Tenor Juan Diego Flórez and mezzo-soprano Anna Stéphany discuss what their opera roles in Werther mean to them in this euronews Web Bonus.
Juan Diego Flórez, tenor:
“Werther is, of course, one of the climaxes of the repertoire of a tenor. In the past, I wouldn’t have thought I was going to do Werther because my voice wasn’t fitting that. Now I feel the voice has changed and I feel also that I can phrase in that style.”
Anna Stéphany, mezzo-soprano:
“It is my first French role, really significant French role. And for me, the romance and the thickness, the velvetiness, the emotion of the music has completely swept me away in this role.
“You have permission to really wade in and just open up the voice, the emotion, everything, in this kind of French, romantic music and it kind of … It carries you, if you like.”
Juan Diego Flórez, tenor:
“Most of my rep now is in French. And I love it. It’s a difficult language to sing.
“The vowels and the way it’s constructed, let’s say, doesn’t go with the kind of projected singing.”
Anna Stéphany, mezzo-soprano:
“This opera for me is a gift. The fact that this piece is so relevant in a human context makes me re-examine in a very positive way why I do what I do. My job, I feel, is to share these emotions with people. Emotions are our intelligence and if I can move at least one person in the audience and take them on a journey and make them aware of emotions they might not be aware of, I feel like I’ve done my job well.”
