at all times thought I’d be an archeologist in Guatemala if I couldn’t be a musician.
JA: Tell us about your upcoming tasks.
AG: After the Verdi Requiem in Dallas, I fly again to Europe for my third recording challenge with Audax Records. The recording À deux voix can be carried out to spotlight unknown French duets with my pricey mezzo pal Marina Viotti. There will embody two world premieres. The complete challenge was conceived by conductor Iñaki Encina Oyón who will be a part of us on the piano. The recording is about to be launched subsequent yr. Then in direction of the top of November I return to the Opéra National de Paris as Micaela till December third. Towards the top of the yr, I’ll make my debut on the Concertgebouw with an arias and duets live performance with Lorenzo and Marina Viotti. The second half of the season is stuffed with one other Verdi Requiem in Asturias, Spain, a Micaëla on the Opéra de Toulon and a Liù on the Opéra National du Rhin earlier than a serious debut in the summertime which I can not but disclose. I’ll maintain you posted!
JA: Thank you for answering Seen and Heard’s questions and luxuriate in your time in Dallas.