Backstage at the Metropolitan Opera House, Roberto Alagna has just finished with one of his many extemporare appearances: signing DVDs of Carmen in the Met Opera Shop. It’s mid-afternoon, and the remarkable singer gives this reporter a moment of his time. We’ve included his lyric pattern of speech, because in English, it flows more so with the original wording and phraseology.
Ellen Christine: Ok, so one thing: when was the 1st time you came to New York?
Roberto Alagna: It was, the first time in New York was for the Pavarotti competition….. because we made the first eliminatory (sic) for the competition here in ‘85…..
Ellen Christine: I thought that was in Philadelphia, non?
Roberto Alagna: The final was in Philadelphia, but the beginning was here, in New York.
Ellen Christine: So, you were a baby.
Roberto Alagna: I was a baby…I was …at that time I don’t remember, it was 23, or 22.
Roberto and Ellen: something like that, yeah.
Ellen Christine: About NY and you : because you have so much energy, that I think that New York is a good city for you because it’s on par with your energy.
Roberto Alagna: I love New York, but I will give you a secret:
Ellen Christine: What secret?
Roberto Alagna: I have a secret in New York: because I know a place in Central Park, it’s just a small sq,1 meter, (Italian) metre carre. And in that square, it’s total silence, and when I am full of musique and everything in my head, I go there, and I stay there for 1 hour, 2 hours, looking at the sky or looking at the trees, and everything, and in one hour, I clean my brain, totally clean. But I love NY because I love this energy of the city. In fact, I love these contrasts. You can feel a lot of contrasts, different contrasts in New York. I like that. And you can be surprised all the time, everywhere.
Ellen Christine: Every corner…
Roberto Alagna: Yes, every corner…I love that.
Ellen Christine: And your French fans, your Spanish fans come to see you…everybody comes to see you in New York.
Roberto Alagna: Because the Met is very important. Today For me it’s the first theatre in the world. And I love to come here why: not only because you have this beautiful audience and this beautiful theatre but at the same time you can refind here your family, I mean my family musicians. You know, singers. Because when you come here all the time here you have a lot of productions at the same time,all the time. We are downstairs in the cantina, and we meet each other and speak to each other and it’s very nice to meet after 2 or 3 years…to meet Horovtowsky, and his wife and the children, to meet Sandra, Simon, everybody and I like that, because you feel like a real family.
Ellen Christine: So you’re going to miss NY when you leave us for one whole year?
Roberto Alagna: All the time, all the time yeah, sure, sure. I miss NY all the time, because I am in love with the city, and I have a lot of beautiful remembers (sic)here. I spent a lot of time with my wife, with my family, and my daughter. I have a lot of beautiful remembers(sic).
Ellen Christine: Your daughter’s been here with you?
Roberto Alagna: Oh sure, many times. I remember with her when she was little, we stayed that time in Essex house, Central Park South and when she was little, to try to sleep her, I went downstairs you know, to make a tour with the horses,
Ellen and Roberto: (the carriages)
Roberto Alagna: and we made the turn, and after that she went to sleep, I put her on my arm, and to bed.
Ellen Christine: Great idea! Are you going to Canada and Moscow this summer?
Roberto Alagna: Yes, this summer I will be in Canada, in Toronto, with a beautiful repetoire and with a new soprano. I don’t know her, but I like also surprises in my profession also and after that I will return to Moscow. I’ve sung many times there, it’s a beautiful public.
Ellen Christine: And the rest of the time you’ll be in France?
Roberto Alagna: I’ll be in France, in Spain, in Vienna, in London, in Germany, everywhere.
Ellen Christine: So again I’ll ask you, de la part de Solange: why won’t you go to Belgium?
Roberto Alagna: No, I went to Bruxelles last year, and I sang a beautiful concert. I sang Romeo et Juliette in concert, and it was beautiful, with a big success and everything. The problem : I can’t go to Brux and say: okay, guys, I would like to sing. They must call me. If they invite me, I come.
Ellen Christine: Your sister has to do that.
Roberto Alagna: No, no, you know because: we have a mentality with my sister. We never ask somebody for a project, or something like this. All the time we answer requests.
Ellen Christine: It seems to me that no matter what role you’re doing, you’re always right on the money. In the time, a l’epoque, politically. Somehow you manage to choose roles that are so perfect for that time and and that time of year, and the world. How do you choose your roles?
Photo by: AP Photo/Stephen Chernin
Roberto Alagna: I must be in love with the character and with the musique. I must be in love. When I am in love, I just enjoy so much to stay on stage to sing the music, everything comes naturally and because I love to sing, it’s my life. I sang all my life .
Ellen Christine: You love to die, too!
Roberto Alagna: Because, I love to die because I know when I die I know after that I will awake again. I don’t like to die forever, but on stage, you know, because it’s very moving. I love that.
Ellen Christine: About the movie about Wagner?
Roberto Alagna: It’s a very strange movie, because in fact, I think those people, I think the producer ,has no money. And all the time he called me to do another scene, and another scene. And I don’t know what’s happened. He asked me to do first, it was just an apparition (sic), and after that they made another scene, and now another one. In fact, I don’t know, I filmed maybe half an hour of the movie…I don’t know if they’ll do something with that, but…
Ellen Christine: We hope so, because it looked beautiful
Roberto Alagna: I hope not, because I don’t know if it will be a good movie.
Ellen Christine: We don’t care. We don’t care as long as you’re in it. It can be a good movie, it can be a bad movie, but the piece that you were in was wonderful…it was evocative.
Roberto Alagna: You know, come to see me at the opera. It’s better !
Ellen Christine: I do, I do all the time You have all these fans, I call them le cadre francais… you know les francaises: Maraise, and Martine…everybody comes to see you.
Roberto Alagna: You know they are so kind. They come also during the tour. During the tour there are a lot of concerts (petits concerts).They are everynight there. It’s so moving to see that.
Ellen Christine: We’re your groupies!
Roberto Alagna: Yeah, yeah, but you know, it’s more than that today. I think today we are real friends. They know that….It’s nice.
Ellen Christine: They’ll be happy to know that because they love you and they love your music. Thank you,
Roberto Alagna: Thank you, Ellen.
Parlez-vous français? Find the interview with Roberto Alagna in French at the Ellen Christine Millinery blog