On Tebaldo from Capuleti…
Hi there, this is the first time I attempt writing in English ( my mother language is Spanish by the way). I decided finally to create my own website and to start writing this blog now and then, I know I will probably suck at doing this at the beginning but I hope with time I will be able to improve my writing skills in this language, so I apologize for all the grammatical errors in advance specially to those whose mother toungue is English.
Now let’s start with this blog, as the title says, I am singing the role of Tebaldo from I Capuleti e i Montecchi (Bellini) and I am having fun learning this role and trying to put it in the concept of our stage director which name may result very familiar to all opera lovers or to any tenor reading this blog, his name is Mario del Monaco and yes he is related to his grand father under the same name which I really admire and think he was a great tenor.
Amid the rehearsals of this production we are performing Gianni Schicchi in which I sing Rinuccio. Working in Germany at a theater as a fixed member of the soloists we most perform several repertoire at the same time and sometimes very opposite style must be sung on weekly basis. I believe 3 season ago I had my biggest challenge singing il Conte di Almaviva from Barbiere di Siviglia and Rodolfo from La Boheme which are very opposite characters not only dramaturgically but also from styles and musically, the demand of singing both was very challenging and at the end I decided not to sing so heavy Rodolfo and Almaviva not too light so I can sing both at the sametime, by which I mean singing both roles in a couple of days in between on a weekly basis for some time. At the end I learned a lot but I do wish I had the chance to focus on one at the time so I can completelly be invested on the development of any given of these two roles, by the time I sang them I was more vocally suited for Almaviva than Rodolfo but my heart goes to Rodolfo.
Singing now Rinuccio and Tebaldo the diference is not so big and now I have more experience and my voice is more developed than three years ago. Rinuccio is really fun to sing but you do have the very annoying Schicchi at the end of the aria and I am a strong headed person and really want to sing as much as “i” as possible so there you go… of course is difficult to achieve that and everytime it comes slightly different I must admit becuase I am searching for the most comfortable way of doing and without pushing that b flat… to you who may not know me I do love challenges and I always go crazy specially as a tenor with how to sing my high notes better and I am very devoted to the study of the voice and its physiological aspects… having said that a book does not make singing better that is why there is no short cut to the study of the voice other than practising and practising while finding which are the habits or faults that I have acumulated over the years.
Tebaldo is a very nice role to interpret and vocally very noble to sing and in general I find Bellini difficult to sing because one is very naked specially in the airas where you as a singer and artist are very expoused and you really show your true singing, like mozart there is no way to hide. Yesterday Sunday we had performance of Gianni Schicchi and this week we have some stage rehearsals with piano and an Orchestra Rehearsal then the Haupt Probe and the General Probe and on Sunday premiere.
The last 2 weeks we had 5 shows of Gianni Schicchi while rehearsing Capuleti and some orchestra rehearsals and that I must admit has been tiring, specially because the 2 days I was completely free I decided to go one of those to days to Frankfurt to take a coaching with Felice Venanzoni who works at Opera Frankfurt and the other day I decided to take a singing lesson in Leipzig with Prof.Dr. Jeanette Favaro-Reuter just to check up and clarify some concepts I am applying on my singing for both roles Tebaldo and Rinuccio. I really enjoy working with both and I love how invested they are on passing on their ideas and both really want just to help and also listen to my crazy tenor ideas although sometimes I tend to go in circles. I met them both not long ago through my girlfriend Akiho Tsujii which is a very good soprano working with me at the theater here.
Uff now this is a longer writing than I thought… sorry guys and I thank you for your time reading this blog. I will try to write to you at least once a week, as I mentioned we have premiere on Sunday so I must really pace myself this week so I arrive vocaly healthy to it.
See you soon and thank you for joining this reading.
Ah! almost forget to tell you to look at the instrgram link at the top right of this website and it will direct you to a pic of our last reharsal with make up and costume from our Capuleti production.
Have a great week and until next time.
