Future Classic Women Awards – Chiara Angella, Silvio Zanon, Pupils Of Pavarotti, Superstars Of Opera

Hello and welcome to Future Classic Women Awards with me, Stefania Passamonte, on Women's Radio Station, the program where we search for the most amazing new female artists of the classical panorama. I'm very pleased to welcome back today on the 6th edition of Future Classical Awards, the wonderful soprano Chiara Angella, this time accompanied by her fantastic star baritone opera singer Silvio Zanon. Hello, Chiara and Silvio! Hello, Stefania! Hello to all the people who listen to this fantastic program! Ah, you're very welcome! Hi, Silvio! So, how are you? I mean, I know you keep traveling the world, and where are you now? We are now in Italy. We are now in Verona, the town in which we live. But we are come back from Tirana. Yes, today we are arrived for Tirana in Albania and always traveling for singing, for teaching, and for exploring the world. That's true. With you, Chiara, we went together to China. We saw a few different cities, Shanghai, Hunan, and Shaanxi. And I was very impressed about your energy of traveling. I mean, your love for traveling comes before your love for opera, or it goes together? They go together because opera gives me the opportunity to travel a lot. And because I sang in a lot of places in the world, not only in Italy, I sang in China and I sang in Japan, in USA, in South America and in Russia. And so For the beginning, I was very young when I started in singing. It was a little bit— I was a little bit afraid of traveling by myself because an opera singer travel by himself, herself in my case. And but every time, step by step, I become the best lover of traveling for job and for pleasure only. Travel is my life and singing is my life. So together. Now it's easier to travel and teach as teacher and a singer. Yeah, because you can teach online and you can, and also I guess the flights are easier, they're cheaper, so you can explore and you can visit the world. I mean, uh, I still remember when I was little and we had the very first computer in the house, and now we have this incredible mobile phone that are mini computers and they are Smaller and smaller. And that's just— Yes, it's unbelievable. Yes, it's unbelievable. Technology made great steps. And it's very fast. For you both, you know that you're so much, you know, outdoor people loving to go and travel and discover new places and opera and singing in theater. How hard was the COVID pandemic? Where were you when that happened? When we have changed our house exactly the day in which the television arrived the news about no possibilities to go out of house. And we lived in Verona before, and in this day we were in a mountain close to Verona. It was our first day in our new house. And so for us it was a strange, very strange time because we were very happy to stay in this new house in the beautiful place in the mountain. And sometimes we had the opportunity to go to walk in the, the forest. And in seeing all the world closed into the houses was terrible. We, we have had the great opportunity to teach also with the No live teaching because in a very short time it started the smart work and it was possible, it was possible to teach also staying at home. We have also made a small internet free course of singing to help people to spend better the time close in a house. We have guided in the health and beauty. Yeah, absolutely. Well, um, you know, talking of which, we met online. We met through the London Performing Academy of Music when we were building the opera department. And, uh, and that's— that was a strange feeling when we met the first time in person, you and me, Chiara. We felt like we knew from such a long time, and instead actually we never met in person. Yes, we have to talk about it. But really, it's the first time. Unbelievable. I couldn't believe it either. I was like, yeah, so great feeling also with no contacting physically. So it was very interesting for me too, that. But that's the beauty of the technology, is really opening doors that you wouldn't have otherwise. So that's, you know, there is the bad and the good in everything. There is so much talk about artificial intelligence. It's about technology, about computers and virtual reality. But you know, sometimes Silvio says you have a gun in your hand. It depends. It could be a great, uh, poise to put on the, the, the flower to make a good, uh, mosaic, or you can kill someone. It depends of you, the use that you make. Very true. Very true. Well, uh, let's talk then about, you know, the most exciting thing that we're gonna do together, and that's happening very soon on the 26th of April. In London at Conway Hall, we're gonna host the very first Opera Studio of the London Performing Academy of Music. So this is an idea that was born between Chiara, Silvia, and I after coming back from our new— yes, new wonderful partnership with the Chinese universities. And they asked us to do something about the Puccini Centenary. And so we put together the very first opera studio of the Lannoperafumia Academy of Music. And this is Puccini, La Bohème. So before we talk about this, why don't we listen to Chiara Angella singing Puccini, La Bohème, from the first act, the very famous aria, Si mi chiamano Mimì. And this was Chiara Angella singing "Si mi chiamano Mimì" from Puccini's "Poem Act First." Chiara, tell us a little bit more about this fantastic opera, and, you know, actually, where were you singing this aria? I sang in Teatro Comunale di Firenze, in Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, and the conductor was Roberto Rizzi Brignoli. And it was Jonathan Miller, the director, and very special performance, very nice, with the great singers on stage. It was a good time. Especially. This was the second time I sang this poem in Firenze, the same production. The first one was in 1998. The success was so big that they have decided to make the second time. And in Italy, it happens not very often that to perform two times the same production. Generally, you can sing a lot of times, but in different production. That one was one of the case in which the opportunity in which I sang two times the same production. And about our idea to have this opera studio, our first opera studio, I think we have decided for a great opera. And La Bohème is a fantastic opera, is full of great roles, so gave a lot of, give a lot of opportunities to many singers. To perform because there are a lot of characters in Bohème and the music really is magic. So when we spoke about an opera about Puccini for this centenary, I think we, we have had a great idea in thinking about Bohème. But what I like above all is the fact that it's about students, you know, it's about young people. And this Opera Studio is meant to offer the opportunity of a debut in London for young singers that have just finished studying, so they are at the last years of their opera course in other universities. And so very much like the characters, they all live the bohemian way, that is sharing an apartment with other students or with other opera singers. So it's very much somehow a true life being put on stage as it is still today. More than 100 years after, you know, it was firstly built. And also what we're going to do in particular is the fact that we're bringing the Italian tradition and the Italian school to London. So both Silvio and Chiara, you were students of the wonderful Luciano Pavarotti. And we are bringing a music director, Stefano Seghedoni, who was working with you while you were studying with Pavarotti. Pavarotti, so has been in contact with these incredible— Yeah, we have worked together. We studied with Maestro, and Maestro Seghedoni was with us, and we divided, we shared this great time in Pavarotti's house. So we learned about him singing, about him his personality too. And so it was a so big personality. So only saying one word, he transfer us so many secrets to us that we are very proud. Fantastic, really. To can now transfer to the new singer generations. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Well, I had the fortune to meet Pavarotti when I was a child. I was at the conservatory in Modena. I come from the same hometown as Pavarotti. And there was a documentary on CBS about the great tenor. And there is still a video of me and my sister as well, both singing in the choir and then singing with him for this concert. Yeah. Wow. And I knew Stefano since that time when he was accompanying the choir. He was studying conducting and composition. This is really a fantastic team. So I would say it's a family affair. It's really a family affair. Good, good, good. But really, really, really, we are very, very happy. Yeah, we are very happy to be part of this project because it's offered the great opportunity to study and to perfect the singing technique. Yes, but also to perform, but also to perform on stage with orchestra and in a full opera is very important. What could be better? Yeah, well, there is something else we're going to talk about this. But first, we would like to listen to you, Silvio, singing. There is an incredible recording of you singing the Te Deum from Tosca that is my favorite aria, so my favorite opera, and under the majestic stage direction of Zeffirelli. That was for the centenary of the very first premiere. Of Tosca di Lute. So let's listen to Te Deum with Silvio Zanon. And this was the powerful, fantastic Cedeum from Tosca by Puccini, sung by our very special guest, baritone Silvio Zanonna. Silvio, when you watch these recordings, what's the feeling, you know, of seeing yourself in those beautiful costumes, in those beautiful settings, sitting in this amazing area in that moment? Does it give you shivering, for example? Example, or is like a normal day in the office? No, it's a special day, really. It's a really special day because I work with the, with the, uh, Maestro Giorgetti, conductor. Maestro Gianluigi Giorgetti is great conductor. And then work with the, uh, Franco Zeffirelli. Zeffirelli is incredible. It's incredible. And we have worked with the original costume from the, the the performance from the, the, uh, in the United Kingdom in the '70s, in '60s, '70s, uh, in the, in the Royal Opera House. I have the costume from the, the, the, um, Tito Gobbi, you know, the, the great baritone Tito Gobbi. Wow. The, the same costume is incredible. And the Maria Callas in this, in this part, in the part of Tosca. It's incredible. I have seen those costumes, you know, at the Royal Opera House. Every now and then they changed the display, and I've actually seen the costume of Tito Gobbi and Maria Callas from that Tosca. So they were absolutely beautiful. I think it must have been something magical to wear the same costume as such a great opera singer. It was magical, really magical, incredible. Yeah, yeah. Well, there is another thing. I mean, I know that you two, you met on stage, didn't you? So the The opera is really magical. It's really creating, you know, this incredible relationship and this incredible friendship, if you like, and professionally. And then also— In our meeting, it was especially special because we were me, Sabduzza, and Silvio was Alfio. So— Cavaleria Rusticana. It was very sad to redo the season of having a feeling with Alfio's wife. So we have changed the final of the opera. Tu ridi, tu ridi, Lola, forget— come si dice? Dimenticati? We tried. Oh my gosh, actually, you know, it's not in the program, but do you have the recording of you two singing the duetto of Cavalieri Rusticana? Yes, of course we have. We have. Oh, then we need to listen to it. Yes, but we were very, very— on stage he was very angry for his wife. I don't know the word. It's not— I love English. Betrothed. Yes, we were the betrothed one, but we got married. But now after the stage we were always together. We have changed the history. Yeah, if it was a movie, if it was a movie, there would be the sequel, and then we see— Yeah, yeah, yeah, to be continued. To be continued. You have to write on the movie, to be continued, and the continuation was that now we are married for 18 years. Oh my gosh. We sang a lot of times together, but not always together, so it was very nice too, because sometimes he sang in place of the world, and I came with him, and he comes with me in another some situation in another place in the world. So we, we have had the opportunity to be supported by, uh, the other one. And me, Silvio for me, and me for him. And sometimes we also sang together. It was very difficult because in singing it, there's a lot of stress by yourself. And if you have to have two stressors, for one, it's very heavy. Well, let's listen to it then. We're going to listen to Cavalleria Rusticana, the duetto of Santuzza and compare Alfio by our real-life Silvia and Angel— pardon, Chiara Angeli and Silvio Zanon, that actually ended up being married. Yeah. And they live happily. Ever After. Yes. And this was the dueto from Cavalleria Rustica. Rusticana of Santuzza in Comparialpio, sung by our special guests, Chiara Angela and Silvio Zanon. So beautiful. Cavalleria Rusticana is one of my favorite opera. It's not Puccini. We were going to talk only about Puccini and the centenary, but there is also this beautiful opera. It's also Mascagni. It's very intense. It's very intense. Yeah, it's Mascagni, Tu Vuoi a Toscana. And me too, I'm Toscana. I come from Toscana. And yes, like Silvio says, very intense music and passionate music. Yeah, the history. There are some connections also for Puccini and Mascagni music because it was not so far the time in which they composed. And also they have not too far too different way of living. The place in which they lived was not so far. So probably That is interesting. What is interesting is that, you know, while Puccini went to faraway lands, um, or in faraway, uh, times with Tosca, for example, um, Cavalleria Rusticana, it's set in Italy and is set in, uh, you know, we're gonna listen to another opera by Puccini that is another of the great verismo. The Verismo is a school of the 1900s of Italian composers dedicated to real-life stories. So while Mascagni chose a terrible passion crime in Sicily, something that was fairly common because, you know, of the honor of being, you know, and the honor and killing the man. Typically, yeah, it still happened today, unfortunately. Um, Tamara instead is by Puccini, is, uh, set in France again, in another opera like Bohème. Um, so it's, it's, uh, it's, it's interesting to see how, uh, Puccini, when he went to the Verism, still didn't really dare to stay near. I think about— I think Puccini was the beginner because also if he made the his opera all around the world. Turandot was in China, Butterfly in Japan, and France, Tabarro and Bohème. But the passion was the same. Like, verismo speaks about the passion of the people, simple people, okay, real people of every— can you— that you can meet every day because Santuzza is one of the people, the woman of the small country, and Turiddu is a young boy. He's not a prince or a princess or a king. Yes, but the passion that Puccini gives to his characters is the start for arrive to the real speaking about passion, human passion in Verismo. It's like looking at other people's way of living. It's the starting point. Yeah. It's like looking at other people's lives through a keyhole. Yes, true. Well, let's listen then, Tabarro. In this aria is you, Silvio, singing. And would you like to tell us a little bit about this aria? It's called Scorri fiume eterno. Yeah, it's the first aria from Puccini, the first aria from Tabarro's Puccini. Yes. Yeah. Because they They have write the second aria is "Nulla Silenzio" because the first aria is really, really true, really too much, too much verista. Yeah, too much verista. And in showing this aria to his friends and then to record, the producer of the opera they decided that this first aria was too much verista. It's a row. It's a row. So it was very row-heavy because he was thinking about dying. And so they have the— and it was a little bit longer and it was also very difficult to sing. So it has changed. But Maestro Shelley decided to try to perform with the first aria of Michele. Very, very difficult. Very difficult, but very intense. And, uh, and I'm very happy to have seen this aria because it's, it's not, uh, uh, question then. Yeah, because so please, did they do it again or they just normally— so when normally they perform Tabarro, they don't The main character, Tabaro himself, doesn't open the opera with Scorre fiume eterno. It opens with a different song because this Scorre fiume eterno, this very first song, was, you know, the publisher and the friends of Puccini, this is too dramatic, it's too true, you know, and it will be not well received by the audience. So you were the first one with Chéri to decide to bring it back and play Tabarro with this original first aria. So after that, is Scori Fiume Eterno being performed again or people left this, you know, still people prefer to go back to the original, to the very first published version? No, no, no, no. Yeah. No, generally it's the second one. Yeah, it's the second one. Yeah. Okay, it was probably the only one time in which it was performed. Because it's more difficult, the first, the score, if you're an eternal, like the Nulla Silenzio. It's very difficult. Maestro Celli also, when made, I don't remember how many years ago, with Maria José Siri, it was Madame Butterfly in the premiere in December in La Scala. And Maestro Shelley decided to give her the first ideas, Puccini's ideas about the aria of Cho-Cho-San. But it was also— these are like, um, uh, just— yes, just some, uh, just to probably to propose to people just to give to the people also the possibility to listen to the other ideas. And he wants to make Puccini know completely. Well, let's listen then. Corri fiume eterno, the very first original song aria by Puccini for Tabarro, performed by our very special guest Silvio Zanon at Scala in Milan. Fantastic. This was the score of "Il fiume eterno" from "Tabarro" by Puccini, sung by our very special guest, baritone Silvio Zanon. Now we are at the last part of the interview. As I was telling you, unfortunately time flies. We could be speaking for hours and hours and there is no more time. So the last part normally is about funny experience that you might share with us of being on stage or going to sing an opera? Would you like to share one maybe that happened to you together or, you know? Well, yes, why not? We are— allora, the first thing funny is that me and Silvio, we are very funny people, and we had very dramatic voices. So we always, for example, me, one of the things that people said me often, it was, you die so well, very, very congratulations because you so well, you die so well. I mean the same for Kjeld. Kjeld is a killer. The body kills. We are the opposite of this. I am perfect killer. Yeah, in life we are very funny people, but our voices gave us the opportunity to go a little bit deeper inside us. And also this part, of course, it exists, the part more dramatic with the more intense feelings. But generally we are very joking, we are very funny, we are like a little bit sometimes very clown people. Funny things. Totally different from our characters. It's a bit like being an actor and having the face of the bad guy when actually you are the sweetest person on earth. But you have to, if you want to be an actor, to do the part of the bad guy because they wouldn't believe you to be the good guy. So with the voice, it's a bit like that. Nothing, you cannot change the voice. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, you cannot change it. You have to appreciate this opportunity, by the way, because if you have this opportunity, I think in every role you can find something about you. Also in this bad role, or in my case, always dying role, there's something that can give us emotions. Also if we are crazy, sometimes we like very much to sing emotional music. And we have had the great opportunity to sing this kind of very emotional music. So, but I think sometimes I prefer that if people say to me, wow, you sing well, not how you die well. But there is one thing, because I know, you know, normally I ask as well, do you have other passions apart from music? And I know you have a passion for writing. So, I mean, and your main character in your book is an opera singer who likes to solve crimes. So I guess somehow the opera is taking over on your imagination and then you end up writing about crimes. Or do you have funny episodes? Stage taught me something about crimes. So my characters now wanna look better in some theaters around, all around the world, for be the paladina della giustizia, how to say in English? Paladina della giustizia. Champions for justice. This is my character, my book character. She is the champion of justice. Yes, of course, theater is a world that gives you a lot. And we can discover ourselves completely. Yes, yes, gives the opportunity to, to know you better. And there is another thing, so in the Opera Studio that we're gonna have here in London, so it's the Puccini La Bohème, and it's dedicated to the centenary of Puccini at Conway Hall with the Debitz. So it's 26th of April, if you are around, please come and support these amazing young students that they're going perform young singers. They're not students, they're, you know, young professionals. But you, Silvio and Chiara, you're not just gonna be teaching the technique and the history of the opera coming from the home of where it was written and developed, but also you're gonna be the stage director. So you also have this amazing passion for the stage direction. From Zeffirelli, I guess? Did you learn from Zeffirelli? Yeah, we are— Zeffirelli, Luca Ronconi. Yeah, yeah, yeah, the great opera directors. Opportunity to work with great, great, great director. But we have also studied for become us two director. We have studied in Teatro Stabile in Veneto, and we were the only two opera singers in the students. And they called us Ili Ricci, with like, like saying, oh, the strange people arriving is arriving, while when they came, they arrived in contact with our world, they often ask us, how I can do that? What? And then all the students were very interesting in the world of the opera, because in opera directing is different for theater, for prosa, for example. Of course, we have to take care of the singer. It's more completely, yeah. Yes, more completely, because we have music, we have actor, we have a whole. And it's not like the comedy, you know, they have only the scene, only the actors. We have all the music, the actor, the conductor, it's all. Yes, and the director has to take care of the singer because sometimes there's some phrase very difficult. In this phrase, we know the opera very well, so we cannot ask him or her to do something heavy or difficult in the time in which they have to put all the attention to the singing. So we know, of course, the special technique for singing stage. And we are very, very proud to make Bohème because Bohème is a very fantastic opera. And especially we are very proud to make it on this opera studio. Because Opera Studio is a very great project. We want to say that because it's not only a masterclass for singing better, it's a masterclass to become a singer, to perform on stage, to work with, to study with technical, with two Italian opera singers and now teachers, to study music with the conductor, to perform with the, with an audience. An audience is not easy to find, but now they are. This is a school to become a professional. And you study Italian opera with the Italian performer. It's very important. Exactly. From the biggest school there is. So if you have any questions that you would like to ask to our guest, you can write to opera@elpimam.com. You can visit the website and definitely you can follow Silvio Zanon and Chiara Angella with their Progetto Voce and the Elpimamma Opera Department. So you're very welcome if you're young singers at the beginning of your career to apply for this unique experience that's going to be in this opera studio of La Bohème by Elpimamma. I invite all the students. I invite all the students to come because it happens so few times to have the great opportunity to work, to listen to another singers, because we will have not only one Mimi, we will have two or three. So one Mimi can learn something to the other one, and, and they make an exchange. And to have, um, to speak about some, some notes, sometimes some phrase. It's very— it's a one week full of music, or really in which music becomes ourselves. Wonderful. And on the notes of Don Degli Eta, sung by our amazing Chiara Angella, live from the theater in Florence, Puccini— Verona, actually, right? From Verona, yes. The poem, the third act of Puccini's Don Degli Eta. And this was Don Degli Eta, sung by our fantastic guest Chiara Angella, from Puccini's La Bohème, the third act, sung on the beautiful stage of Verona. If you have any questions that you would like to ask to our guest or nominations for our future Classic Women Awards, please email presenters@womensradiostation.com. Or tweet us at Radio Women's Radio STN. A big thanks to our guest, the wonderful opera singers Chiara Angella and Silvia Zanon, for the great chat and the beautiful music played today. Thank you. Thank you, Stefania. It was a very great time, and it's always a great pleasure to speak with you. You're very welcome. You've been listening to Future Classic Women Awards on Women's Radio Station Live every day at 10:00 AM and 10:00 PM London time. And if you would like to listen to it again or catch up on our previous programs, you can head to my presenter's page, Stefania Passabonte, Future Classic Women Awards, on womensradiostation.com. Thank you for listening. Bye-bye-bye!