CHIARA ANGELLA
&
SILVIO ZANON
SOPRANO / BARITONE
"Singing opera is a bit of a metaphor for life: You are alone in life like you are on stage, but you find those who will help".
London, 20/01/2013
Chiara Angella and Silvio Zanon are an italian couple of successful opera singers. Partners on stage and in life, Chiara and Silvio are a combination that is almost impossible to find in the world nowadays: great voices for great roles and a great nobility of character. Parallel to their solo career, they started a young singers' academy, "Progetto Voce", in which they teach young opera singers.
By @kassandra_dimopoulou_official
By @kassandra_dimopoulou_official
Tell us about your academy, Progetto VOCE. Why should a young singer attend this academy? What is the thing that makes it different from other academies?
Chiara & Silvio: Progetto VOCE is a singing school and an events organisation founded in 2009 the purpose of which is to transmit to young singers and singing students all our knowledge acquired through many years in the profession: its very difficult today to find a good school for singing and a lot of very good artists and good voices have a lot of difficulties in finding their path in singing and to start a professional theatrical carrier: we encountered the same difficulties and so now, while we are singing in all the best opera houses in the world, we want to help them by sharing our experience, our technical ideas and also offering stage experience which is the most important thing: to sing and to practice on stage with the public. A good technique and a good stage presence are the most important things for an operatic artist and we want to teach our singers the right way to sing in all situations and to go on stage confident and technically strong, to enter the opera world properly.
Italy is the motherland of opera. How is opera in Italy at this moment? Should a young singer choose to come to Italy for studies and why?
Silvio: Yes, Italy is the home of opera, it was born here, its in our DNA, but it is more and more cast aside, theatres are run by bureaucrats rather than musicians, quality often being overlooked, perhaps its also because of the crisis, but lets not forget that the crisis in the theatres began with poor management of those in charge, in every way its better for an opera singer to work in other countries, where they get treated much better, more is required of course, but more is given in return, and it pains my heart to say this, but its the sad truth! A student must come to Italy to study and perfect themselves, to understand this art it is one's duty to live in Italy, because only by living in this wonderful land with all its contrasts and the contradictions of its people can one understand what is opera. Opera was born here and it could only have been born here, a German, a Japanese, a Corean etc cannot understand the drama of the betrayed Santuzza or the noble soul of Gerard, the tremendous fury of Otello or the figure of the Duke of Mantova if they haven't seen this land. We are opera, always!
How is the life of two opera singers? Do you bring work home?
Chiara & Silvio: We meet on stage as singers but we meet in life as normal people: we often say that we are not opera singers but people who sing opera..and people who love in normal life and on stage too. Bring work home? Sometimes, but just to share and compare our experiences and to speak about some characters, their feelings, their life as if speaking about a real person but, for us, our characters are real.
How is teaching different from performing?
Silvio: Singing and teaching is very different, as different as a cook from a waiter, even though they are part of the same expression, they cook creates, whereas the waiter brings forth the product of another, I explain: When I am on stage I create a persona, I become that person, a form of schizophrenic dual personality, I live that person's drama, her fears, her decisions. When I'm teaching I have to allow my student to create his persona, I can give them the means, offer at his disposal all of my artistic knowledge, but at the end of the day he has to create the persona and only the audience can give the final approval. Singing is a bit of a metaphor for life: You are alone in life like you are on stage, but you find those who will help: teachers, directors, colleagues, but in the end you are the one who is faced with the judgement of the public, as it goes, after the final chord you hear the applause before the curtain drops!
It is a fact that opera today faces several financial and other kinds of problems and the public diminishes every year. Why do you think this is happening and what, in your opinion, could be done in order to fix these problems?
Chiara: I agree that it is a bad moment for opera and there are a lot of guilty parties: the government, at least in Italy, doesn’t pay attention to the arts and their humanistic importance and so less attention is paid to opera, theatre etc... for example opera on Television is broadcast only very late in the night, which makes people forget that opera exists, that opera is wonderful and that opera can improve one's life. Another problem is that opera today is often directed at abituées, people who know opera and and it isn't directed at a new audience so we see new versions and new readings that are often horrible: in theatre today it’s possible to see Mimì dying from drugs or Otello chewing gum when Desdemona sings about her love and to introduce people into to the magical opera word in this way is absolutely incorrect: I have nothing against innovation as long as it doesn't destroy the drama and feelings. Last, but not least, money: sometimes an opera costs too much and this diminishes supply: great seasons could be achieved with better financial planning. So, I don’t know the future of opera but I know that I’ll sing for all my life and I’ll speak about opera, I’ll do my very best to preserve it, also trying by myself to save it: with Progetto VOCE we have organised some productions with famous opera singers but also with new artists selected by competition and people love the drama and the way we've adopted to bring it on the stage and they are asking us to do new projects and new shows and we’ll do it, for our love to this wonderful art.
Chiara, you have a long, successful carrier. How did you start singing opera?
Chiara: I am 40 years old and I've been listening to opera for 40 years..! My parents were both musicians, my father a baritone and my mother a music teacher and they loved opera so much; my father had and has also now in his eighties a wonderful voice but because of family problems didn't have a long career so when I told him about my passion and my desire to study to be a singer I became crazy. When I was a child we often went to the theatre to listen to opera and for me it was always a magical time and the feeling stayed in my heart for many days. In my home I sang every day and my neighbours cooked spaghetti when they listen to my singing because that was the signal that I was coming back home from school and so it was the time to cook: so it was always my great passion, opera, jazz, chamber music, musical… Music!
Which is your favourite role and why?
Chiara: I have several favourite roles and it’s difficult to pick one because I like each role for different reasons: I love Nedda in Leoncavallo’s "I Pagliacci" for her reality in a simple life, in a simple context only made of feelings but I also love Leonora in Verdi’s "Il Trovatore" for her nobility and lyrical music lines and for a very pure and ecstatic musical score and Tosca for her passion and… a lot of characters.
What is your process for learning a role?
Chiara: First I read the drama from which the opera is inspired or the opera’s libretto to understand the context and feelings of all the characters; then I play the character's musical part on the piano: I think it’s very important to study without listening to any records at the beginning to build your own character idea without any external influence; after that, once I have a definite idea and the music is in my head, I like very much to listen to some interpretations by distinguished singers to hear how they have decide to explain a feeling or to interpret a particular page.
Who were the people that inspired you the most in your life?
In my life or in my professional life? In my life I have been very lucky because I have a wonderful family with my parents, my grandparents, my sister and a special aunt and all of them inspired me. Now I’m married to a wonderful man and he inspires me every day. While in my professional life I have met a lot of important people, some who inspired me on a human level and some who connected me to this strange singer's life but I want to remember my Maestro: Luciano Pavarotti who was very important for me for both reasons and my teachers Giuseppe Scandola e Maria del Fante: wonderful people and great professionals.
Do you think that career and family are possible for an opera singer?
Chiara: Yes, I think it’s very hard but not impossible: I have a lot of friends who sing and are also mothers and wives but I also know that they feel very bad for staying away from their families for a long time; I have no children so I can't speak from experience but also to be married with another singer is not very easy: sometimes we spend a lot of time in different places for work and we miss each other.
Your future plans?
Chiara: There’s a lot of work to do both in my personal career and for Progetto VOCE! I will sing in a lot of concerts in Italy and Germany and I’ll be Aida in two great events in Sicily and Bari; our music school Progetto VOCE will continue with its teaching and we will organise seven concerts and one opera (Puccini's “Gianni Schicchi”) with our students in Verona and a lot of other important projects in some other cities in Italy.
If your life would be a piece of music, what would that be?
It would be a peaceful piece of music inspired by nature's sounds and emotions: I love Debussy, Ravel and the Russian composers or Italian verismo who introduce the real sound of the human being, nature at its worst but also with its magical feelings.
Art is...
Chiara: ... an opportunity to live life passionately and emotionally: it is a life style.
Chiara & Silvio: Progetto VOCE is a singing school and an events organisation founded in 2009 the purpose of which is to transmit to young singers and singing students all our knowledge acquired through many years in the profession: its very difficult today to find a good school for singing and a lot of very good artists and good voices have a lot of difficulties in finding their path in singing and to start a professional theatrical carrier: we encountered the same difficulties and so now, while we are singing in all the best opera houses in the world, we want to help them by sharing our experience, our technical ideas and also offering stage experience which is the most important thing: to sing and to practice on stage with the public. A good technique and a good stage presence are the most important things for an operatic artist and we want to teach our singers the right way to sing in all situations and to go on stage confident and technically strong, to enter the opera world properly.
Italy is the motherland of opera. How is opera in Italy at this moment? Should a young singer choose to come to Italy for studies and why?
Silvio: Yes, Italy is the home of opera, it was born here, its in our DNA, but it is more and more cast aside, theatres are run by bureaucrats rather than musicians, quality often being overlooked, perhaps its also because of the crisis, but lets not forget that the crisis in the theatres began with poor management of those in charge, in every way its better for an opera singer to work in other countries, where they get treated much better, more is required of course, but more is given in return, and it pains my heart to say this, but its the sad truth! A student must come to Italy to study and perfect themselves, to understand this art it is one's duty to live in Italy, because only by living in this wonderful land with all its contrasts and the contradictions of its people can one understand what is opera. Opera was born here and it could only have been born here, a German, a Japanese, a Corean etc cannot understand the drama of the betrayed Santuzza or the noble soul of Gerard, the tremendous fury of Otello or the figure of the Duke of Mantova if they haven't seen this land. We are opera, always!
How is the life of two opera singers? Do you bring work home?
Chiara & Silvio: We meet on stage as singers but we meet in life as normal people: we often say that we are not opera singers but people who sing opera..and people who love in normal life and on stage too. Bring work home? Sometimes, but just to share and compare our experiences and to speak about some characters, their feelings, their life as if speaking about a real person but, for us, our characters are real.
How is teaching different from performing?
Silvio: Singing and teaching is very different, as different as a cook from a waiter, even though they are part of the same expression, they cook creates, whereas the waiter brings forth the product of another, I explain: When I am on stage I create a persona, I become that person, a form of schizophrenic dual personality, I live that person's drama, her fears, her decisions. When I'm teaching I have to allow my student to create his persona, I can give them the means, offer at his disposal all of my artistic knowledge, but at the end of the day he has to create the persona and only the audience can give the final approval. Singing is a bit of a metaphor for life: You are alone in life like you are on stage, but you find those who will help: teachers, directors, colleagues, but in the end you are the one who is faced with the judgement of the public, as it goes, after the final chord you hear the applause before the curtain drops!
It is a fact that opera today faces several financial and other kinds of problems and the public diminishes every year. Why do you think this is happening and what, in your opinion, could be done in order to fix these problems?
Chiara: I agree that it is a bad moment for opera and there are a lot of guilty parties: the government, at least in Italy, doesn’t pay attention to the arts and their humanistic importance and so less attention is paid to opera, theatre etc... for example opera on Television is broadcast only very late in the night, which makes people forget that opera exists, that opera is wonderful and that opera can improve one's life. Another problem is that opera today is often directed at abituées, people who know opera and and it isn't directed at a new audience so we see new versions and new readings that are often horrible: in theatre today it’s possible to see Mimì dying from drugs or Otello chewing gum when Desdemona sings about her love and to introduce people into to the magical opera word in this way is absolutely incorrect: I have nothing against innovation as long as it doesn't destroy the drama and feelings. Last, but not least, money: sometimes an opera costs too much and this diminishes supply: great seasons could be achieved with better financial planning. So, I don’t know the future of opera but I know that I’ll sing for all my life and I’ll speak about opera, I’ll do my very best to preserve it, also trying by myself to save it: with Progetto VOCE we have organised some productions with famous opera singers but also with new artists selected by competition and people love the drama and the way we've adopted to bring it on the stage and they are asking us to do new projects and new shows and we’ll do it, for our love to this wonderful art.
Chiara, you have a long, successful carrier. How did you start singing opera?
Chiara: I am 40 years old and I've been listening to opera for 40 years..! My parents were both musicians, my father a baritone and my mother a music teacher and they loved opera so much; my father had and has also now in his eighties a wonderful voice but because of family problems didn't have a long career so when I told him about my passion and my desire to study to be a singer I became crazy. When I was a child we often went to the theatre to listen to opera and for me it was always a magical time and the feeling stayed in my heart for many days. In my home I sang every day and my neighbours cooked spaghetti when they listen to my singing because that was the signal that I was coming back home from school and so it was the time to cook: so it was always my great passion, opera, jazz, chamber music, musical… Music!
Which is your favourite role and why?
Chiara: I have several favourite roles and it’s difficult to pick one because I like each role for different reasons: I love Nedda in Leoncavallo’s "I Pagliacci" for her reality in a simple life, in a simple context only made of feelings but I also love Leonora in Verdi’s "Il Trovatore" for her nobility and lyrical music lines and for a very pure and ecstatic musical score and Tosca for her passion and… a lot of characters.
What is your process for learning a role?
Chiara: First I read the drama from which the opera is inspired or the opera’s libretto to understand the context and feelings of all the characters; then I play the character's musical part on the piano: I think it’s very important to study without listening to any records at the beginning to build your own character idea without any external influence; after that, once I have a definite idea and the music is in my head, I like very much to listen to some interpretations by distinguished singers to hear how they have decide to explain a feeling or to interpret a particular page.
Who were the people that inspired you the most in your life?
In my life or in my professional life? In my life I have been very lucky because I have a wonderful family with my parents, my grandparents, my sister and a special aunt and all of them inspired me. Now I’m married to a wonderful man and he inspires me every day. While in my professional life I have met a lot of important people, some who inspired me on a human level and some who connected me to this strange singer's life but I want to remember my Maestro: Luciano Pavarotti who was very important for me for both reasons and my teachers Giuseppe Scandola e Maria del Fante: wonderful people and great professionals.
Do you think that career and family are possible for an opera singer?
Chiara: Yes, I think it’s very hard but not impossible: I have a lot of friends who sing and are also mothers and wives but I also know that they feel very bad for staying away from their families for a long time; I have no children so I can't speak from experience but also to be married with another singer is not very easy: sometimes we spend a lot of time in different places for work and we miss each other.
Your future plans?
Chiara: There’s a lot of work to do both in my personal career and for Progetto VOCE! I will sing in a lot of concerts in Italy and Germany and I’ll be Aida in two great events in Sicily and Bari; our music school Progetto VOCE will continue with its teaching and we will organise seven concerts and one opera (Puccini's “Gianni Schicchi”) with our students in Verona and a lot of other important projects in some other cities in Italy.
If your life would be a piece of music, what would that be?
It would be a peaceful piece of music inspired by nature's sounds and emotions: I love Debussy, Ravel and the Russian composers or Italian verismo who introduce the real sound of the human being, nature at its worst but also with its magical feelings.
Art is...
Chiara: ... an opportunity to live life passionately and emotionally: it is a life style.
