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Gramilano, 3 January 2017 |
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Jonas Kaufmann on his return to singing after 4 months, and his love of Italian singability
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Jonas Kaufmann has not sung since September when he sang the programme from
his glorious new cd, Dolce Vita, at Teatro San Carlo in Naples. He was
forced to cancel his imminent appearances due to voice problems… then a few
more dates… then a few more, even cancelling his appearance at the Nobel
Prize Award Ceremony.
Well, the good news is that his annus
horribilis is over and with 2017 he’s back. He’s in Paris, rehearsing for a
revival of the production of Lohengrin he appeared in when it opened the
season at La Scala in Milan in 2012. It starts on 18 January.
"It’s
been hard. I love singing and I’ve never had such a long time away from it.
It wasn’t easy, but I didn’t have a choice. I tried to be patient, follow my
doctor’s advice, and ignore the gossip that was going around about my
health."
In 2011 he announced that he needed to cancel commitments in
order “to have an operation to remove a node in my thoracic area”. It was a
non-malignant tumour, but his recent absence got all the tongues wagging
again.
Kaufmann told Giuseppina Manin of the Corriere della Sera what
had happened.
"My voice was out of action because of bruising on my
vocal chords. A disaster for someone who must push them to their limits
every night."
Christa Ludwig, apparently had had the same problem and
told him, “You mustn’t be hasty; don’t return until the bruising has been
completely reabsorbed.”
"For days now I’ve been at work at the Opéra
Bastille, happy as a kid in a candy store. The doctor was clear that I could
resume work, but steadily… one step at a time."
Kaufmann’s
beautifully interpreted album of Italian songs – which passes from
Neapolitan songs to Lucio Dalla – is a love letter to a country that is
particularly fond of
"I have very special ties to Italy. As a child,
I spent many summers on the Adriatic coast. I discovered how music and
singing are a fundamental part of Italian life. I was six-years-old when I
saw Madama Butterfly in Munich and understood the magic of opera. If you
love Puccini and Verdi, you can’t not love the great Italian songs, capable
of stimulating emotions just like an opera aria."
After the Second
World War in Germany, as in other countries, compositions changed. Composers
were searching for a new beginning and the result was creations that were
very intellectual, but ignored the most important component: passion.
Italians, however, modernised the musical language without sacrificing
melody. They love singing, therefore instinctively search for something
singable.
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