VIVALDI MA NON SOLO
MARITA PAPARIZOU
London. 12/06/2012
Presenting the new CD release of the Greek mezzo soprano Marita Paparizou, "Vivaldi ma non solo", with I solisti Veneti, under Maestro Claudio Scimone, by MDG. Enjoy this exclusive interview!
By @kassandra_dimopoulou_official
By @kassandra_dimopoulou_official
Marita, congratulations for your new CD release, Vivaldi ma non solo! How would you describe this new work of yours?
Thank you! I am so very happy about this CD, which is a true vocal profile that I feel it allows me to express myself and show a big range of my vocal skills (especially the coloraturas and the beautiful legato lines). It also includes a complete work, Stabat Mater, which is very important to me. On the other hand it represents three totally different baroque composers with arias that may refer to contradictory repertoires.
How did you choose the title of your CD?
The first concept was to entitle the CD Sorge l'irato nemb, but it would not fit as a reference to Stabat Mater. Meanwhile almost eighty per cent of the CD contains Vivaldi works- but not only!- and I do not consider myself a baroque singer only, therefore... Vivaldi ma non solo! (= Vivaldi, but not only)
How do you make a CD? Tell us a bit about the process from having the idea till the day you sell your first CD.
Unfortunately nowadays it takes a lot of effort to find the appropriate combination in order to create a satisfactory result. One must find the right orchestra, the inspiring music director, the suitable acoustics (if the recording does not take place in a studio). It is as complicated as a live production, but when you get the result in your hand, when you see it on the stores you simply forget of everything and you feel this sweet taste of happiness.
Why do you think, baroque music has such a great come back in the last years?
As a matter of fact this is the second come back of baroque music! The first happened with Marylin Horne and again with Maestro Claudio Scimone. Think of all the great recordings in Erato with these great artists. I guess that people will always be fond of jewels and baroque would be a very precious jewel on the crown of music!
How would you describe the opera world?
It is a world out of the ordinary world... Personally, I feel that many sacrifices are need to be done in order to be a good singer. There are times that I don't speak for days to maintain my voice! Studying is never ending: I have to start every day all these vocal exercises to warm the voice up, afterwards start studying phrase by phrase, word by word... It is such a difficult process, that, when I have a premiere, I sometimes treat the people near me in a way that is quite hard... What I experience as paradise might be a true hell to the others! I think this is specially hard for all those husbands and wives of the opera singers throughout the world- and not only of opera singers, but to all musicians generally. It is a lot of stress to maintain, both for the artists and the people near them.
You have a long careerr as an opera singer. How do you describe the opera?
Before Maria Callas it was all voice. Then we had the music directors era- with all but voice, but I think that we are coming to the perfect point: the era of the combination of voice and acting. Isn't that the true essence of opera? All the great arts coming together.
Opera in Greece?
The land of great artists such as Maria Callas, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Agnes Baltsa, Dimitri Kavrakos and so many others has only one Opera House, while Albania has three with the half of our population! It's a pity that the only National Lyric Theatre has to beg each year, even before the economic crisis to get a decent budget...
Baroque opera in Greece: do you think there is a good level baroque music?
For some kind of reason God must love the Greeks, otherwise one may not explain the paradox of artistic creation in a land where in the moment everything is staying still. The recent years, there have been many baroque productions (Festival in Ancient Corinth, Le Petit Opera du Monde) all of them of really high level, but all of them were a result of private initiative.
Is music everything to you?
It is as important as water, air and food for a human being. That's how I feel.
Is music everything to you?
It is as important as water, air and food for a human being. That's how I feel.
If you could choose one piece of the CD to describe your self, which one would it be?
"Eja Mater"... some people say that if a singer hasn't sung Eja Mater she hasn't sung anything... I think it's true.
Art is...
...my past, my present and my future.
Thank you! I am so very happy about this CD, which is a true vocal profile that I feel it allows me to express myself and show a big range of my vocal skills (especially the coloraturas and the beautiful legato lines). It also includes a complete work, Stabat Mater, which is very important to me. On the other hand it represents three totally different baroque composers with arias that may refer to contradictory repertoires.
How did you choose the title of your CD?
The first concept was to entitle the CD Sorge l'irato nemb, but it would not fit as a reference to Stabat Mater. Meanwhile almost eighty per cent of the CD contains Vivaldi works- but not only!- and I do not consider myself a baroque singer only, therefore... Vivaldi ma non solo! (= Vivaldi, but not only)
How do you make a CD? Tell us a bit about the process from having the idea till the day you sell your first CD.
Unfortunately nowadays it takes a lot of effort to find the appropriate combination in order to create a satisfactory result. One must find the right orchestra, the inspiring music director, the suitable acoustics (if the recording does not take place in a studio). It is as complicated as a live production, but when you get the result in your hand, when you see it on the stores you simply forget of everything and you feel this sweet taste of happiness.
Why do you think, baroque music has such a great come back in the last years?
As a matter of fact this is the second come back of baroque music! The first happened with Marylin Horne and again with Maestro Claudio Scimone. Think of all the great recordings in Erato with these great artists. I guess that people will always be fond of jewels and baroque would be a very precious jewel on the crown of music!
How would you describe the opera world?
It is a world out of the ordinary world... Personally, I feel that many sacrifices are need to be done in order to be a good singer. There are times that I don't speak for days to maintain my voice! Studying is never ending: I have to start every day all these vocal exercises to warm the voice up, afterwards start studying phrase by phrase, word by word... It is such a difficult process, that, when I have a premiere, I sometimes treat the people near me in a way that is quite hard... What I experience as paradise might be a true hell to the others! I think this is specially hard for all those husbands and wives of the opera singers throughout the world- and not only of opera singers, but to all musicians generally. It is a lot of stress to maintain, both for the artists and the people near them.
You have a long careerr as an opera singer. How do you describe the opera?
Before Maria Callas it was all voice. Then we had the music directors era- with all but voice, but I think that we are coming to the perfect point: the era of the combination of voice and acting. Isn't that the true essence of opera? All the great arts coming together.
Opera in Greece?
The land of great artists such as Maria Callas, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Agnes Baltsa, Dimitri Kavrakos and so many others has only one Opera House, while Albania has three with the half of our population! It's a pity that the only National Lyric Theatre has to beg each year, even before the economic crisis to get a decent budget...
Baroque opera in Greece: do you think there is a good level baroque music?
For some kind of reason God must love the Greeks, otherwise one may not explain the paradox of artistic creation in a land where in the moment everything is staying still. The recent years, there have been many baroque productions (Festival in Ancient Corinth, Le Petit Opera du Monde) all of them of really high level, but all of them were a result of private initiative.
Is music everything to you?
It is as important as water, air and food for a human being. That's how I feel.
Is music everything to you?
It is as important as water, air and food for a human being. That's how I feel.
If you could choose one piece of the CD to describe your self, which one would it be?
"Eja Mater"... some people say that if a singer hasn't sung Eja Mater she hasn't sung anything... I think it's true.
Art is...
...my past, my present and my future.
