La Sonnambula Transmission Transcript
Item 5 Giddens Show Intro & Peter Gelb Interview
[MUSIC]
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Hello. I'm Rhiannon Giddens. Welcome to the new season of The Met Live in HD. Today you're in for a treat. That's because we’re performing Bellini’s La Sonnambula, one of the greatest showcases for thrilling bel canto vocalism. As opera afficionados already know, bel canto means beautiful singing, a style of operatic composition employed by Bellini and other composers of his time in the early- to mid-19th Century.
And our two stars today, American soprano Nadine Sierra, and Spanish tenor Xabier Anduaga, are among the greatest bel canto singers of this or any other generation. But before Nadine and Xabier dazzle us with their virtuosity, here is Met General Manager, Peter Gelb.
PETER GELB: Hi Rianna.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Hello.
PETER GELB: Thank you so much for hosting today. And I would like to say to our audiences around the world, uh, who are watching, uh, thank you for, for being part of our global audience, and also to our audiences in the United States, many of whom I know today have been marching, or will be marching, or wish they were marching. And for all of them, I would like you to know, for all of our audiences, that the Met stands for freedom of artistic expression always.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Amen. And congrats on the start of another cinema season. Now, you have two incredible singing, singers kicking things off with La Sonnambula today. Can you tell us about them?
PETER GELB: Well, you know, in Nadine and Xabier, we have not only two incredible singers, but maybe two of the greatest singers in operatic history. Um, Nadine is at her absolute vocal prime. Xabier is a rising superstar tenor, uh, sounds like a young Pavarotti. And these are two voices that, uh, if any, if voices could soothe the world’s problems, they, it would be theirs.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Well, we certainly need them today. As you enter in your 20th season, 20th season, as the head of the Met, what are you the most excited about?
PETER GELB: Well, of course, I’m always excited about what we’re putting on the stage, uh, and we have a great season, which we’ve already started, and, and that lies ahead of us. But I’m also excited about the role that opera plays, uh, in the troubled world in which we live in today.
I mean the, you know, the ancient Greeks knew that the arts were a key element of a civilized society. Performing arts continue to play that role, opera being the most complicated, complex, and most, uh, rewarding of all the performing arts, in my opinion, uh, has an even more important role to play today than ever before.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Opera is always relevant. Thank you so much for speaking with me, Peter. And toi, toi, toi for the new season.
PETER GELB: Thank you so much for hosting this show today. Thanks so much.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Vincenzo Bellini was one of the bel canto masters who channeled all the emotion and drama of his operas through the long, beautiful vocal lines of his characters. With La Sonnambula he puts his melodic powers in the service of a psychologically rich story of an innocent village girl who sleepwalks her way into scandal, ostracism, and in this new production directed by Rolando Villazón, ultimate liberation.
Villazón has placed the action in a closed, repressive community. In this world, Amina, sung by Nadine Sierra, is about to marry her beloved Elvino, played by Xabier Anduaga. But their love is put to the test by her mysterious sleepwalking.
Maestro Riccardo Frizza is ready to go to the pit. Here is La Sonnambula.
Item 7 Transition Interview
[APPLAUSE]
NADINE SIERRA: Thank you. Hi there.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Nadine. Hello and bravissima.
NADINE SIERRA: Thank you so much. What a whirlwind.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: I know. I can’t believe you have to talk all of that. But your vocal virtuosity is incredible. How do you do it?
NADINE SIERRA: I don’t know.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: I know, what a stupid question. But we, we all want to know.
NADINE SIERRA: Well, I’ve been training voice since I was six years old.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Wow.
NADINE SIERRA: And I got into opera when I was ten years old. And probably my teachers are watching, Kamal Khan and Cesar Ulloa. Hi, you guys. I’ve been working with then since I was 13 years old.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Wow.
NADINE SIERRA: So, we’ve had a 23-year-long experience together.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Incredible.
NADINE SIERRA: And so, I think that’s it. It’s just preparation, training, staying humble and being patient.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: I’m sure they’re ecstatic about the performance.
NADINE SIERRA: I hope so.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Is this the most demanding of your bel canto roles, do you think?
NADINE SIERRA: Yes, it’s quite demanding. Yeah, and I feel like every, you know, every year that I’m getting older, the voice is maturing, the voice is changing. And so, I’m just going with the flow and seeing where my voice goes as I, yeah, grow older. But yes, it’s very, very difficult.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Well, I learned that when you were a kid you had some sleepwalking experience.
NADINE SIERRA: I did.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Now, can you, have you actually been able to pull that into this role?
NADINE SIERRA: Yeah, of course. Well, just the information that was given to me by my mother, she had this idea from, I think I was sleepwalking from four to seven years old.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Wow.
NADINE SIERRA: Yeah, but I was carrying a lot of stress as a child, inside. And I think that was my coping mechanism, I suppose. And I think it’s Amina’s coping mechanism.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Incredible.
NADINE SIERRA: She’s, yeah, she’s dealing through her stresses of the village, this sort of sect life that she leads. And then, of course, having Elvino, whom she loves desperately, but there are, you know, complications with their love story a little bit.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Well, I bet you never thought you’d be able to pull that into anything.
NADINE SIERRA: Yeah, never. No, never, never.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Well, since you’re so active on Instagram, we asked your followers to send in some questions and we were inundated. So, Maximillian 07 wants to know, do you have a specific ritual or mindset before stepping on stage?
NADINE SIERRA: Yeah. I just, I just try to be grateful, you know, grateful for the, the moment that I have, being here, being at the Met. Um, and I, you know, I think about my loved ones. I think about God even. I’m, I’m a woman of faith, and so I think about that as well. And I, I think of all my teachers too, who have always been rooting for me, teaching me all that they know, and supporting me all this, all this time. So, I think it’s just staying humble, staying grateful, and hoping for the best.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: That makes, all of that makes sense.
NADINE SIERRA: Yeah.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Nellyseifelnas, I’m not sure, quite sure I got that right.
NADINE SIERRA: That’s okay.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Asked, what sis one piece of advice that you would give your former 25-year-old self?
NADINE SIERRA: Oh, goodness.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Right. That’s a good one.
NADINE SIERRA: Yeah, it is a good one. I, I would, I guess the advice I would give is to just keep going and to love yourself. You know, I think artists have this tendency, oftentimes, to really judge and critique ourselves, sometimes a little bit too harshly, because we want to be the best and we don’t want to disappoint anyone or ourselves. And I definitely carried that when I was 25 years old, I’d say, in my 20s, in general. And so, I, I think I would tell her, don’t worry, just love yourself, keep being patient and, uh, take, take care of yourself. You know, a lot of self-love and self-help.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Well, I think we could all take that on board. But we’re going to give you a little rest.
NADINE SIERRA: Sure. No worries.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Because you’ve got some big stuff coming up in Act II. Thank you so much for speaking with me.
NADINE SIERRA: Oh, thank you.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: And toi, toi, toi for the second half.
NADINE SIERRA: Thank you so much. Bye.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Bye.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: With today’s new production, director Rollando Villazón has imagined the Swiss alpine setting of La Sonnambula as a rigid place, where the community rejects individualism. We spoke to Rolando recently about this approach.
Item 8 ROLL-IN B Rollando Villazón
ROLANDO VILLAZÓN: I mean, it’s all fun that nobody knows where she comes from. It’s a character that wants to belong to the society, but there is something in herself that tells her you are not like that. And so the concept I came up with is, to transform this community into a very strict community, very patriarchal, parochial community, very religious.
[MUSIC]
The chorus and the people of the town are very formal, have asked them to keep the elbows next to the body so that everything is like this, we don’t shake hands.
[MUSIC]
The set is--we’ve created this square surrounded by doors, by the houses, by the private world where things happen inside that we don’t know what happen. But once we are in the square, we behave the way we have to behave, and we have behind the mountains, long, big landscapes. Everything is white. Everything has the feeling of the snow, of isolation.
[MUSIC]
Amina, she’s in contact with nature. She wants to rejoice, but she’s supposed not to express all of that. So, I create, before anything happens, already a conflict between herself and the society.
[MUSIC]
She lives in a constant tension, trying to fit in the society and trying to be who she really is. And, uh, to make it symbolic, poetic if you want, I have a character who comes from outside, from the mountains, and keeps calling Amina to join her. This is the call of the wild, the call of search inside of you.
[MUSIC]
Then we go into the sleepwalking mind of Amina. We enter the way she sees things while she’s sleepwalking. Sleepwalking was at fashion at the moment of the Bellini story. The border between science and magic was still not very clear, so sleepwalking was kind of a mysterious condition that attracted lots of attention. And so, sleepwalking in our story is the moment of complete freedom of Amina, the moment the tension, and the internal fight is gone.
[MUSIC]
It’s in this state that she liberates herself from the voice that is telling her, you shouldn’t do that, you shouldn’t feel like this, you shouldn’t enjoy life like this. She becomes who she is, and she forgets about the rules that are limiting her. She will have to make a decision, uh, whether she stays in the society, marries Elvino and becomes one of them, whether that is her happiness, or whether being who she is, and joining the call of the wild is her true happiness. I let the audience discover that. [LAUGHS]
[MUSIC]
Item 9 READ: Giddens Neubauer... / Johnson / Throw to break
RHIANNON GIDDENS: It’s always good to have the director’s perspective. The Met’s Live in HD series is made possible thanks to its founding sponsor, the Neubauer Family Foundation. Digital support is provided by Bloomberg Philanthropies. The Met Live in HD series is in partnership with Rolex. Today’s performance of La Sonnambula will also be heard later this season over the Robert K. Johnson Foundation Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network.
We’ll be back after our break.
[INTERMISSION]
Item 11 PSA / Fundraising / Throw to tape
[BACKGROUND SOUND]
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Welcome back. As a singer and musician myself, I find it thrilling to experience the vocalism we’re witnessing today. Nadine Sierra and Xabier Anduaga are truly something to behold on cinema screens. But I must tell you, as extraordinary as these artists sound in movie theaters, they sound even better here in the opera house. Nothing can compare to the power of unamplified operatic voices, live and in person. So, come to the Met or visit your local opera company.
La Sonnambula is one of six new productions the Met is staging this season. But as you can imagine, creating new productions and sharing them with audiences around the world is very, very expensive. Ticket sales cover only a fraction of the costs. So, the Met relies on opera lovers like you to help make up the difference.
If you love this incomparable art form, we ask you to please consider making a contribution to the Met. To make a donation, you can visit us at MetOpera.org/donate. You can also text HD Live to 44321 to make a contribution. Or call us at 212-362-0068. And we thank you for your invaluable support.
Today marks the start of the Met’s movie theater season. Here’s a look at what’s coming up.
[MUSIC / VIDEO]
Item 13 READ: Giddens intro La Bohème clip
RHIANNON GIDDENS: As we just saw, the next live cinema transmission will be Puccini’s La Bohème, starring soprano Juliana Grigoryan as Mimi and tenor Freddie De Tommaso as Rodolfo. They are two of operas most charismatic rising stars. Juliana and Freddie had their final dress rehearsal yesterday and we have a short clip of their Act I duet, “O soave fanciulla.”
[VIDEO]
Item 15 a) INTERVIEW: Giddens w/ Juliana Grigoryan & Freddie De Tommaso
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Juliana Grigoryan and Freddie De Tommaso are here with me now. Hello.
JULIANA GRIGORYAN: Hello.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: What a gorgeous duet.
JULIANON GRIGORYAN: Thank you so much.
FREDDIE DE TOMMASO: Thank you.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: So, you both made your Met debuts in recent seasons in other Puccini operas, Juliana as Liu and, Freddie as Cavaradossi in Tosca.
FREDDIE DE TOMMASO: That’s right, yeah.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: It’s a mouthful.
FREDDIE DE TOMMASO: Yeah.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: So, what do you love most about singing Puccini and La Bohème specifically. Juliana, you go first.
JULIANA GRIGORYAN: Okay. Um, first of all, Mimi is one of my favorite, uh, roles in opera world. Uh, what, what I like about Puccini is just, he gives everything. He gives emotions, he gives drama, passion, and also, um, real grounded stories, also like tale, like Turandot and real story is Bohème. And I’m very excited to interpretate my Mimi here at the Met for the first time in this historical, legendary production by Franco Zefferilli.
RIANNON GIDDENS: Amazing. All right, Freddie, your turn.
FREDDIE DE TOMMASO: Yeah, I mean, I completely agree. Uh, he was the master of, uh, putting emotion into the music. You know, it’s, there’s, there’s moments in La Bohème where you, you struggle not to, to cry as a performer, because the emotion, the music, it’s so intensely charged, it’s, you know, it’s a real outpouring of, of emotion.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: It’s kind of all there in the notes, right?
JULIANA GRIGORYAN: Oh yeah.
FREDDIE DE TOMMASO: Yeah.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: If you read the notes, like, it all comes out. It’s amazing. Well, speaking of Mimi, um, how do you see her specifically? Like what are you trying to bring out in your portrayal of her?
JULIANA GRIGORYAN: Well, um, I used to interpretate it, interpretate her as like more fragile, naïve, um, earth-less creator, but now I want to make her more real, more grounded. Um, she’s a, she’s a clever young lady and she knows what she wants. So, yeah, I will, I will make her more serious.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Do you find your life experience kind of going into that?
JULIANA GRIGORYAN: Yes, because, you know, I grew up as a person, as an artist, and my roles, uh, grow up with me. And, I want her to be more mature –
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Yeah.
JULIANA GRIGORYAN: – as I became.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: To grow with you.
JULIANA GRIGORYAN: Yeah.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Freddie, tell us about your interpretation of Rodolfo.
FREDDIE DE TOMMASO: Well, then conversely, I think Rodolfo, he, he’s not a particularly mature character. He’s, you know, he, he lives in this attic with his best friends, they kind of, you know, there’s lots of banter and, you know, they’re, they’re kind of just having a good time living all together. And then suddenly he gets thrown into this intense romantic situation which puts him into a situation which, he doesn’t know how to emotionally deal with, you know, the fact that Mimi is, is dying. She’s – sorry, spoilers, but (LAUGHTER)
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Been out for a little while, I think we’re okay.
FREDDIE DE TOMMASO: But, um, you know, so, then he, he has to try and deal with it. And actually, he deals with it terribly.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Yeah.
FREDDIE DE TOMMASO: Very immaturely, very poorly, um, and, and he only kind of really, I think he really realizes his mistake right at the end, as, as is often the case.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Well, we, we look forward to seeing this. Juliana, Freddie, thank you so much, we can’t wait for La Bohème in cinemas on November 8th.
FREDDIE DE TOMMASO: Looking forward to it, thank you.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Returning to the world of La Sonnambula, we recently sat down with our conductor, Riccardo Frizza, to learn more about the art of bel canto.
Item 16 ROLL-IN E: Ricardo Frizza at the piano
RICCARDO FRIZZA: Sonnambula is an opera written in 1831. Around this period in Italy, the music theater developed in this bel canto era where the love, the passions, and the feelings were really put on top of the drama. And the music is going accordingly to this. The beautiful line, the beautiful melodies are the real principle of the opera.
One of the most important moments in the first act of this opera is Amina’s aria, one of the most beautiful and famous areas in the romantic repertoire. That is “Come per me sereno,” that starts in E-flat major.
Around this period in Italy, the music theater did a lot in, in this bel canto era, where the love, the passions, the feelings, were really put on top of the drama. And the music is going accordingly to this. The beautiful land, the beautiful melodies are the real principal of the, of the, of the opera. One of the most important moment in the first act, this opera, is, uh, the Amina’s aria. One of the most beautiful and famous arias in the romantic repertoire that is Come per me sereno, that starts in E-flat major.
[MUSIC]
As you can hear in this phrase, there is all the beauty and the talent of Bellini, and that is very exceptional. There are very few other composers that are able to display this kind of melody, these long melodies. That's what makes Bellini very different from the other composers.
The first Elvino entrance is treated like a duet. So when he comes in with one of the most impressive, famous lines with the “Prendi, l’anel ti dono.”
This beauty of the line is recalling Amina’s aria because psychologically they're on the same page, they are going to get married. So they are fully in love with each other, and that's why Bellini is melding Amina’s entrance with Elvino’s entrance in the same way, to say with a beautiful and long line.
Also orchestration is important. Bellini’s orchestration in Sonnambula, but in almost every opera, is very simple in some way. He’s using triplets and displaying notes of the chord in this way, right? But this simplicity is because there is a reason. In order to achieve the greatest freedom of the singing, you need to have a simple accompaniment because the orchestra has to be able to follow in the rubatos, in all these espressivo… tension this is creating in the voice. If you have too many rhythmical actions underneath, it’s impossible for the singer to feel this freedom.
Also, it's very transparent, because he wants to achieve something that is staying in the air, you know, he doesn't want to feel the gravity. This music has no gravity. It's always very light and very…it's floating in the air.
So only with the greatest singers, it's possible to offer it to the audience because it's very demanding, vocally, to put the feelings in this music.
Item 17 INTERVIEW: Giddens w/ Xabier Anduaga
RHIANNON GIDDENS: That is information from a bel canto expert. And now I get to speak with our remarkable tenor lead, Xabier Anduaga. Hello Xabier. It’s so nice to meet you. Um, you’ve won a lot of acclaim in operas by Bellini and Donizetti. What do you enjoy most about singing bel canto?
XABIER ANDUAGA: I mean, bel canto is always difficult for tenors, and also for the soprano. So, enjoy, and enjoy and I do, I do not enjoy it. I try to do my best always, but Bellini give us always these powerful moments like we have some. So, yeah, I try to, just to enjoy every moment, even if it’s so, so hard to sing it.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Yeah, well, well tell us, can you tell us one of your secrets to making it, to making it flow so beautifully?
XABIER ANDUAGA: You have to be always fresh, even if it’s impossible, but you have to try to, to be fresh, to be always keeping supportive and, and try and to not to push every note and just sing naturally and not push it.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Well, you make it look so easy.
XABIER ANDUAGA: I guess not, but I try to.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: By this point in the story, we feel pretty sorry for Amina. Well, how about Elvino? How would you describe what he’s going through?
XABIER ANDUAGA: Elvino is in love with Amina, but he doesn’t know how to tell her because he’s a bit young man like a, he’s trying to, to show the love, but even when the count is arriving, he’s crazy. So, I don’t know how to describe Elvino. I don’t really like it, because he is not in the real love. Because if you really love it, you just keep her doing what she wants.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: It’s not what you would do?
XABIER ANDUAGA: No, so I don’t agree with Elvino, but I try to do my best to do Elvino.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Yeah. Well, what can you tell us about his big aria coming up in Act II?
XABIER ANDUAGA: I mean it’s big, it’s difficult, as all the opera, but I like it because we will see like the, Amina’s dream, so what she is trying to, to, she would like to happen, already happens in the dreams. So, this is a real moment for Elvino if, when I will really show my love to, to Amina. So, this is the best part for me, showing this love.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: That’s kind of the core of it, right here.
XABIER ANDUAGA: This is the real one.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Yeah. So, your director, Rolando Villazón has had such success over the years singing some of the same rep that you do. What has it been like having a fellow tenor directing you?
XABIER ANDUAGA: My God, I have been always a huge fan of Rolando, and now even more, because I was like hearing his Nemorino, his Alfredo in Traviata, Werther, everything. And I was crazy fan. But now I am even more, because he’s an amazing person as even more than a singer or a stage director; he’s an amazing person.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Incredible. So, he’s just stepped right into those shoes.
XABIER ANDUAGA: Absolutely.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Fantastic. Well, Xabier, congratulations on this wonderful performance today and in bocca lupo for the rest.
XABIER ANDUAGA: In bocca lupo. Thank you so much.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Absolutely. At the end of the previous act, Elvino has called off his wedding to Amina, believing he has been betrayed. When the next act begins, he laments the loss of the woman he loves. But there is more sleepwalking to come. Here is the concluding act of La Sonnambula.