When Anna Netrebko sings, she is always moved to tears, says Festival President Helga Rabl-Stadler at the press conversation with the singer. “Anna has made Festival history, and I hope that she will continue to do so.”
Helga Rabl-Stadler and Ana Netrebko, foto Salzburger Festspiele/Anne Zeuner
The Russian artist starts by pointing out that she has worn a colourful outfit to counteract the rain outside, taking her seat on the podium with a smile. Moderator Bernhard Fleischer asks whether she remembers her first major role at the Salzburg Festival. In 2002, Anna Netrebko sang Donna Anna in Don Giovanni; the conductor at the time was Nikolaus Harnoncourt. “It was simply wonderful to work with him,” the singers says. “I arrived for my audition, and after only two phrases he said, ‘That’s enough; we will work together’.” The collaboration was so wonderful because they understood each other without many words.
Bernhard Fleischer, Helga Rabl-Stadler and Ana Netrebko
Her personal highlight was Le nozze di Figaro with Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Claus Guth, the singers says – knowing that everyone loved the 2005 La Traviata, she still prefers Figaro. She liked Claus Guth’s Susanna, a darker and more depressive figure than usual. “I trusted him and was completely convinced of his staging,” Anna Netrebko says. “His ideas were so interesting and intelligent.” However, at the time she already sensed that the role of Susanna was too light for her voice. From then on, she started singing roles written for a weightier soprano. When her child was born, things became clear to her: in 2009 she began her transition to the dramatic fach. “I would never have thought that I could go so far,” she says, adding that it is not easy to be born a lyric soprano and move into dramatic roles. “I am still working hard on my voice. There is no joking around in the dramatic fach,” says Anna Netrebko. One has to be very careful with one’s voice, to advance slowly, otherwise one might be looking at a very short career.
She considers the role of Manon Lescaut, for example, which she is currently performing to great acclaim at the Salzburg Festival, to be very difficult. “That is why I am only singing a few performances; one has to avoid overexerting the voice.” Of course the lightness of a Susanna is not lost; it is still inside her. “However,” she adds, “I simply do not want to keep playing young girls; this is less interesting to me now.” Her husband Yusif Eyvazov is currently singing the role of Renato Des Grieux at her side. “I am very proud of him. He mastered his Salzburg debut with bravura,” Anna Netrebko says. “I still remember hearing him for the first time in Rome two and a half years ago. I was impressed by his talent, but he had to learn to use it the right way. He is working hard on himself and on his voice,” she says. On stage, however, they are not husband and wife, but simply colleagues.
Anna Netrebko says that she must love a role in order to sing it: “I must be honest with myself – these big roles take everything out of me. If the feeling is not right and I do not really love the role, I cannot sing it.” Norma was such a case in point. She simply felt unable to love the role, so she prefers not to perform it.
On the other hand, she felt such an affinity for Turandot that she completed the recording of the opera’s key aria in only two sessions – to be found on her new CD Verismo, scheduled for release on September 2, 2016.
Tiskovno poročilo in kaj je zadaj
Objavljam tiskovno poročilo tiskovnega urada Salzburških slavnostnih iger po srečanju z Ano Netrebko, na katerega sem bil povabljen, a nisem odšel. Najprej je zjutraj zelo deževalo in je bilo jasno, da s pogovorom na sončni odprti terasi presse centra ne bo nič in ga je festival že dan poprej zvečer odpovedal ter prestavil v veliko večji fojer velike festivalske dvorane. Drugo je bila moja pot v Bayreuth, ki sem jo po osebnem povabilu prestavil iz zjutraj na popoldan, kar sem z urnikom vlakov uskladil, potem pa vrnil na prvotni odhod.
Odločilna pa je bila sama omejevalna poteza festivala, ki je povsem izločil vse fotografe in fotoreporterje z javnega oziroma javnosti namenjenega dogodka. Organizator se je skliceval na dejstvo, da oni vabijo in postavljajo pogoje ter da to ni običajna tiskovna konferenca. Malo čudno je pojmovanje, da srečanje očitno izbranih novinarjev s tako slavno umetnico, kot je Ana Netrebko, ni javna tiskovna konferenca. Posebno poglavje so fotoreporterji, ki za dogodek sploh niso vedeli in potemtakem niso mogli “noter”. Sam sem se dan poprej pozanimal, kakšna bo situacija in mi je najodgovornejša v presse centru odgovorila, da slavne pevke ne bo nihče smel fotografirati, ker da imajo oni svojega fotografa, ki bo naredil slike za vse.
Tako so z lahkoto sestavili svoj zgornji komunike in dali na festivalov servis fotografij svoje tri, pri čemer ni na niti eni slavna Ana Netrebko sama, niti se ne vidi, da govori o svojih salzburških nastopih na tiskovni konferenci. Na eni je skupaj s predsednico festivala Helgo Rabl – Stadler, na drugih dveh pa še z moderatorjem pogovora Bernhardom Fleischerjem. Vse tri so absolutno zrežirane oziroma postavljene.
Dan poprej je bilo napovedano, kot sem že poročal, tričetrturno srečanje Ane Netrebko z gledalci koncertne izvedbe Puccinijeve opere Manon Lescaut in njeno podpisovanje plošče Verismo. Šel sem mimo, ker se je ravno končala moja premierna predstava Mozartovega Don Giovannija, medtem ko je bilo sosednje opere konec že malo prej in je večina publike že odšla. Presenečen sem bil, kako malo, glede na 2200 gledalcev v dvorani, je bilo ljudi v vrsti – Netrebko še ni prišla – in kako so očitno prišli v avlo samo zaradi nje, slabše oblečeni, torej niso bili na koncertu oziroma v operi. Opozorilo in vabilo na podpisovanje plošč je bilo namreč že nekaj dni postavljeno na ogled pred dvorano. Redarji so ljudi v vrsti nenehno svarili, česa ne smejo početi. Poudarek je bil na kupovanju plošč in šele zatem podpisu, ne pa slikanje in avtogrami na programe ali slike ali kaj drugega, kot je pogovor s pevko. Ko sem to videl, sem takoj odšel.
Verismo vero e nuovo: (bitte keine Programmhefte o.ä. Es wird ersucht von Fotos Abstand zu nehmen. Leider reicht die knappe Zeit (45 Minuten) auch nicht für Gespräche, foto Marijan Zlobec
Če je nekdo javna oseba, pa tudi če je festival javen, kar se seveda še kako hvali, da je prvi na svetu, mora vodstvo prevzeti nase odgovornost in hkrati dopustiti nekaj pravice tudi javnosti. O tem, kako so množično fotografirali Ano Netrebko, bodisi profesionalni fotografi ali publika in ljubitelji sami, sem sam videl tako v Salzburgu v prejšnjih letih, pa še na Dunaju in v milanski Scali. Po lanski predstavi Trubadurja je sama prišla pred dvorano na cesto, ker je vedela, da jo občinstvo čaka in si želi srečanja z njo; dajala je avtograme in se slikala, potem pa se vrnila na notranje dvorišče velike festivalske dvorane, kjer je sedla v avtomobil, ki je nato zelo počasi zapeljal med ploskajočo množico. Očitno ni ona problem.
Marijan Zlobec