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Tosca 2018 articles.qxp_TOSCA 2018 9/21/18 1:14 PM Page 5 B Y M ARINA R OMANI Passionand Glamour The star of Tosca is ready for her San Francisco Opera close-up PERA O RANCISCO F AN /S ICCOLI N IORENZO : F PHOTOS LL A 44 SAN FRANCISCO OPERA Tosca 2018 articles.qxp_TOSCA 2018 9/21/18 1:15 PM Page 6 hunder roars in the summer sky, while waves ripple over We speak in Italian, with occasional forays into our own the Gulf of Naples. The scene unfolds before an open win- respective dialects—hers Neapolitan, mine Abruzzese—whose dow, looking onto the Castel dell’Ovo—the fortress that has common linguistic lineage speaks to the history of a fragmented served over the centuries as a convent, prison, and royal nation. Both of our regions belonged to the Kingdom of the Two residence. To the east, the blue silhouette of Mount Vesu- Sicilies until the unification of Italy in 1861 and, as Carmen vius rises against the clouds, through the driving rain. remarks, “it’s been maybe 60 years that we all speak the same The setting is worthy of an opera, and so an apt location in language. That’s thanks mainly to the advent of television at which I should meet Italian soprano Carmen Giannattasio. And home in the 1950s. Here in Campania, dialects—and especially no less appropriate that, with the appearance of the prima donna, Neapolitan—are deeply rooted.” Carmen is knowledgeable and as we sit down for a caffè in the sumptuous hall of the hotel, the passionate about local histories—their linguistic peculiarities, backdrop slowly shifts: the early evening air becomes warm and neighborhood theaters, little-known places to find the best crisp, the sky is becalmed. Neapolitan food. Her inquisitiveness has guided her in her career, We meet in early August, when Carmen is taking a brief pause both on and off the stage. In fact, together with her studies at the before her San Francisco Opera debut in a major new role, Tosca. Conservatory, Carmen pursued a degree in English and Russian at She is no stranger to high-profile engagements: at 24, she the University of Salerno. “I wanted to be a journalist,” she debuted at La Scala. After winning First and Audience explains, “and the critical eye that you need in that Prizes at Plácido Domingo’s Operalia, The World profession has stayed with me.” Opera Competition in 2002, she has been daz- It is with this same keen perspective that she zling audiences with a repertoire ranging from is approaching her latest role. I am curious rarely seen 18th-century operas to master- why she chose Tosca at this point in her pieces by Verdi and Puccini. She was the career. “You know, I was asked to sing first Italian soprano in more than 20 years Tosca when I was 27, after I won Operalia to take on the role of Violetta at the in Paris,” she says. “Obviously, receiving Metropolitan Opera, and she is beloved such an offer when you are a young at the Royal Opera House in London, artist is incredibly flattering. You feel especially after stepping in last minute perhaps not that you have made it, but in La Bohème in 2012 with a mesmeriz- that you are ready. You think to yourself: ing portrayal of Mimì. Acclaimed for ‘They want me, so I can do it.’ But I’ve her rich timbre, expressiveness, and always been realistic about my career charisma, Carmen’s warm temperament and always considered where I was on and glamour have led her to become a my path as a singer, both taking on new special representative for the high-end roles and understanding when to let fashion designer Antonio Riva, Bulgari some of them go. When I was asked to jewelry, and perfume brand Carthusia. sing Tosca at such a young age, I realized “You know, we are sitting just a few steps that, before getting to Puccini, there was a from where Enrico Caruso passed,” the lot of music I needed and wanted to sing: soprano reminds me, hinting at the Hotel Vesu- Cimarosa, Monteverdi, Mozart… a lot of bel vio next door, where the legendary tenor spent his canto. Right now, my voice has a thickness, color, final hours in 1921. In her frequent travels around the and maturity to tackle a prima donna role like Tosca, world, Naples holds a special place: “Io sono di casa qui—it to whom I feel very close.” feels like home. It’s not my city, but I was born just about an hour A smile from Carmen hints at another affinity with Tosca. “Yes, away in Avellino. Naples is where I grew up as an artist.” I have to confess that her passionate artistic soul is very close to Her journey began not far from where we are sitting: in Solofra, mine,” she confesses. “Some singers are vocalists. Other are her father’s village, and Avellino, her mother’s hometown. “I went interpreti, or performers. I feel like a singer-performer. One can be to school in Solofra, and then to the Cimarosa Conservatory in the best technical singer in the world, but, without conveying any Avellino, which is a forward-thinking place.” It was her piano feelings, those vocal fireworks become merely an end in them- teacher who first recognized her vocal talents. This came as a sur- selves. I get more pleasure out of a sound that may not be perfect prise for the young musician: “At that time, I was playing Bach, but, in that moment, in a specific scene, has its own perfection.” Satie… opera was so far away from my sensibility! It took me Combined with her instinctive relationship to a character, Car- about three years to really get into opera––and then I fell in love!” men’s critical edge informs the way she crafts her operatic roles. She has always been meticulous about researching the literary sources of the operas she interprets, and she tells me she has just Opposite: Carmen Giannattasio in a gown by designer Antonio Riva. finished studying the source play, Sardou’s La Tosca. In addition, Above: The Italian soprano on location at Rome’s Castel Sant’Angelo. after our conversation, she is planning to meet with her friend, con- ductor Gianluca Marcianò, to spend a few days in a full immersion encoreartsprograms.com 45 Tosca 2018 articles.qxp_TOSCA 2018 9/21/18 1:15 PM Page 7 In 2017, Giannattasio was awarded the with Tosca’s orchestral score. Order of the Star Along the way, Carmen has found Her familiarity with the original text of Italy. solidarity not only with her Italian influences her interpretation of the compatriots but supportive profes- character. “Reading Sardou’s play, you sionals and institutions abroad: “I find out that Tosca was an orphan often say I am a ‘British product.’ They from Verona and lived as a sheep- took me when I was diamond in the herder,” she says. “The Benedictine rough. I owe so much to the U.K. and monks took her with them and gave what I love the most about the British her an education. She grew up in a is their foresight. They recognize your monastery! This is the reason for the talent—and then they also tell you that profound religiosity that we witness in there’s more work to do, more practice the the opera. In fact, she was meant needed.” to become a nun. It was the Pope him- Her American experience has been self that, in hearing her voice, was so equally positive. “In some places, per- touched that a tear fell from his eye. formers are like toreadors in the arena: That’s when he told her that she until the end, you don’t know what the couldn’t stay in a monastery: she had reaction will be,” she explains. “That’s to bring beauty to the world and share also part of the game, you have to be with everybody the same emotions able to accept all kinds of feedback. But that her voice provoked in him. in my performances in the U.S., it’s “In the process of building a dra- almost like being on a team, you and matically solid character, it’s crucial for the audience together—and that’s an me to know all of this. Learning more about her education and incredibly warm feeling. Also, I am touched by the support of the values, you understand how truly, deeply horrified she is by Italian and Italian-American communities. I remember one episode Scarpia’s proposal. Mario’s life is too important for her, so she from my debut at the Met in Il Trovatore when, for the very first per- accepts his depraved deal. And yet, she can’t tolerate the mental formance, no member of my family, friends, or even my agent could torture to which Scarpia is subjecting her… and that leads her to make it. And yet, at the end of my aria in Act I, I heard somebody the extreme act of murder.” screaming: ‘Forza Carmen!’ This gave me the energy to go on for Her desire to go for psychological depth makes Carmen a pas- the rest of the opera!” sionate interpreter, while her academic background in literature Carmen’s role as a cultural ambassador has also been recog- and languages allows her to feel comfortable in many artistic dis- nized on an institutional level.

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