Erwin's music den

A little note re: the Royal Albert Hall concert

As you probably already know, Jonas Kaufmann is unwell and has cancelled many of his engagements, including his participation to the RAH concert.

Anna and I would like to wish Jonas a speedy recovery — we want to see you back in stage pronto, my friend!

The BMW artventscalendar is a partner campaign to support the charity organisation “Artists for kids”, that takes care of the education of kids from families with a low income, thus unable to afford secondary school expenses.

The Artvents-Calendar has reached its sixteenth year in Germany and its fifth in Austria: it’s one of the biggest charity campaigns focusing on helping children in need. This year the project will be made and shown in Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt - and when I say “made” I really mean that, because the calendar involves artists such as painters, sculptors and photographers, with a little help from other showbiz people, including yours truly here. :-)

I matched with Antonio de Felipe, a truly wonderful artist who blends classical and pop art in his paintings: for the BMW artventscalendar he conceived a representation of a Madonna with the likes of Marilyn Monroe and I am very proud of having helped him with that… well, basically I just followed his instructions as I was afraid of spoiling his amazing work, but apparently I did no damage! ;-)

For this project, Antonio and I are sponsored by fashion company Marc O’Polo.

More details soon!

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Quiz time: what was I painting with @antoniodefelipe?

(well, he did most of the painting, actually, but my contribution was essential!! Jejejeje… :-))

(Taken with instagram)

Back to Vienna after the Baden Baden concert.

The Festspielhaus was full of wonderful people. We had fun performing and they had fun too, and rewarded us with a standing ovation at the end — thank you everyone, ein herzliches Dankeschön!

Here’s a pic of Anna and I being silly in the car… :-)

It’s #newalbum QUIZ TIME! :-)

I’ve just listened to a sample of @erwin_schrott’s new album — AND YOU HAVEN’T! *ner ner ner ner ner!* *self-five!*

— Giorgia (@giochini) April 2, 2012

I’m about to listen to another sample of @erwin_schrott’s new album, AND YOU’RE NOT! You think you know, but you have NO IDEA!!1

— Giorgia (@giochini) April 2, 2012

Now guess: which arias has Giorgia listened to?

You have to guess the composers, the operas they’re taken from and the titles of said arias — no phone call at home, no 50:50, and no public’s help, already helped you by saying they’re opera arias and not a rendition of ABBA songs played by nose flute… ;-)

First one to enter the correct answer (either via twitter or facebook, or in the comments below) wins a copy of the (yet untitled) NEW ALBUM! ;-)

P.s.: VIVA CHARLIE SHEEN!!.

On TV3, a Catalunyan TV channel, there’s a programme called Òpera en texans, which means “opera in jeans”. Here’s the episode in which they interviewed me during Faust in Barcelona, a few months ago. :-)

I think these people are doing a great job spreading opera to the television audience, it’s lively programme, very interesting, with a fresh approach to opera. I reckon the title “opera in jeans” is quite appropriate. You can also follow them on twitter: @operaentexans

Just a quick note to say thank you to everyone…

…not just to my colleagues and all the fantastic people working at the Royal Opera House, but to everyone who attended the performances.
Thank you for your comments, for every “good luck!”, “in bocca al lupo!” and “toi toi toi!”, thank you for all the flowers and notes — special thanks to Leo, I eventually received your letter! Thank you, you’re an amazing kid! :-)
Thank you all for your nice words, in fact so nice they make me want to go on and sing forever.
Thank you chicas y chicos, muchisimas gracias por todo el cariño!
This run of Don Giovanni has been really special for me, perhaps a little nostalgic, too, and a “run” it really was: so quickly over!
After the last performance I had a long walk around the city, so many things and thoughts in my head, but I’m feeling content and very much looking forward to go on, to infinity and beyond….just like Buzz Lightyear! :-)
THANK YOU!!!

No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.

I got home very very late last night after the show, and, as I couldn’t fall asleep due to post-show excitement, I thought it was time for me to update this blog…

I don’t think I can even start expressing properly the gratitude I feel for my colleagues in this production, which, once again, has confirmed to me that Mozart’s Don Giovanni can only work if carried on as a team work: if you take a group of excellent singers who can’t think out of their egos, and it just won’t work; but if you manage to put together a group of people who also make a good team, then most of the work is done.

I’m surrounded by such a multitude of wonderful people that words fail to describe their awesomeness. In a somewhat random order, I’d like to thank them all:

• my “partner in crime”, my Leporello, Alex Esposito, who is not just a talented artist, a singer and actor blessed with vocal and dramatic grace, but an all round good egg, a smart man who in zero time can make up for any mistake I make on stage — we’re all human, and I make mistakes too. You didn’t notice? That’s because Alex set that right! :-)
• Kate Lindsey, whom I’d never worked with before, and she was such a surprise to me — a wonderful colleague, a great singer and actress who loves to play on stage, which what actually makes Theatre what it is. She’s done an excellent job with her Masetto, Matthew Rose, working on both what’s been written in the music and in the libretto, adding their own touch to Mozart’s and Da Ponte’s work. I love singing “Là ci darem la mano” with Kate, it’s such fun, it’s just what that duet should be like, equally complicated and easy, just what the lyrics say;
• Carmela Remigio, a dear friend to me whom I’m always happy to work with as she just carries good energy with her wherever she goes and whatever she does — she’s so very funny, angel and devil rolled into one, and has some sort of divine aura, I don’t know how to describe that… she’s the opera equivalent of a ballerina dancing on points;
• Pavol Breslik, who is the personification of class, he moves me to tears every time he sings “Dalla sua pace”, he gets better and better every time he sings that, leaving me speechless (which is quite a job in itself!);
• Constantinos Carydis, another nice surprise for me, a gentleman and a great artist who knows what to do and what he wants from singers and from his orchestra, still he’s not oppressive, he’s actually very, VERY patient, a rarity! His equally competent and sensitive conduction of the orchestra unveiled instruments and musical phrases I’d never noticed before despite having sung Don Giovanni so many times… fantastic!
• Ruxandra Donose, who is absolutely wonderful, a beautiful woman and an amazing voice, listening to her heals the soul, mark my words. As I interpret the role of the villain, it’s quite difficult for me to behave badly to her, even if just on stage, because she’s too nice a person. Plus, I’m fond of dark female voices, and hers is just unbelievable, she can paint a musical rainbow with it…
• and Reinhard Hagen, our Commendatore, he’s HUGE! I’m so happy to work with him again after all these years, such an amazing BIG voice… maybe this sounds a bit silly, but I somehow see him as a father figure to us all, to the extent I actually, physically grasp on him as I’m dragged to hell (well, Giovanni is, not me for real, of course!). He’s imposing and gives me security on stage, and I reckon everybody else in the cast thinks the same.

I’m also in awe of the directing team reprising this Francesca Zambello production: Barbara Lluch and her assistant, Matt, are very talented, they live for the theatre and you can see that. Barbara knows what she wants to achieve on stage, and she’ll soon be in charge of a production of her own, I’m sure, because she’s competent, she knows and loves opera, she has fun working and she always wants to learn new things to use them on stage, she knows what she wants from “her” theatre, she has a definite vision of it, she reads into the soul of her cast members, and it’s always a privilege to work with people like her.

Thanks to the “FIGHTING TEAM”, too — Natalie and her assistant, they’ve done a marvellous job.

I love the people I’m working with, I love the audience who’s coming to see us, I love this city, London, that’s given so much to me and keeps on giving me more and more. And I love the Royal Opera House because they *make* opera, they truly believe in what they do and whether you’re an artist on stage or a member of the audience you can see all the passion these people put in every production.

I’m just a little sad I couldn’t see the first cast of this production, because I hold Gerald Finley in high esteem, I was his Leporello years ago, and I’ve always admired him both as an artist and as a human being, he’s so humble and nice it’s just impossible not to like him!

There’s something in this production, something maybe invisible to the eye but that’s crucial: people on stage *must* act. I think Francesca Zambello built the whole production around the acting, if we don’t act the production just doesn’t work. And I’m happy about that, because staged opera is a mixture of singing and acting, what’s the point of standing still when you can act a scene?

P.S.: I love when I see so many people at the stage door after the show, I can see the sparkle in their eyes, their ears still filled with the music they’ve listened to, and I love stopping by even just for a minute, even when I’m tired and I’d just want to go home and (hopefully) sleep, because their warmth is like nourishment to me!

THANK YOU!! :-)

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With Sean Rafferty and Ruxandra Donose at @BBCinTune :-) (Taken with instagram)

I love being back in London, singing at the Royal Opera House! It’s always a pleasure and a privilege to work with people who are devoted to the Arts, and ROH artists and crew totally are. And the audience is as well, of course!
I’ve been lucky to sing here in the past and hope to do so again and again in the future. :-)

An heartfelt message…

A few days ago Keith Warner, with whom I’ve worked at the Theater an der Wien a couple of years ago in his staging of Don Giovanni, and who also staged L’elisir d’amore when I debuted in the USA (I was 22!), asked me to write a note for a benefit concert for the Copenhagen Opera House, currently facing financial difficulties. 

Of course I said yes straight away, and Anna also backed me on this because she feels exactly the same, as despite the names that eventually appear on programmes handed to the audience, both Anna and I know that our job is a team effort: no opera production could be complete without excellent chorus artists, technicians and opera house administration staff, all of whom are genuinely regarded as colleagues. In the current, difficult situation they’re going through we can only sympathise and relate to them, of course, standing with them as we’re all on the same side.

Here’s the full text of my note:

«In this global difficult situation, hardship hits everyone. Some of us are more affected, other less, but we all have to face financial restrictions, as individuals and as nations. Cutting funds to culture, though, is not the best way to deal with the problem. Culture, including music, and, of course, opera, is one of the few things that keep a community together in hard times, it’s a way to remember one’s own roots and to hold on to hope for the future.

Opera isn’t just entertainment, opera is part of the European culture and we need to preserve it, passing it on to future generations. Copenhagen Opera have done their best so far to transmit to audiences their love for culture, for music, and have done so wonderfully. What we need to do, now, is to make sure they can continue doing so.

The financial situation is hard, but we need to stand together, close to the opera chorus. Eighteen people of the chorus, twenty technicians and twelve among the administrative staff have already lost their jobs and the opera will have to do without one title in its programme every year due to government cuts. A benefit concert, therefore, is not just to show our support to those people and their colleagues, but also to raise funds to try and save at least a few of those jobs.

This crisis wasn’t caused by us — artists, technicians, staff of opera houses are normal people just like people in the audience, just genuine and enthusiastic music lovers, and unfortunately also victims of the collapse of global markets. But, as John Donne wrote, «No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main»: we’re in this together, we will come out of this together, hopefully soon. But for the moment all we can do is stand together, helping each other, and work to try and improve things, one step after another, having culture as our only weapon and each other as our only allies.»