INTERVIEWS

One day with Mariella Devia, Soprano

Interview by António Lourenço and Nuno Fonseca. 5/7/2021


On the 1st of July, Nuno Fonseca and António Lourenço travelled from Lisbon to Alcobaça—an hour’s drive—to meet the soprano extraordinaire Mariella Devia. A true force of nature, Devia managed to preserve the integrity of her voice until the very end of her career and is widely regarded as one of the greatest voices of her generation.
Fresh from retirement, she had been invited to host a masterclass in Alcobaça, marking her first time on Portuguese soil. The masterclass was aimed at promising young Portuguese voices, including some already established soloists and others still seeking their major breakthrough. Although only six pupils were heard throughout the day, it was evident from the outset that Devia was determined to pass on the skills she had honed over the course of her illustrious career. On that day, all but one of the participants were sopranos.
Drawing on extensive personal experience as a professional singer who has attended numerous masterclasses in Portugal and abroad, Lourenço was keenly aware of the meticulous—often almost surgical—work expected from both teacher and student in such settings. Devia and her pupils more than rose to the challenge, overcoming even the acoustic limitations imposed by the stone walls of the room, which were better suited to conferences than to singing lessons.
From 10:00 to 13:00 and again from 15:00 to 18:00, the group worked intensively through the soprano operatic repertoire. This focus is customary in masterclasses, as sopranos often constitute the majority of participants. Arias from operas such as Turandot, La Sonnambula, Le Nozze di Figaro, and Lucia di Lammermoor were studied in depth.
With remarkable tact when addressing more delicate issues such as breathing and intonation, Mariella Devia guided the pupils toward a clearer understanding of how to confront their individual shortcomings and continue to progress. She consistently emphasized that there is no magical formula or one-size-fits-all solution, underscoring instead the importance of discovering what works best for each individual singer under the guidance of a teacher.
On the afternoon break, we finally had the opportunity to engage the maestra herself and ask a couple of questions, which we had prepared beforehand:
António: Is there a reason why only now we here in Portugal are graced with your presence, after a long and distinguished career all over the world?
Mariella Devia: Well, you’ll have to ask my various managers about that (chuckles). I just never got invited to sing in your Teatro Nacional de São Carlos or anywhere else in this country.
Nuno: What do you think of opera audiences and their future?
Mariella Devia: With this ongoing pandemic, that’s still a big question mark. Prior to that, we were struggling to captivate and engage young audiences. As I said in previous interviews, music lessons from the earliest age, preferably from elementary school, could be of great help to young listeners and bring more people to the opera world.
After we had exchanged some personal experiences, António mentioning his love for belcanto and how glad he was to finally be able to talk with he considers to be the queen of the operatic genre, up there with Renata Scotto in his opinion, in his bid to listen to perfection (if such a thing even exists),and me focusing on the sorry state of job offers regarding professional singers, be it in professional choirs or solo in Portugal, or my own experiences in masterclasses hosted by such sacred monsters of the opera world like Renato Bruson, Luciana Serra or Montserrat Caballé, we bid heradieu and I said I hoped I had the opportunity to be coached by her in the future, as, owing to the financial devastation caused by COVID-19 which left our life as singers in dire straits, as if our situation weren’t difficult enough before, I could only participate as a listener. Even so, I was ecstatic to have finally met the diva (I hope she doesn’t get mad at me for saying that) in the flesh.
António Lourenço

António Lourenço is an opera and cinema enthusiast whose life has been deeply intertwined with the performing arts, both as a musician and as a devoted observer of the world’s great cultural stages.

He received his lyrical training as a singer at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon, where he performed as a tenor with the São Carlos Choir. For more than two decades, he also sang with the Lisboa Cantat Symphonic Choir, dedicating himself especially to the great masterpieces of sacred choral music. Alongside his choral work, he performed solo recitals of Italian opera arias and pursued studies in sight-singing and piano.

He refined his vocal and musical skills in masterclasses in Italy and Spain with distinguished artists, including the legendary soprano Montserrat Caballé and the renowned baritone Renato Bruson, as well as other prominent singers, pianists, and instrumental virtuosos. His repertoire has spanned a wide range of composers, from Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Verdi, Puccini, and Wagner to Fauré, Poulenc, and Gershwin, embracing opera, symphonic-choral works, and sacred music. He has taken part in numerous large-scale works, including more than thirty performances of Carmina Burana, and has sung in eight languages.

Beyond performing, António has spent decades attending opera and concerts in many of the world’s leading venues. Since 1959, he has followed the seasons at São Carlos and has attended performances at houses such as the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Royal Opera House in London, the Palais Garnier and Opéra Bastille in Paris, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Wiener Staatsoper, the Gran Teatre del Liceu, and the Bayreuth Festival. He has also attended concerts in major European halls and at the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, hearing many of the 20th century’s most celebrated conductors, singers, and instrumentalists during what he considers a golden era of performance.

His passion for the arts extends equally to cinema. A dedicated film lover, he has watched thousands of films at the Cinemateca in Lisbon and in Spain, attended masterclasses with filmmakers, interviewed director Costa-Gavras, and taken part in some film productions. His interest in live performance also includes theatre, with memorable experiences attending productions in London featuring actors such as Laurence Olivier, Paul Scofield, and Maggie Smith.

As a critic and commentator, António Lourenço approaches both opera and film with a sensitivity to detail, artistic intention, and cultural context. He listens and watches with the ear of a musician and the eye of a storyteller, always attentive to the dialogue between tradition and innovation, and eager to share that lifelong passion with others.

 #Mariella Devia

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