Merci, chère Eleonore, pour ta traduction ! 💝
Photo : Markus Déak
Vienna, 12 10 25
ROLANDO at Stephansdom Radio - Opernsalon - Wien Museum
A conversation of one and half hours. Thomas Dänemark
In German language
(Translation : Eléonore)
As always, it is not difficult or hard, but completely impossible to write about all topics covered by the conversation. The richness of Rolando's thoughts is deeply captivating, and his extremely energetic conversational and storytelling style keeps the listener riveted
Just some impressions, subjectively selected and chosen among all these precious thoughts ... and not necessarily in the order in which Rolando said them.
Words that I particularly loved and that Rolando mentioned several times:
"I love everything that I do"
"La sonnambula" in New York, stepping in at the last minute of Lawrence Brownlee's October 11th performance, due to the illness of Xabier Anduaga.
Rolando's future staging of "The Magic Flute" in Salzburg
Captivating details about the work of the stage director : the work finishes at the general rehearsal, at the opening night Rolando doesn't watch the piece, he remains behind the scenes throughout.
Rolando as an author :: "... and I also write my book, but I do not have much time for this."
Preparation of Mozartweek for the saison 2026-2027, encounters, conversations with the artists, the stage directors, all this taking a lot of time.
"As a singer I have more time than as a stage director, there are rehearsals for 4 or 6 weeks, ... I feel very happy with all these adventures, it is beautiful, so much fun, but needs a lot of energy...
"The goal of all these activities is to give the best..."
"The joy remains, but the responsibility is also there ...
Rolando's operatic performances in Vienna :"It is not about me, it's about Pelléas, a great cast, a wonderful production and staging." .
"In our society there is too much "about me, what I do, who I am" , people saying "me, ... me, ... me... and look what I do..., please bravo to me!" Unfortunately it is so .
"As a singer, I have a huge responsibility on the day of the performance, before I rehearse for 4 or 5 or even 7 hours the whole day. As a director it's an intensive 6 - 7 - or 8 weeks. As a singer I rehearse here (in Vienna) from 10am to 1am,. and then I have three free hours and then some hours of rehearsal.
For a stage director, there are the questions with clothes, lighting..., then you return home and you make plans for the next day. and if necessary, a little bit you adapt things to the singers. For a stage director there are sometimes eight weeks of rehearsal with fourteen hours every day, this is very intense, and then comes the premiere, and just like in football, the coach just looks at his team in work
Words about his Idomeneo.
Great stage directors he worked with : Richard Jones, Willy Decker, Claus Guth, Christopher LLoyd, the name of Stanislavsky was also mentioned. These directors always come up with specific plans for each movement, gesture, position ...
Likes both traditional and modern stagings.
At the Vienna State Opera, Rolando sang 42 times, ten roles, four times each role. The interviewer asked, why so few times and if he is very expensive. After a laugh, Rolando detailed the reasons : date matching questions, other roles, learning new roles, new projects,...
He sings 60 times in a season , has many recitals, also his own projects with Xavier de Maistre. concerts, madrigals, baroque ensembles and normally 2 or 3 operatic roles, other productions, no more, and "I think this balance is good for me, I love being on stage, to tell a story,, it takes a lot of time to rehearse..."
"Next year, the Mozart project : ich liebe dich Mozart" : concert tours with Idomeneo, Tito, Alessandro, Papageno, kings, emperators and a "bird singer"
About Pelléas : He has sung this role twice so far, in Berlin and Hamburg. Last year Rolando had a long tour of concerts with Kate Lindsey, mentioned Alain Altinoglu,.who is the absolute best for this repertoire
About the young generation : "with a fantastic invitation, I had two "The Magic Flute" in Vienna for children. This was performances for families, I love Papageno, this was in a baritone version, Mozart didn't compose legato for Papageno..."
His book "Amadeus auf dem Fahrrad" - 100 % fiction, 100% autobiography.
About laughter : "Laughter is healthy, Mozart laughed a lot, I like to laugh, but there's not much to laugh in Pelléas"
"In a recital we have a small story with light, with pain, the relationship with the audience is very important."
And, once again the balance : "When does the clown stay and when does he go out."
Melancholy and sadness : "Do not sit in melancholy, just keep going, going through, this is a choice, this is a journey.... keep running, see what there is,.."
An extremely wonderful thought : "In difficulties there are flowers."
The conversation ended with the song "Smile".
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