By Nuno Miguel Marques
Special to Classical Voice
 

hen Deborah Voigt was released from her contract for Ariadne auf Naxos in 2004 by Covent Garden’s management, what everybody suspected was, at last, confirmed: big women, as Alessandra Marc describes herself, are discriminated against on the operatic stage due to their weight and regardless of how well they sing. Their dreams face two additional obstacles – stage directors’ casting ideas and society’s current beauty standards. Alessandra Marc, a former Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions winner, candidly admits that her career has been hampered by the prevailing prejudices against women whose bodies supposedly don’t fit their characters’ physical profile.

Yet, in some way, Alessandra Marc seems to embody the old opera diva stereotype – a big woman with a big voice. There is no doubt she is one of the few genuine dramatic sopranos around, her piercing high notes capable of overcoming the thickest of orchestrations. That is exactly what she did in her exemplary assumption of the Ice Princess Turandot at Lisbon’s São Carlos Theatre in 2004. Alessandra Marc is not, however, a lady of stereotypes, for she transcends them all. Together with a remarkably potent and luminous high register, opera audiences find in Marc’s voice a luscious middle and an ability to scale down her singing. She is thus able to create a multilayered and fragile Turandot, dazzling spectators from New York to Tokyo. Her vocal prowess is not limited to Aida’s torments either. She feels equally at ease performing R&B ballads and would love to do a bit of serious rock-n-rolling. Surprised? You shouldn’t be, because Alessandra Marc has got the music under her skin.     

“THE BEST TURANDOT” -- BIRGIT NILSSON

Classical Voice: What does it feel like sending so many Princes to be beheaded while singing Turandot?

Alessandra Marc: When I perform Turandot, my main focus is Calaf, so I am not really thinking about what has come before. In addition, in the first act, I have a double who appears instead of me, because I don’t sing in it. I always ask for a double and she usually enjoys the chance of becoming Turandot during act one.

CV: How would you describe your Turandot? How different is your Turandot from other renditions?

AM: I feel so often in the past Turandot has been interpreted as the Ice Princess only. I have heard from people who have seen my Turandot and they think my version of the character is very different from what they are used to seeing and hearing. And I agree, for in the music there is the possibility of showing her not only as an Ice Princess, but also as a human being, capable of feeling. She is not one-dimensional and Puccini’s music tells us so. I don’t understand why in the past sopranos have only insisted in her Ice Princess side. Because, if she was just that, how could she fall in love with Calaf?

CV: It would be too big a transformation...

AM: Yes, it wouldn’t be believable for me. I want to express the other sides of Turandot: the feminine one and the vulnerable one, among others. And, if I do so, the character of Calaf becomes more believable as well.

CV: Yes, I think that comes across in your interpretation of the role, especially in the third act, where, through your soft singing, you are able to portray a vulnerable character.

When you were studying the role and working on your interpretation, how did you come up with these ideas? Were you inspired by a conductor or stage director?

AM: Not at all. I let the music inspire me. I sang parts of this role for Birgit Nilsson maybe more than fifteen years ago in a private coaching session in order to have her feedback. She advised me to sing only the aria “In questa reggia” for the next five years and after that she was convinced I would become the best Turandot of my generation. That is a goal of mine. And I did follow her advice.

CV: Do you have other recollections of that session with Birgit Nilsson? Did you work on other roles with her?

AM: No. It lasted only one day. In fact, she had very little to say about the way I was singing the music.

CV: After five years of singing “In questa reggia”, weren’t you a bit apprehensive about tackling the entire role?

AM: Not at all, because I felt very comfortable with it. Furthermore, I had a great voice teacher who gave me a great technique. Thus, I felt secure regarding my technique as well. In the meantime, I had had the enormous pleasure of becoming acquainted with Leontyne Price. Ms. Price heard me singing Aida in the Metropolitan Opera. She knew about my singing, my work and a little about my career. She gave me a lot of encouragement and, in fact, she is one of my idols. One day, she told me I would be the greatest Aida of my generation, a role which I have sung in many places, such as Verona or Caracalla. When I made my New York recital debut, Leonie Rysanek was still alive and in the audience. Afterwards, she came backstage to speak to me. She was very complimentary, generous and kind. And, in my opinion, Rysanek was the Strauss singer of her generation and I adore Strauss. She also paid me an enormous compliment, when she told me she was handing all her repertoire to me, so that I could follow in her footsteps. And I would like to think that I am in the process of doing so. To sum up, I had had good encouragement from Birgit Nilsson, Leontyne Price and Leonie Rysanek. I think these are artists, women and singers who know what they are speaking about. I could obviously trust them and follow their good advice.

CV: You have sung Turandot countless times and everywhere in the globe, from New York to Copenhagen. Has your take on the role evolved?

AM: Yes. I take more risks with the role nowadays. I feel freer to express every aspect of her character and her reactions to Calaf. I sometimes try different things, both vocally and scenically, depending on who I am working with, in order to keep it interesting. I don’t want to produce the same exact performance every time. For instance, I was in Bilbao, Spain, last year, where I sang Turandot under the stage direction of a very famous Spanish actress, Nuria Espert. It was really a true collaboration there, which it was not at all here (in the São Carlos National Theatre, in Lisbon). Here, it was terribly frustrating. The stage director in Lisbon (Andrei Serban), in passing me one day on the stage, said hello. And that was all the stage direction he gave me. On the contrary, my experience in Bilbao with Nuria Espert was incredibly rich. Moreover, it was the first time I was asked to commit suicide as Turandot. And before then, the idea had never come to me. But now that I have done it, I personally consider it a much better ending to the story, since I feel the original one is a little bit weak. By Turandot committing suicide at the end, even though she does sing “Amor”, we are shown the great degree of conflict which still exists within her. And this makes all the sense in the world to me, for this girl has been trained, from the moment she was born, to be the Empress of China one day. When she loses control of her heart, her upbringing and her head contradict her emotions to the end.

CV: Do you think she always wants to be in control and never be controlled by anyone?

AM: Yes. In addition, by losing her heart to a man, she is losing an amount of her power. A loss she cannot come to terms with in Nuria Espert’s staging. For me, it was extremely interesting to explore this new option, since I believe no one has ever thought of such an analysis.
 

GIUSEPPE SINOPOLI RECOLLECTIONS

CV: Talking about Turandot, I recall maestro Giuseppe Sinopoli conducted your Copenhagen Turandots. You had a close and very frequent collaboration with him. What are your most vivid recollections about that collaboration?

AM: It would have to be my first encounter with him, which took place when he invited me to sing Zemlinsky’s Lyrische Symphonie with La Scala’s Orchestra. We first met because he wanted to hear me sing, for he had never heard me before. It was a friend of mine in Zurich who had recommended me to him. Maestro Sinopoli had been searching all around the world for his ideal Elektra during two entire years, but he still hadn’t found the soprano he wanted. When he heard the tape my friend, Sandro Wilhelm – at the time he was working for Polygram Records - gave him, he immediately invited me for the Zemlinsky concerts in order to hear me live and to see what kind of a collaborator I was as a singer and as a musician. When we had our first rehearsal together, he became absolutely convinced he had finally found his soprano. I remember he had with him a semi-retired producer from Deutsche Grammophon who was a friend and advocate of his and of his ideas concerning his project for an Elektra recording. And they both said to me: “We have a hard job ahead of us to convince Deutsche Grammophon to take you as the Elektra, because you have never sung Elektra before or recorded for Deutsche Grammophon.” At the time the maestro’s relationship with Deutsche Grammophon – I found out later – was also a bit stressed. Therefore, this was one of the most memorable moments, since the maestro took an enormous risk. In fact, he risked even his own reputation. He really believed in my talent, my voice, my musicianship. And he did convince Deutsche Grammophon to take me. The actual recording with the Vienna Philharmonic of this role and this music was an unbelievable experience too. I would like to add that it was equally unbelievable to record Schoenberg’s Erwartung with the maestro. Ironically, that was a piece I did not want to record at all.

CV: Why was that?

AM: I was afraid of it. It is extremely difficult musically speaking. Nothing in the orchestration helps the singer find her way. I had heard just one recording by another soprano and I had told myself: “Oh Lord, this is nothing but screaming! It sounds like screaming to me and I do not want to scream.” Fortunately, my agent pressured me and said: “You cannot say no to maestro Sinopoli.” And Giuseppe himself told me: “Don’t worry. I’m there. You can do it. You must do it. You will do it.” So I did it. He was too important to me and to my career for me to say no. I worked very, very hard for nearly a year in order to learn this part. It was an exhausting and demanding experience emotionally, intellectually and vocally, but I came out of it a better and more confident musician. If one listens to this recording of Erwartung and sits by the piano with the score, I believe one will agree that no other recording of this opera in the market has as many correct notes sung by the soprano as Sinopoli’s version. Two months after the end of the recording, I was still haunted by this powerful music. It was in my head day and night.

Obviously I will not be able to forget seeing him die before my eyes in Berlin, flying the next day to Rome to sing at his funeral and following his wife, sons and relatives into the cemetery to see his last resting place. I followed him to the very end. I sang the Ave Maria in the church during the funeral service and I recall his wife, Silvia, saying to me that my singing of Ave Maria was so important. She felt my singing was like the wings of an angel carrying Giuseppe to Heaven.

Giuseppe was for me, as long as I knew him and worked with him, an extraordinary man. The day he was buried was, in fact, the very day that he should have given his doctoral dissertation for his degree in Archaeology. The whole time I worked with him, he would have in his room his books for study and he would travel with priceless museum-quality artefacts. I remember when I was touring Italy with him singing the Four Last Songs by Strauss, he would have to show everything he had in his briefcase at security checkpoints, because he hand-carried all his ancient artefacts. He was a very bright man. In fact, he was a psychiatrist too, so he would explore a composer, his work, the way the composer wrote his music for a particular character, such as Elektra, in fine detail. He explored everything in a way – I believe – no one else has. He always gave me things to think about I wouldn’t have ever imagined. He was a very profound and extremely intense man: a Scorpio.

CV: Are you a Scorpio as well?

AM: No. I’m a Leo.

CV: Wonderful for Turandot.

AM: Wonderful for the stage. (laughs)

CV: You told me that Erwartung stayed with you two months after the recording. Has this happened with other pieces?

AM: That was the only piece that stayed with me. Or perhaps Elektra to some degree. Though I never felt haunted by the Strauss opera.

FROM ISOLDE TO NORMA

CV: Turning to repertoire, I noticed you have sung Sieglinde, Brünhilde and even Liebestod from Tristan. When will you sing Isolde from beginning to end?

AM: When I am offered.

CV: I assume you are already prepared to sing it.

AM: That’s correct. I’m working on it now. I have learnt it takes a lifetime to live with music and really find everything it contains. It takes us a lot of time to make a part our own, to be able to live and breathe the music. And Isolde is a big role. I have never been a singer who studied other people’s recordings. To sum up, I like to take my time, so I am preparing Isolde. I would love to sing it, especially because I think my voice is now just right for this role – really perfect. And I’m sad to hear Tristan was just done here (in Lisbon) in concert, but without me as Isolde (laughs).

CV: I have noticed as well that you have not only sung Norma on stage, but have also recorded “Al dolce guidami” from Anna Bolena.

AM: This is one of the difficulties of my career: my repertoire being so extensive. If you are an artist who encompasses such a broad range of repertoire like me, it is difficult for agents and managers to sell us.

CV: It’s easier to sell the labelled ones.

AM: Exactly. And I don’t fit. I have never fitted into a nice, neat box. I remember hearing so many arguments. People saying I should just sing German repertoire or I should perform only Verdi. In older generations, there were sopranos who sang both and sang both well. Today it is not the case, it seems to me. Singers are only allowed to perform either the German or the Italian repertoire. Perhaps there are few singers who feel comfortable doing both ... I don’t know. I myself was given a great technique and have natural singing instincts. I love singing both the Italian and German repertoire and enjoy exploring contemporary music from time to time. I performed Berg’s and Schoenberg’s pieces together with maestro Sinopoli.

When I was recording with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, a friend of mine told me: “This aria from Anna Bolena, you should really sing it. It would be so beautiful in your voice.” And I didn’t even know it, since I had never considered doing Anna Bolena. Thus, I looked at the music and the score and, when I saw the aria, I agreed it would be extremely lovely to sing. As a result, I included “Al dolce guidami” in the recording programme. In fact, I chose all the repertoire, except for the orchestral pieces, for that recording which was made from three live concerts [the CD is entitled “Opera Gala” from Delos]. I sang Norma, Anna Bolena, Die Ägyptische Helena, Samuel Barber and Puccini all in one evening: what a distance to travel! And I did it three nights in a row. After overcoming such an interesting challenge, I thought I was crazy for putting all this repertoire in one concert. But I’m glad I did it.

CV: You are a woman of challenges, aren’t you?

AM: I’ve had a lifetime of challenges.

CV: But you enjoy them?

AM: Sometimes I do, if they are my choice.

CROSSOVER PROJECTS AND DREAMS

CV: I also heard you are very keen on R&B, Blues, Rock, Pop...

AM: Yes, very much.

CV: Have you ever considered doing a crossover CD?

AM: Yes, absolutely. In fact, I am now looking for some projects. I have approached Annie Lennox from The Eurythmics. She is somebody I have great respect for and a great interest in collaborating with. I have been in touch with the President of AMN records in Los Angeles who manages Christina Aguilera. So I am looking for and I am waiting for the right opportunity. In the past, to my ears and my way of thinking, many opera singers who have tried to cross over were not able to leave the operatic style of singing behind.

CV: When you do it, you’ll change your operatic vocal placement...

AM: I think it is a completely different approach and a completely different technique as well. For starters, I would be using a microphone which requires some experience. The change from operatic singing to Pop or Rock has a lot to do with the vibrato too. But there’s so much music to be discovered there. I feel very strongly that in Pop or R&B I would have a lot more freedom of expression than I am allowed to have in classical music.

CV: When you say “allowed”, is it because you are somehow restrained either by conductors or by stage directors?

AM: Yes. They have their ideas, their concepts and, unfortunately, these days, singers are more thought of as a kind of a tool, a puppet for the conductors or the stage directors to shape. In addition, I am also restrained by the historical performance practice of a certain piece. You can go only so far and then you’re limited.

CV: You are talking about tradition, aren’t you ?

AM: Yes. The opposite occurs when you are performing music which was written for you or which you write for yourself. In this case, you are only limited by your imagination which can be boundless.

CV: Do you write music for yourself?

AM: I have written a little bit. I don’t know if it is very good. I would love to find someone who wrote for me, maybe some R&B ballads. I think this kind of music would lend itself well to what I feel like singing. I have enjoyed a lot of what Barbra Streisand has done.

CV: If you recorded a crossover album, would you like to perform new stuff...

AM: I would like to do new things as well as reinterpret or cover, as they say in that business, already existing repertoire, because there is such great wealth of it. I would like to do a spiritual album in order to inspire people, not necessarily religious, but inspiring nonetheless. Furthermore, I would love to collaborate with some interesting artists, such as Annie Lennox. There is a new band now, called Evanescence, which has some great music and writing. It’s serious Rock-n-Roll and I could see myself doing that as well. When I was growing up, I was a great fan of a band called Heart and formed by two sisters: Ann and Nancy Wilson. In fact, I grew up admiring them and Linda Ronstadt, Barbra Streisand, Joni Mitchell who I thought was brilliant.

Things are changing quickly partly due to new technologies’ increasingly speedy developments. Even the arts are changing a little bit with pop artists trying to crossover into classical territory: we had, for example, Paul McCartney writing this lyrical oratorio for orchestra and soloist or David Byrne of The Talking Heads composing classical music or even Metallica performing with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas, who adapted Metallica’s music for a symphonic orchestra. And for some time now we have had classical artists crossing over to the other side. I believe and hope time has come to shorten this bridge. I would like to collaborate in this process by, for example, working with Yanni whose music is interesting, big, passionate. To sum up, I think crossing over from both directions will happen more and more.

I don’t know if opera can remain as it is unless our operatic approach goes back to the importance of music. Nowadays, staged opera is distancing itself from music for we live in an era where the stage director has all the power. It seems to me that so many stage directors are, in fact, frustrated film directors and know very little, if anything at all, about singing and what is demanded of an opera singer to be able to reproduce what the composer had in mind. I remember singing in a very, very world famous opera house with an extremely renowned stage director who had worked with Maria Callas and he spoke to the press about this not being Puccini’s Turandot, but his Turandot. This kind of ego which I find very often in stage directors is really detrimental to opera which was not intended to be a television show. I understand the importance of TV bringing opera to people who may never see it live. However, to cast opera as if it were a movie is wrong, in my opinion. And it’s sacrificing the music. And for me the music is everything, because it is what separates opera from theatre. That is why I hope and pray the emphasis in opera goes back to that.

LOOKS VS VOICE

CV: Since you talk about opera being cast as a movie, I would like to ask you a more delicate question.

AM: I know what’s coming (laughs).

CV: There has been a trend towards casting singers based on how they look and not on how they sound. Taking into account what you previously said, I presume you think this trend is very detrimental to opera.

AM: Absolutely. Actually, I think it is wrong for a lot of different reasons. And unfortunately, since this trend appeared, that is, for the last ten or fifteen years, we have lost so many people, a lot of them to AIDS, who really knew what great singing was about, because they were opera fans for years. Nowadays, the audiences who go to opera are just not hearing great singing very often and they ignore the difference between great, average and mediocre singing, simply because excellence in singing has become rare. I don’t pretend to sing Violetta or Mimì or any similar characters which it would be difficult for me to portray – being a big woman – on the stage. But for the bigger and heavier repertoire we now have light lyric sopranos and – worst of all – microphones. Sometimes microphones come into the mix and the audience is not even told about them. In a gala concert performance in a very important city, an extremely famous soprano was tackling repertoire which was written for a very full soprano sound. And her political power was such that she was able to force the orchestration of the piece to be reduced. Thus, her voice appeared to be much bigger than it actually is, because no one was aware they were only listening to half the orchestration. This way audiences are being deceived and composers’ life and work are being compromised. It’s a pity, a real shame.

Another thing which is very disturbing regarding this latest trend is the message it sends people about being a big woman. When big women are not hired to perform the dramatic repertoire (which we have every right to do), what does this tell people? It says large women cannot be convincing actresses on stage, cannot be attractive, seductive and, above all, cannot be anything believable just because they are bigger than the average person. And the same is not always true for men who are big in the opera business, so there is also a double standard.

Art, whether it is painting or music, has always been a mirror of society throughout History and I think it is still the case. Unfortunately, I live in the wrong time, because today, especially in western society, there is a really unhealthy obsession with being white, being young and being thin. And if you are none of those, you have no chance of being accepted.

CV: I wouldn’t say thin. I would say skinny or bony.

AM: Yes. And as a result of that, young people who were fed this information and this unhealthy way of seeing what is acceptable beauty had to face anorexia and bulimia. Look, for instance, at Princess Diana. Look what she did to stay thin. She nearly killed herself.

CV: And did you ever feel discriminated against in opera?

AM: My career has suffered tremendously. I haven’t had anywhere near the kind of opportunities that I might have had, if I had lived in another time.

CV: Did you ever feel the conductor or the stage director disapproved of you due to your weight ?

AM: I have been rejected solely based on it. And it is tragic, for we are losing voices. This will be the downfall of opera in the end. Opera will become a museum piece and will not exist anymore if this goes on. Let me tell you: when I sing and people hear what I do and come to my performances, every time there are people who make the effort to come to me personally to express their emotions and gratitude. It is very strange to me when I realise that what I offer has this kind of emotional impact and yet the people in a position to decide ignore their audience. Ok, I’m not going to do a cart-wheel on stage, nor do I want to. Even if I weighed 60 kilos, I wouldn’t want to do a cart-wheel on stage.

CV: So you think that all these trends (the age of the stage director, opera as cinema) are damaging opera?

AM: Exactly. I also believe that so many stage directors who have the power are more interested in putting forward themselves rather than the composer. It’s more about them and their ego than the music. I also feel many simply do not like women, unless we look like Marilyn Monroe and regardless of how well we sing. We are paying a great price, because we don’t have great singers performing some of the best music ever written. So everyone suffers and everyone loses, not only me by not having the opportunities I should have. And this is something I have great difficulty understanding: how is it possible, in today’s society, that it is still acceptable to discriminate. It shouldn’t be: not against gay people, not against people of colour, not against big people. Not against anyone. We are all human beings. We all have our own struggles and if we are born with a gift, no one should be allowed to stop that gift from being shared with other people.

FROM JUDITH TO ALESSANDRA 

CV: Fortunately, you were chosen to sing Turandot in Lisbon.

AM: Yes, but I have so much more in me to offer. There is a lot of repertoire I wish I’ll sing, for example, I would love to come back to Lisbon to perform Don Carlo, Ballo in Maschera, Ariadne auf Naxos or Der Rosenkavalier. It would be incredible, for instance, to sing Tosca. It would be just perfect for me. And I believe Jon Villars (Calaf at São Carlos’ Turandot) would like very much to sing Cavaradossi with me.

CV: I think you have not sung Tosca yet ...

AM: Only in concerts in the Republic of Georgia.

CV: You were born Judith Borden and, before the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 1985, you changed your name to Alessandra Marc. What are the differences between Judith Borden and Alessandra Marc or are they exactly the same person and there are no differences at all?

AM: I think they are the same person. I would like to think they are the same person (laughs). At the time when I entered the Metropolitan Opera National Competition and it looked like I would be a winner, I had already been thinking of changing my name for a year, because there were a few other sopranos with the first name of Judith: Judith Blegen, Judith Raskin and probably some more that I don’t know about. I didn’t want to be another Judith and I wasn’t crazy about my last name either. In fact, my grandparents changed their last name too when they came to the United States, so Borden wasn’t really a family name to begin with.

I dreamed of being a mother all my life and I fantasized about the names I would call my children. And I had decided long ago that if I had a daughter, I would call her Alessandra. So, during the competition and sensing my victory, I knew I would have my first exposure to New York press. And if I wanted to change my name, it would have to be in that precise moment, because after that it would be not only confusing, but also difficult. Therefore, I made the decision of changing my name in the middle of the Competition and I was looking for a last name which would be easy to pronounce and remember in any language and one that would go well with the chosen first name. I thought of Marc. At first, I played with a couple of other versions of it, but then I enjoyed the way “Alessandra Marc” sounds and feels and convinced myself it would be perfect. And Alessandra was for me a simultaneously feminine and strong name.

I remember calling the offices of the Metropolitan Opera Guild and asking them if they could please – from then on – address me as Alessandra Marc and they agreed. And I have been Alessandra Marc ever since. It took me perhaps one or one and a half years to become used to it. People would call me Alessandra and I would take a minute to realise they were talking to me. Nowadays, I feel it’s me. I don’t think of myself as Judith at all. (laughs)

HOW A MIMÌ AND AN ANTONIA WERE LOST 

CV: Can I finish with a quick quiz?

AM: Certainly.

CV: A favourite recording done by you?

AM: I think the Elektra.

CV: And a recording you treasure, but made by another artist?

AM: A recording with Leontyne Price singing the aria from Die Ägyptische Helena. The first time I heard it, it was snowing - a typical Winter day in New York City – and I was at a friend’s apartment and he said: “You have to hear this. Listen, listen to this”. I hadn’t thought of Leontyne Price in terms of the German repertoire at all, so when I heard her singing “Zweite Brauchtnacht”, I just uttered to myself: “Wow, it’s unbelievable. That’s so beautiful and so dramatic.”

Actually, there are so many recordings I treasure. Some of Maria Callas have inspired me, especially due to her incredible commitment at every second. But I was never a really great listener. I didn’t want to hear a lot of other people’s recordings, because I was afraid it would influence me. Nevertheless, I do listen, but only after I have learnt the repertoire and sometimes I find out that my own instincts were right all along. I recall listening, as a very young student, to Zinka Milanov and to Rosa Ponselle. My first marriage ceremony took place in the home of Rosa Ponselle at Baltimore. She was dead already, but I was invited to marry there. The marriage didn’t last (laughs), but the memory of its ceremony will last forever. And I was the only person to marry in her home.

I also remember admiring the recordings of Magda Olivero and some of Joan Sutherland. My voice teacher, Marilyn Cotlow, was a great admirer of Joan Sutherland and her technique. She was a phenomenal coloratura soprano, whose career was sabotaged at the time by both her agent and the Metropolitan Opera, the old Met. She was not only a great technician, but my first mother-in-law as well. I will always give her all the credit for teaching me my technique. Unlike many voice teachers, she did not try to take control, she was not working for her ego. She recognised my talent. I recall when she first heard me auditioning for a local opera company. She was there accompanying her own pupils. Afterwards, she approached me and asked: “Who are you?”. I told her I was studying at the University and would sing Mimì one day when I grew up, because the University teachers said I was a lyric soprano. She started laughing and said: “You have got to be kidding!” I asked her why and she answered: “Because you are so much more. You are a young dramatic soprano. And if you come and study with me, I’ll prove it to you”. And she did.

Marilyn had studied for seven years with a Wagnerian tenor named Hans Clemens who combined the German and Italian school of singing. So that was what she taught me. She was a brilliant technician and a generous teacher. For example, I remember her saying to me: ”Alessandra, I want you to know what you already have which is good singing instincts. You have a natural instinct for singing and you already do so many things right. I am just going to add on to that, namely the awareness, so that you know what you do right already.” And this is very uncommon among voice teachers. At a certain point, she told me: “I have taught you everything. Now, you must leave the nest and if you fall, you’ll know how to pick yourself up. But you have to be able to do it by yourself.” And that is the most loving gesture.

CV: You have already told me the roles you would like to play: Tosca, Don Carlo ...

AM: Manon Lescaut.

CV: Are there any roles you would like to perform, but know you can’t?

AM: I think it would be fun to sing Carmen. And maybe one day I will. During the last three years, I have lost 60 kilos and my goal is to lose 60 more. So perhaps Carmen is my future. I would also like to perform Traviata and hopefully I will sing Norma on the stage.

CV: But you have sung Norma, haven’t you?

AM: Only in concert. There are so many good roles I would love to perform, such as Thaïs. Actually, my mother hates opera, whereas my father loves opera. His favourite opera singer of all time was Lily Pons and he was crazy about The Tales of Hoffman. So, when I first expressed a desire to sing, he dreamed I would become a coloratura soprano and he bought me, as my first book, "The Ten Coloratura Arias". And the very first aria I learned before I really began to study was Antonia’s “Elle a fui” from The Tales of Hoffman. Needless to say, I am not a coloratura soprano. (laughs) Both my father and my mother are very proud of me, though they have no idea where I came from. In fact, my maternal grandmother, who grew up in Northern Germany, in Prussia, apparently had a voice. The local voice teacher recognised it and wanted to teach her for free. But in that time, it was not good to be a female and a stage artist. Thus, they denied her the chance to study and realise her potential. She was my heart and soul, my maternal grandmother. I spent a lot of time with her while growing up and, in some way, I feel I am doing it for both of us.

CV: A bit like Turandot who is acting for her and Lou-Ling, you are singing for you and your grandmother.

AM: Yes. Do you know what’s interesting ? People have asked me about my childhood in interviews, so I had reasons to think back. I tried to find out if I always knew I wanted to be a singer and when I became aware of it. I meditated a lot about this subject and afterwards I remembered that, as a very, very young girl, even before I could express myself, I felt I wanted to sing. Now I can describe this feeling through words: it was a kind of deep and intimate knowledge that music and singing would be my life. The feeling is incredible to remember, for now I can really identify it. And then my mother brought me a couple of years ago my books from grade school, first to sixth grade, which she had found in the attic. When I began to look through them, I found class pictures as well as report cards. In those days, the 60s, women’s goals, dreams and roles in society were much different from today. A little girl would choose between being a nurse or a secretary. But, in my case, from first grade on, I always said I wanted to be a singer. And I didn’t remember that until I saw it written in my grade school books. Therefore, it’s my destiny to do this and hopefully I will be able to continue doing it. The business is extremely difficult as is dealing with the prejudice, but I can think of nothing else that I would rather do. Time will tell what my destiny will be.

Selected Discography

Albéniz, Henry Clifford, DECCA
Beethoven, Symphony No. 9, Warner Classics
Berg, Altenberg Lieder, Teldec
Honegger, Le Roi David, EMI
Krenek, Jonny Spielt Auf, DECCA
Mahler, Symphony No. 8, BMG/RCA
Schoenberg, Erwartung, Teldec
Strauss, Elektra, Deutsche Grammophon
Strauss, Friedenstag, Koch
Verdi, Requiem, Teldec
Wagner, Die Walküre, DECCA

Official Website: http://www.alessandramarc.com/

Nuno Miguel Marques is a Classical Voice correspondent in Lisbon, Portugal.

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