Boris Statsenko: “I will never become like Putin. Boris Statsenko: In opera, one must not only sing well, but also play a role! Boris, do you have free time?

Today at the Chaliapin Festival the title role in Verdi's Rigoletto will be performed by Boris Statsenko - soloist German Opera on the Rhine and guest soloist of the Bolshoi Theater of Russia. He played the court jester-hunchback Rigoletto in different theaters of the world more than two hundred times, he was repeatedly seen in this role in Kazan. Statsenko is considered one of the best performers of this part: performances with his participation are always sold out.

On the eve of today's performance, the singer gave an interview to Evening Kazan.

- Boris, do you agree that every year in the life of a middle-aged person, fewer and fewer events happen for the first time?

It depends on the person. This season, for example, I performed Jokanaan for the first time in Salome by Richard Strauss, I learned Massenet's Herodias. I already have 88 parts in my repertoire, but I'm going to learn another twenty, or maybe more, in this life ... This year I will go to Taiwan for the first time: I was invited to the production of Verdi's Otello. And recently I was in the Norwegian city of Kristiansan for the first time - Rigoletto sang, three performances were sold out in a hall for two thousand seats.

- In Kazan, you sing in "Rigoletto" in classical production Mikhail Pandzhavidze. Surely you had to participate in non-classical ones?

Only in non-classical and it was necessary. At a performance at the Bonn Theatre, for example, the director "made" Rigoletto a drug dealer. Another director, in Düsseldorf, came up with the idea that Rigoletto doesn't have a hump... I don't want to name these directors. You know, one thing saves me in such cases: Verdi's music. If there is a good conductor, then it is not so important what the director came up with there.

- Last year, when you came to sing Rigoletto, you had a different hairstyle - a bob. Now you cut your hair so short because of some new role?

Yes, at the Deutsche Oper in Düsseldorf I will sing Tsar Dodon in Rimsky-Korsakov's The Golden Cockerel. The play is directed by Dmitry Bertman. He made me cut my hair because he wants to make my character a copy of Vladimir Putin. Dodon will be Putin, can you imagine that?

- Not good. And you?

Do you think this is the first time I've been in this situation? Nabucco was recently staged in Amsterdam, so my Nabucco - he also looked like Putin. You see, Putin is such a popular person in the West that every director wants to use his image in their productions. I won’t be surprised that one day Rigoletto will play “under Putin”. Because this is an intrigue: if the review says that the character in the opera looks like Putin, the audience will go to the performance, if only out of curiosity.

- When the directors say that your character should look like Putin, do you do something for this, or are make-up artists responsible for the similarity?

You also say that I should sing in Putin's voice. Do not be this. I will never be like Putin. In music, the character of the hero is so detailed by the composer that it does not matter what the director fantasizes there. But you know, the main thing is not to argue. What's the point of arguing with the director?! Although in The Golden Cockerel I took a chance and suggested to the director that Dodon should not look like Putin, but like Obama. And do not stop there: “make” Angela Merkel, François Hollande out of the other characters of this opera... So that not Putin's team, but an international team gathers on the stage. But Bertman does not go for it.

- Every year on June 9, you post a photo on your Facebook in which you are doing fitness. What is this special day?

Just on this day five years ago, I began to seriously engage in physical education. And then I was convinced: daily workouts help me sing.

- Do you have a personal fitness trainer?

Wait a minute. I speak four foreign languages x, but I learned them on my own - I didn’t take a single lesson! So it is with fitness. I independently studied the information available on the Internet and in about six months I developed a training system for myself.

- Do you continue training on tour?

Necessarily. I always carry an expander with me. And I do exercises that do not require simulators: I do push-ups, squats and stand for three minutes in the bar. It's not difficult at all! I still use a pedometer: I have to walk 15,000 steps a day.

- Boris, is it true that before becoming an opera singer, you worked on the stage?

I was in the eighth grade when I was invited to sing in the Belaya Ladya vocal and instrumental ensemble. It was in the village of Bagaryak Chelyabinsk region. In February, I remember, I was invited, in the summer I worked at the sowing field and earned myself a guitar, and by autumn I learned to play it.

- Did you assume then that a brilliant singing career awaits you?

If I hadn't assumed it, I wouldn't have studied it. But this happened later. I decided to go to School of Music in Chelyabinsk, when he was already working in the district committee of the Komsomol. He gave up his political career and said to himself: “I will sing at the Bolshoi Theater of the USSR!”. He graduated from college, the conservatory. And ended up at the Bolshoi Theater! You know, I am convinced that everyone has what he wants.

- Can we say that then you wanted to live and work in Germany?

I dreamed about own apartment in Moscow. And when in 1993 I was heard at the Dresden Festival (I sang Robert in Tchaikovsky's Iolanthe) by representatives of the Chemnitz theater and immediately offered a contract, I agreed. For me, it was a real opportunity to earn money for a Moscow apartment. Earned. And not only in Moscow.

- Do you spend more time not in Moscow, but in a Düsseldorf apartment?

You know, I would probably return to live in Russia now. But my wife - she is categorically against it. I remember very well how difficult it was for me and her to live here in the early 90s: once we had to sell my concert shoes to buy food ... When in Germany she first entered the grocery store, then literally petrified with abundance. And then the beluga roared in the hotel for the whole day! She does not want to return to Russia - she is afraid that there will always be crises, disorder and hunger ...

Photo by Alexander GERASIMOV

The famous baritone Boris Statsenko celebrated his anniversary as a "twice excellent student" on the stage of the capital's "New Opera" with a grandiose gala concert. A graduate of the Moscow Conservatory, who began his career at the Boris Pokrovsky Chamber Musical Theater and the Bolshoi Theater of Russia, he later moved to Germany and worked extensively and successfully in the West. Today, Statsenko, a recognized interpreter of classical baritone parts, whose career is still successfully developing in Europe, is again increasingly singing in Russia - in Moscow, Kazan, and other cities of our country.

– Boris, tell us about the idea and program of the anniversary concert at the Novaya Opera.

I celebrated my fiftieth birthday big concert in Düsseldorf, on the stage of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, a theater with which I have been associated for many years, so something similar has already happened. For the 55th anniversary, I wanted to arrange a similar holiday in Moscow, especially since my desire coincided with the aspirations of the management of the Novaya Opera in the person of Dmitry Alexandrovich Sibirtsev. He enthusiastically responded to this proposal, and a date was chosen at the beginning of the season, as close as possible in time to my birthday, which is in August. It so happened that on the chosen day (September 12) in Moscow there was a real pandemonium of interesting musical events - in the Philharmonic, the Conservatory, the House of Music, that is, our project turned out to have a lot of competition.

- It remains only to be happy for the Muscovites, who have a rich choice!

– Yes, definitely. As I recently read in an article by S. A. Kapkov, in Moscow there are 370 theaters for 14 million inhabitants! This is something amazing, there is nothing like it anywhere in the world. This article was immediately followed by a comment by the Verona theatrical agent Franco Silvestri that in Rome, for example, the ratio with Moscow of one to seven is not in favor of the Italian capital. As for the program of my concert, the first part was composed of arias from parts that are significant for my career (Escamillo, Wolfram, Renato and others - a kind of retrospective of creativity), and the second part is an entire act from Tosca. The concert also hosted a world premiere – for the first time, Vlad’s Serenade from Andrey Tikhomirov’s new opera Dracula, which the Novaya Opera will be preparing this season, was performed for the first time (its concert performance with my participation is scheduled for June 2015).

- I wonder how the musicians of the "New Opera" perceived this work and what is your attitude towards it?

– The orchestra members and conductor Vasily Valitov perform it with great enthusiasm, they like this music. I am simply in love with my part, and with the whole opera, which I got to know in detail. In my opinion, this is precisely a modern opera, where the laws and requirements of the genre are observed, it has a modern musical language, different compositional techniques are used, but at the same time there is something to sing here, and for a full set of voices, as is customary in full-fledged classical operas. I am sure that the concert performance in the summer will be a success, and this opera should find a stage destiny in the future. I hope it will arouse interest among professionals, and I have no doubt that the public will like it.

- A retrospective approach for the anniversary concert is quite appropriate. Probably, among these and other your heroes there are especially expensive ones?

– Unfortunately, my career turned out so that I sang little Russian opera: four baritone parts in Tchaikovsky's operas, two parts with Prokofiev (Napoleon and Ruprecht) and Gryaznaya in The Tsar's Bride. If it happened differently, I would gladly sing more and on mother tongue, and Russian music as such, but in the West, where I mainly worked and still work, Russian opera is still in little demand. My main specialty is the dramatic Italian repertoire, especially Verdi and Puccini, as well as other verists (Giordano, Leoncavallo and others): I am perceived this way due to the characteristics of my voice and I am most often invited to such a repertoire. But, perhaps, the main place is still occupied by Verdi's parts - they are also the most beloved.

– And what about the German repertoire? After all, you sang and sing a lot in Germany.

- I have only two German parts - Wolfram in Tannhäuser and Amfortas in Parsifal, both in the operas of the great Wagner. But I had to sing a lot of Italian and French opera in German, because in the early 1990s, when I moved to Germany, there was no such thing as craze performances of operas in the original language, and many performances were in German. So I sang in German in "Force of Destiny", "Carmen", "Don Juan" and others.

– How often do new parts appear in your repertoire?

– I have more than eighty parts in my repertoire. There was a time when I learned a lot of new things for myself and the repertoire expanded rapidly. But now a different stage in my career: my main repertoire has stabilized, now there are about ten roles in it. Something has fallen and, apparently, already irrevocably, because there are young people who can sing it well for such operas as The Marriage of Figaro or L'elisir d'amore, but they are hardly capable of the parts on which I I specialize - Nabucco, Rigoletto, Scarpia ...

- your first big stage- This is the Bolshoi Theater where you started. Then there was a break when you did not appear in Russia, and in 2005 a meeting with the Bolshoi again took place. Has much changed? How did you find theater?

- Of course, a lot has changed, which is not surprising - Russia itself has changed dramatically, and the Bolshoi Theater has changed along with it. But I can't say that I found the Bolshoi in a bad condition. Big is Big, it was and always will be a temple of art. Development is on a sinusoid, and my feeling is that the Bolshoi is now on the rise. And then, you know, an interesting thing: it has become commonplace to complain about the current times and say that it used to be better, but now everything is declining. However, this has been said in all ages. If we follow this logic, degradation should have destroyed everything around long ago, but in fact this is not at all the case, and development is on the rise, which, of course, does not exclude temporary deterioration, problems, even crises and falls. But then the stage of revival necessarily comes, and the Bolshoi Theater is now at that stage. I really like to read historical works and in general I really regret that in Russia history is not the main science: it is there that there is something to draw and something to learn. So, over the past millennia, in my opinion, humanity has not changed at all, it is still the same - with the same pluses and minuses. The same applies to the psychological atmosphere in today's Bolshoi, human relations. There are simply different people, different interests, they collide, and the outcome of this collision will depend on what level of culture they have.

Now, as in the late 80s, when I started at the Bolshoi, there is competition, the struggle for roles, the desire to make a career, but these are normal theatrical phenomena. At the turn of the 80s and 90s, a very powerful young generation of singers came to the Bolshoi with me, there were seven baritones alone, and, naturally, this caused discontent and fear of the elders. Decades have passed, and now we - older generation, whose careers have taken place, and young people are breathing down our necks, who are no better and no worse, they are the same, with their own ambitions, aspirations and aspirations. This is fine. IN Soviet years The Bolshoi was the highest point in the career of any Russian singer, now the situation is different, the Bolshoi has to compete with other world theaters, and, in my opinion, it succeeds. The fact that the Bolshoi now has two stages and its main historical site has been renovated and is functioning at full capacity is a big deal. Acoustics, according to my feelings, is no worse than it was before, you just need to get used to it, like everything new.

– Our theater practice and European theater practice: is there a big difference between us?

– I believe that there are no fundamental differences. It all depends on specific people, which do not change with a change of place of work: if a person here was a slob, then he will work carelessly there too. If a stubborn team gathered for the production, then it will be a success. If not, then the result will not inspire anyone. It seems to me that all the talk about the mental and psychological differences between Russians and Europeans with Americans is very far-fetched: the differences do not go beyond some nuances, nothing more. Then the West is very different: the Italians are more impulsive and often optional, the Germans are more accurate and organized. It seems to me that there is a connection with the language spoken and, accordingly, thought by certain peoples. In German, there should be an iron word order, therefore, order reigns in their actions. And in Russian, you can put the words arbitrarily as you want - this is how we live, to a certain extent, more freely and, probably, with less responsibility.

– Germany is famous for the active role of directing in opera. What is your attitude towards this phenomenon?

- Like it or not, but I think it's an objective process. There was once an era of dominance of vocals, singers in the opera, then they were replaced by conductors, then it was time for record labels that dictated the conditions, compositions and titles of works, and now it's time for directors. Nothing can be done about it - this is a stage that is also time will pass. My feeling is that the director often dominates too much where there is not enough convincing musical direction, when the conductor really cannot say his word, when he is not a charismatic leader, then the director takes everything into his own hands. But directors are also very different. A director with his own vision and concept is a boon for the opera, because such a master can make an interesting performance, and the opera itself more understandable and relevant to the public. But, of course, there are many random people who do not understand the essence of musical theater, who do not understand the subject and are simply untalented, for whom there is only one way to declare themselves on this territory that is, in fact, alien to them - to shock. Untalentedness and illiteracy - unfortunately, this has now become very much: directors stage an opera, but they are completely unaware of the work, they do not know and do not understand the music. Hence the productions, which cannot even be called modern or scandalous, they are simply bad, unprofessional. The explanation, which is often resorted to, justifying any kind of actualization of opera plots, that traditional productions are not interesting for young people, I think is untenable: classical performances are in demand among young people, because they are not yet familiar with the standards and it is interesting for them to see it. And in the same Germany, generations of people have already grown up who do not know at all what traditional performances are, so how can you say that they do not like them? Encouraging directors to all kinds of eccentricities are engaged in music critics, who are tired of the opera as such, they just want something new all the time, tickling their nerves, something that they have not yet encountered.

- How did you negotiate with directors whose ideas were unacceptable to you?

- Of course, you shouldn’t argue and swear - the director is not stupider than you, he has his own vision. But to try to offer something of your own, even within the framework of what he offers, is quite acceptable, and often this is the path that leads to cooperation between the singer and the director and to good result. The singer is imbued with the idea of ​​the director, in some cases the director sees the inconsistency of one or another of his requirements. It's a creative process, a search process. The main thing is not to slide into confrontation, to work in the name of creation, for results.

- You were one of the first who in the early 1990s left - as it seemed to many then in Russia, forever - to work in the West. How quickly did you adapt there?

- Quite quickly, and the main thing here was my ability to work and the desire to sing a lot and everywhere. It also helped me to cope with the language problem. I came to Germany with two German words. And I learned the language there on my own - from self-instruction books, textbooks, television and radio, and communication with colleagues. Three months after my arrival in Germany, I already spoke German. By the way, I didn’t know any other foreign languages ​​either, including Italian, which is obligatory for a vocalist - this was not necessary in the Soviet Union. Life forced all this to catch up.

- After the anniversary concert at the Novaya Opera, how often will we have the pleasure of listening to you in Moscow?

- I am now in a period of close cooperation with the Novaya Opera, which I am very happy about: I feel comfortable here, they understand me here, they meet my ideas and suggestions. In September I sing "Rigoletto" and " royal bride”, in October - “Nabucco”. In December, there will be a concert performance of Pajatsev with the wonderful Serbian tenor Zoran Todorovic as Canio, I will sing Tonio. In January, a concert performance of "Mazepa" will follow, and in June, the already mentioned "Dracula". There are good opportunities for me at the Novaya Opera, they have a rich repertoire, many parts for my type of voice.

– What are your plans for the season outside of Moscow?

- I am waiting for 21 performances of "Aida" in Germany, "Rigoletto" in Norway, "Carmen" and "La Traviata" in Prague, " Fire Angel» in Germany, the season is very busy, there is a lot of work.

- With such an intense stage activity, do you have time to deal with the young?

– I taught for five years at the conservatory in Düsseldorf, but I stopped this activity, because there was less and less time left for my own career. But I deal with the young in a private way and without false modesty I will say that those who come to me stay with me. One of my last students, the Slovak Richard Shveda, recently performed a wonderful performance of Don Giovanni in Prague, he will soon have a concert in Bratislava with Edita Gruberova. This is a very promising young vocalist.

- Almost yes. Well, perhaps, I would refrain from working only with coloratura sopranos and very light lyric tenors of the Rossini plan, after all, there is a lot of specificity there.

– Does it please the youth or does it happen that it upsets?

- Students are different - I can’t say which is worse or better than before. And in my generation, yes, probably, there have always been those who sought to take from the teacher everything that he can give, and there were those who passively perceived the process, were lazy, and whose dependent moods prevailed. There are many talented guys, good voices and purposeful personalities. I would like to wish them all great success and that they understand well that no one will do anything for them - you need to achieve everything yourself, with your aspiration, diligence, desire to comprehend, active life position, and then everything will definitely work out!

Born in the city of Korkino, Chelyabinsk Region. In 1981-84. studied at the Chelyabinsk Musical College (teacher G. Gavrilov). He continued his vocal education at the Moscow State Conservatory named after P.I. Tchaikovsky in the class of Hugo Tietz. He graduated from the conservatory in 1989, being a student of Petr Skusnichenko, from whom he also completed his postgraduate studies in 1991.

IN opera studio at the conservatory he sang the part of Germont, Eugene Onegin, Belcore ("Love Potion" by G. Donizetti), Count Almaviva in "The Marriage of Figaro" by V.A. Mozart, Lanciotto (Francesca da Rimini by S. Rachmaninoff).

In 1987-1990. was a soloist of the Chamber Musical Theater under the direction of Boris Pokrovsky, where, in particular, he performed the title role in the opera Don Giovanni by V.A. Mozart.

In 1990 he was a trainee opera troupe, in 1991-95. - Soloist of the Bolshoi Theatre.
Sang, including the following parts:
Silvio (The Pagliacci by R. Leoncavallo)
Yeletsky (The Queen of Spades by P. Tchaikovsky)
Germont (La Traviata by G. Verdi)
Figaro (The Barber of Seville by G. Rossini)
Valentine ("Faust" Ch. Gounod)
Robert (Iolanta by P. Tchaikovsky)

Now he is a guest soloist of the Bolshoi Theatre. In this capacity, he performed the part of Carlos in the opera The Force of Destiny by G. Verdi (the performance was rented from the Neapolitan San Carlo Theater in 2002).

In 2006, at the premiere of S. Prokofiev's opera War and Peace (second version), he performed the part of Napoleon. He also performed the parts of Ruprecht (The Fiery Angel by S. Prokofiev), Tomsky (The Queen of Spades by P. Tchaikovsky), Nabucco (Nabucco by G. Verdi), Macbeth (Macbeth by G. Verdi).

Conducts a variety of concert activities. In 1993, he gave concerts in Japan, recorded a program on Japanese radio, and repeatedly participated in the Chaliapin Festival in Kazan, where he performed in concert (he was awarded the press prize “ Best performer festival”, 1993) and operatic repertoire (the title role in “Nabucco” and the part of Amonasro in “Aida” by G. Verdi, 2006).

Since 1994 he has performed mainly abroad. He has permanent engagements in German opera houses: he sang Ford (Falstaff by G. Verdi) in Dresden and Hamburg, Germont in Frankfurt, Figaro and the title role in the opera Rigoletto by G. Verdi in Stuttgart, etc.

In 1993-99 was a guest soloist at the theater in Chemnitz (Germany), where he performed the roles of Robert in Iolanthe (conductor Mikhail Yurovsky, director Peter Ustinov), Escamillo in Carmen by J. Bizet and others.

Since 1999, he has been constantly working in the troupe of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein (Düsseldorf-Duisburg), where his repertoire includes: Rigoletto, Scarpia (Tosca by G. Puccini), Chorebe (The Fall of Troy by G. Berlioz), Lindorf, Coppelius, Miracle, Dapertutto ("Tales of Hoffmann" by J. Offenbach), Macbeth ("Macbeth" by G. Verdi), Escamillo ("Carmen" by G. Bizet), Amonasro ("Aida" by G. Verdi), Tonio ("Pagliacci" by R. Leoncavallo), Amfortas (Parsifal by R. Wagner), Gelner (Valli by A. Catalani), Iago (Otello by G. Verdi), Renato (Un ballo in maschera by G. Verdi), Georges Germont (La Traviata ”G. Verdi), Michele (“Cloak” by G. Puccini), Nabucco (“Nabucco” by G. Verdi), Gerard (“Andre Chenier” by W. Giordano).

Since the late 1990s has repeatedly performed at the Ludwigsburg Festival (Germany) with the Verdi repertoire: Count Stankar (Stiffelio), Nabucco, Count di Luna (Il Trovatore), Ernani (Ernani), Renato (Un ballo in maschera).

Participated in the production of "The Barber of Seville" in many theaters in France.

Has performed in theaters in Berlin, Essen, Cologne, Frankfurt am Main, Helsinki, Oslo, Amsterdam, Brussels, Liege (Belgium), Paris, Toulouse, Strasbourg, Bordeaux, Marseille, Montpellier, Toulon, Copenhagen, Palermo, Trieste, Turin, Venice, Padua, Lucca, Rimini, Tokyo and other cities. On the stage Paris Opera Bastille sang the role of Rigoletto.

In 2003 he sang Nabucco in Athens, Ford in Dresden, Iago in Graz, Count di Luna in Copenhagen, Georges Germont in Oslo, Scarpia and Figaro in Trieste.
In 2004-06 - Scarpia in Bordeaux, Germont in Oslo and Marseille ("La Boheme" by G. Puccini) in Luxembourg and Tel Aviv, Rigoletto and Gerard ("André Chenier") in Graz.
In 2007 he performed the part of Tomsky in Toulouse.
In 2008 he sang Rigoletto in Mexico City, Scarpia in Budapest.
In 2009 he performed the parts of Nabucco in Graz, Scarpia in Wiesbaden, Tomsky in Tokyo, Rigoletto in New Jersey and Bonn, Ford and Onegin in Prague.
In 2010 he sang Scarpia in Limoges.

Olga Yusova , 04/07/2016

At the entrance exam to the Chelyabinsk School of Music, he honestly said that his favorite singer was Boyarsky. At that time, he was not trained in musical notation, what an opera is - he learned literally on the eve of the exam, accidentally finding himself at the Barber of Seville. Actually, the shock from what he heard in the theater was the reason why he decided to study singing. However, almost everyone deep down knows about their own vocation, especially when the vocation is based on a colossal talent. And talent will lead to right time to the right place. Then the career flew up on jet fuel: the Moscow Conservatory, the Boris Pokrovsky Chamber Theater, the Bolshoi Theater, European scenes, world ones.

Today he lives in Düsseldorf, performs at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, and also as a guest soloist in many theaters in Europe and around the world. A welcome guest in Russia - at festivals, at the Moscow Novaya Opera, at the Bolshoi Theater. Now he is desired, but it was different when they told him: yes, you should leave here ... He left.

The artist talks about his path in art and everything that it is made of in an interview with the Belcanto.ru portal.

— Boris Alexandrovich, let's start with the play The Golden Cockerel, staged by Dmitry Bertman at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein and in which you are playing the part of Tsar Dodon. It is very curious to hear from you everything that you can say about the upcoming production.

— I am bound by the obligation not to disclose the concept and not to talk about other features of the performance before the premiere. This is a strict requirement of the theater, and I have to comply with it.

- It's clear. Rimsky-Korsakov's opera, like Pushkin's fairy tale, is full of satire in relation to the authorities in general and Russian in particular, and it is not difficult to guess that irony in the address of any authorities in the performance is unlikely to be avoided. In addition, Dmitry Bertman has already staged Petushka at Helikon, and, of course, critical eye on the existing reality was present in the direction of that production in its entirety and diversity.

“Well, this always and everywhere happens in the case of the Golden Cockerel. And at the Bolshoi Theater, was there anything else staged by Kirill Serebrennikov? The opera itself is satirical in nature, but each director seeks to clothe this satire in an original form. True, I believe that when the stage direction reduces the satirical content of a fairy tale to a critique of a particular power, then the value and breadth of generalizations to which the opera disposes disappear.

— (Laughs.) And imagine that Dodon is Obama, Amelfa is Merkel, and the prince brothers are Erdogan and Hollande, after all, someone may have such parallels. Take an arbitrary piece of text, and you will see that satire will be easily applicable to any authority. Well, for example: “If the governors themselves or whoever wants to take something under them, don’t cross it - it’s their business ...”. And what country doesn't? For any system - from the feudal to the most highly developed - this quote is true.

- But, you see, the famous phrase: "Ki-ri-ku-ku, reign lying on your side!" - is associated with the leaders of European states in the very least. I think that the author of the fairy tale, and after him the composer, did not think so broadly and aimed with their arrow at a rather narrow target.

- Europeans associate this phrase with the leadership of their own states in the same way as Russians do. Just in Europe they don't think that Russian leadership reigns lying on its side. The performance will talk about some kind of abstract state, and the state is a means of violence against a person, let's not forget this. And then, if I sing in Russian, this does not automatically mean that we are talking about Russia, right?

- Just the other day, an interview with Dmitry Bertman was published in Rossiyskaya Gazeta. There is one notable place in it, I will quote it for readers: “There is sometimes senseless phrasing - when the accompanist works with the singer, not knowing either the general concept of the role, or the general concept of the performance. He may suggest to the artist: "Let's sing this whole phrase in one breath." The record for holding the sound or for filling the stomach with air will be broken, but this will have nothing to do with art ... ”In other words, the director says that, in his opinion, the musical part of the work should be completely subordinate to dramatic tasks. By the way, Boris Pokrovsky, with whom you happened to work, spoke about this at one time. Do you encounter situations when a well-known, “sung” part has to be performed by the director’s will in a completely different way, based on the original concept of this performance?

The answer to this question is, on the one hand, complex, and on the other, quite simple. In the same interview, Bertman also spoke about intonation, meaning, as I understand it, the colors of the voice. That is, not the intonation of solfegging. Let's take Germont's aria. Look, in Italian, two verses are performed to the same melody, that is, in fact, two different text. But no one cares! So, if the same melody is perceived in the same way, although two different texts are performed, then why, in this case, not sing the same thing in other languages ​​- can you catch the differences in the semantic intonation of the text?

— I'm trying to imagine what situations can be in which the director interferes with the musical part of the work. Perhaps he really says that the state of the character is conveyed incorrectly, because the phrasing is wrong or the accents are not placed in the right way? After all, if he has a certain concept of the performance and, accordingly, the behavior of the heroes of the opera, then, probably, he will actively interfere precisely in singing?

- I agree with you. The director in the drawing of the role, as a rule, intervenes actively. But usually not in phrasing or in accents. I haven't come across this. You see, the melodic line of the role was written by the composer. And in the arrangement of accents in it, a lot depends on the performer. One singer himself understands the director's intention and adjusts his performance to this, while the other has to be somehow directed and even forced.

- I wonder how often conductors argue with directors? Can a conductor come forward, say, in defense of singers? And then, apparently, the singers were completely deprived of the right to vote, they are used as material. Does the conductor have at least some rights in the performance?

— In Italy, it often happens when a conductor argues with a director. But in Germany this cannot be, here the system is different. First, we have a rehearsal, where we get to know the conductor, but then his assistant works with the troupe. And when the conductor comes to the last rehearsals, he no longer has any choice: he must accept what the director has already staged during the rehearsals.

I am sure that every director always has the best intentions - well, who wants a bad performance? But everyone can make a mistake, do something wrong. How can you actively deny something until it is clear what the result will be? After all, with the most beautiful initial idea, the result can be disgusting, and with the most contradictory idea, it can be wonderful. Nobody can predict this in advance. When directors or accompanists offer me new ideas in the process of work, I never say no. I always say let's try. And so I try, I try, you see - something interesting begins to turn out. After all, if I have already played 264 times in La Traviata and about 200 times in Rigoletto, then for such a number of performances, something fundamentally new has appeared more than once with each director. And to say: here, they say, I have before my eyes an example of how, say, Pavel Gerasimovich Lisitsian sings, and I didn’t hear anything better, and therefore I will sing only this way and nothing else - this is stupid.

- In his interview, Dmitry Bertman complained that conductors do not study where theater directors do. Supporters of the opinion usually gather around our two portals that it would not hurt for directors to study where conductors receive education, and not only to have an approximate idea of ​​​​the music of the opera they stage, but it is desirable to know the entire score impeccably and thoroughly understand all musical nuances of the work.

— I know that such an opinion exists. But tell me honestly, from the bottom of your heart: do you really think that musical education will help the director to stage musical performance? Does it automatically entail a talent for musical direction? After all, there is a similar opinion that in order to sing well, you need to graduate from higher education. educational institution. Well, who told you that? In order to sing well, you need to teach yourself to sing! In addition, with the same teacher, some students sing, while others do not. This means that it depends to a greater extent on the talent of the student and to a lesser extent on the teacher. In the West, by the way, there are a lot of singers who have not graduated from any conservatories at all and sing beautifully at the same time. They study privately, and go to the conservatory only to get a diploma.

- Apparently, you can be called a person of broad views, since you share such a controversial opinion of Dmitry Bertman.

- I am working with Bertman for the first time, but I have already managed to find out that he has a wonderful quality: with his will, he organizes the singers so that they themselves begin to direct their roles. It gives the artist the freedom to make his role almost independently, but at the same time, of course, the general concept and unity of all elements of the performance are preserved.

I have to work with a huge number of directors in all countries. In Italy, I sang the part of Count di Luna in Il trovatore directed by Pier Luigi Pizzi and, I remember, I sang one phrase as I walked across the stage. The conductor stopped the orchestra and asked the director: “Does it have to be on at the moment of singing?” The director replies: no, not necessarily. And the conductor says: then stand right here and don't move - and there will be no conflicts and disputes. Here is the answer. A million different cases. Some of the directors will definitely insist that his idea be expressed at all costs. But most often, if something interferes with singing, you can negotiate with the director. And he will always give in if you do your part of the work with talent. And if you sing not talented, then the director will always find a way to hide your untalented work behind some trinkets.

- Nevertheless, we often see how they sing both lying down and upside down, and climbing some ladders, and swinging on a swing. In a word, as soon as they do not sing. After all, this can not but affect the quality of performance?

- Everything affects the quality of performance, of course. Once my teacher in Chelyabinsk told me that if I eat tomatoes, my voice will sound bad. I know singers who stop washing their hair a week before the performance, because their voice is intercepted because of this. You see, I have a fitness studio in my house: a barbell, a bicycle, exercise equipment? For me, while singing, jumping twice is not difficult. And the other singer will jump - and will not be able to sing further. So usually talented directors approach the artists individually: if the singer cannot do something, then they don’t demand from him. This has always been the case with Pokrovsky. He remarkably saw what could be taken from the singer, and used both the advantages and disadvantages of each artist.

- It's good that you started talking about Pokrovsky. Do you agree that the principle of “breaking through the flags” declared by him in opera directing is being vulgarized and perverted today? That “correctly organized experiment”, to which he called on directors, today, almost en masse, is turning into a “criminally organized experiment”.

— (Laughs.) Despite the fact that I can be called a person of broad views, I remain a traditionalist. And then, in my work, I did not come across those who vulgarize the principles of Pokrovsky. After all, Stanislavsky was indignant at the fact that his principles were distorted! Everyone understood his system to the best of their talent. Both Stanislavsky and later Pokrovsky created their own systems for those who would be on the same level of talent as them. And if only the principle of “going beyond the flags” is snatched out of the entire system, then nothing will come of it. In any profession - even in singing, even in directing, even in playing an instrument - if the "flags" are set by someone, then you need to try to marry them. But the result will depend on the talent coming out. An experiment in the theater cannot but happen, at all times people have been looking for and trying to do something new in the theater. After all, if you do not do this, then directors of the level of Pokrovsky will not appear.

- He said that the director is a "decoder" of the composer's ideas in modern staged language and that "composing" a performance is to understand his main civic tendency. But after all, you see, it is here, to these words of his, that you can throw a bridge from that mass passion to update any old story that has embraced all directors of the world in our time. It is no coincidence that not only the so-called conservatives, but also the most notorious innovators of opera directing, consider themselves followers and students of Pokrovsky.

- But after all, it was not only Pokrovsky who did this. Wasn't Walter Felsenstein a reformer and innovator of his time? Innovation has always been and will be in any art. Each genius went his own way and created something of his own. Take composers - Shostakovich, Prokofiev. Yes, any composer was an innovator of his time. And everyone has heard that he writes "mess instead of music", or something like that. So any actualization of the plot can be interesting or not, depending on the talent of the director.

- But you can hardly deny the fact that under the guise of innovation, absolute crime is periodically imposed on the public. Even you, a man of broad views, will be horrified by some productions.

- Once I really came from the "innovation" of directing in horror - it was in 1994 in Germany, where I first encountered "modern" in the production of "Eugene Onegin". I just came to see this show. There, the nanny went and constantly sipped vodka from the scale, and Onegin, before the scene of the explanation with Tatiana, when the choir sings "Beautiful Girls", went on stage among the crowd of prostitutes in an embrace with them. They have torn stockings, he himself is drunk. Tatyana looked at him in horror, and he took a letter out of his pocket and said: “Did you write to me? Ha ha ha! Don't deny it…” And he gave the letter to prostitutes for them to read. That's when I was really shocked. Honestly, I don't remember that anymore. I mean, no longer shocked. After this production, I adapted to the "daring" ideas of the directors. Justifying the concept of his production, the director can explain any nonsense with words. And then, in most cases, the directors want the best, right?

- In my opinion, sometimes a person’s internal motivation may not be entirely healthy, even when he wants to do the best.

- We all know that some directors put on defiant performances to make a scandal. This brings them fame. For your portal, this is not news, of course. But you don't want to say that the director wants to kill himself, do you?

- Often he wants to express anger, irritation, some of his internal problems or the problems of modern society and man, as he understands them. We're not all healthy right now. By the way, on your Facebook page I read an excellent review of the "Fiery Angel", staged last year in Düsseldorf. Have you noticed that this plot is usually updated in such a way that the emphasis is on painful features inner peace modern man subject to strong passions, love obsession, explained from the standpoint of Freudianism and modern psychology? As I understood from the analytics, this is how the plot is interpreted in the Düsseldorf production.

- The Dusseldorf production of "Fiery Angel" is really wonderful. It made an amazing reading of both Prokofiev's score and the text, and as a result, a chic psychological thriller was created, which, among other things, is also masterfully done. And I now advise on all corners to those who have such an opportunity to come and listen to him, he is now still in the repertoire of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein. In general, the "Fiery Angel" is put in Lately a lot: only for 2015 - in Berlin, Munich, Buenos Aires, the Czech Republic, other countries and cities.

- I have no doubt that all these are updated productions.

“I think that the transfer of the action of this opera to our era should not raise objections, because it shows the relationship between a man and a woman as such, which remains the same at all times. Only the word “knight” binds the performance to the true time of the libretto. So this issue is the easiest to solve. Well, imagine that my last name is not Statsenko, but Knight. And she says: here you are, Knight ... (as if addressing me by my last name). And thus the binding problem is solved by itself.

Is your character a person who fell ill as a result of communication with a woman obsessed with love?

- In the Düsseldorf production, Ruprecht is a psychiatrist who comes with an inspection to a certain psychiatric clinic where unacceptable methods of treatment are used: the mentally ill are beaten with electric current, shock. The director's idea was to draw public attention to the cruelty in the treatment mental illness. But the viewer at the same time learns that this whole story happened in the head of Ruprecht himself, and he learns at the very end of the performance, at the last measure of the music, when Renata, in the form of a nun, hugs him, who is in a fit. That is, he himself is sick, lies in this very hospital, is being treated for his love, which he may have dreamed or dreamed of.

- Well, Renata was a saint, in your opinion, or was she a witch possessed by passions? Remember, after all, Bryusov has a dedication: “to you, a woman of light, insane, unhappy, who loved a lot and died of love”? How do you feel about this heroine?

- In our production, she was one of the attending physicians in this clinic and tried to cure Ruprecht's inflamed brain. If we talk about my attitude towards her, then, of course, this is an extraordinary woman, although not normal. Such people who do not know how to keep their attention on one thought, on one deed, who think one thing, say another, and do a third - and women are especially susceptible to this - I had to meet in my life. And in the libretto, Renata is exactly like that. Do you remember how she repeats to Ruprecht: “I love you because, because I love you ...” The phrase constantly does not end, it repeats in rolls. It can be seen how she is choking on words, unable to express her thoughts. That's her psychophysics abnormal. But the type is quite recognizable.

Who is the Fire Angel?

- In our production, this is the inflamed cerebellum of Ruprecht himself, which presses on his seventh tooth and gives rise to visions and dreams in him. However, some believe that dreams are reality.

- Did you work with the director of this production, Immo Karaman, for the first time?

- Frankly speaking, I would love to work with the creator of this performance in some other production, because he is an intelligent, well aware of what he wants to do and offers it to the actors without violence, a wonderful director. When you tune in to his wave, the result is brilliant. And I also want to mention Sveta Creator, the singer of the Helikon Opera, who amazingly played and sang the part of Renata.

- In a word, this director could not resist writing his chapter in the history of the mental illness of our contemporary. The current audience, by the way, is well versed in matters of psychology, and this is probably why your production is so popular with the Düsseldorf public.

- It is popular because it is made with talent. And whether the viewer is savvy in matters of psychology better than before, I'm not sure. It's just that in our age, information on psychology has become more accessible, and everyone can skim through some popular article and then say: I read it. Now everyone knows everything. Here on Facebook, this is very clearly visible: people have read the headlines, have not delved into the essence, and immediately begin to judge everything decisively.

- And what do you think, against the background of this massive interest in popular psychology, can the opera Dracula by composer Andrei Tikhomirov, the aria from which you performed at your memorable concert at the Novaya Opera, become especially popular? After all, if you now pronounce the word "vampire", then not a single person will think that we are talking about a real bloodsucker, but will immediately connect it with the concept of "psychic vampirism", which is very common today among the masses.

— Oh, I always talk about this opera with pleasure. You see how it turned out with her: they wanted to bet, but everything suddenly fell apart. Inertia is very difficult to overcome.

- On the same Facebook, where individual numbers from Dracula are already widely used, because of the lightness and beauty of the melodies, the work of Andrei Tikhomirov is called either a musical or an operetta. As a potential performer main party tell us why this is still an opera.

- The first and most important sign that this is an opera, and not a musical, is that only opera singers can sing it, and not musical comedy singers, and even more so not singing dramatic artists.

- That is, the parties are complex? And, as far as I know, the composer complicated your part even more.

- Andrey did it at my request, and it's actually not so difficult for me. He just didn't expect me to sing like that. Although I suppose that for someone it will not be easy. Second. The opera has full-fledged vocals and a full set of classical voices: soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, baritone, bass. In addition, there are recitatives, as well as solo, duet, and ensemble scenes. And a deep psychological portrayal of characters, that is, something that does not happen in musicals. Why do some people say it's a musical? Because this opera has very beautiful melodies. But we are accustomed to consider modern opera only works like those written by Alban Berg or Dmitri Shostakovich, or even Helmut Lachenmann. A substitution has taken place in our minds: if there is a melody, then this is a light genre. And if boo-boo-boo, and even the text is abstruse, then this is a modern opera, serious and innovative. I don't agree with this. So Dracula is a classic opera, with great music, great story, and great thoughtful lyrics. And the plot there is not at all "pop". There is a beautiful love story in the opera, there is a transformation of a person as a result of love - when a man who has become " evil spirit", due to certain circumstances, was reborn and returned to the human race - because he had alive soul. There is irony, there is fantasy, but everything in moderation. I understand that it is easier, of course, to put on La Traviata, because you risk nothing.

– Modern “traviata” should also appear, right?

- It's clear to me. And you know, here in Düsseldorf, every year they put on some kind of opera by a modern German composer. Now put " snow queen”, before that there was the opera “Ronya - the daughter of a robber” and also “A ball of snakes”.

Why don't our theaters follow the example of the Germans, right?

- Apparently, they are chasing attendance. Having staged "Rigoletto" or "Tosca", the theaters will surely gather a full house. And in the case of a new modern opera, they are afraid that they will be hit on the head from above: what, they say, you staged here, what if the audience does not go? And then, after all, if we put on a performance, then it should run for twenty years. And in Germany they staged it, it has been going on for two years, people stopped going - they removed it from the repertoire, and that's it.

— How did you work with the composer on your part?

— He came to me here, in Düsseldorf. We went through the whole game with him, thought everything over, made some changes. He was with his wife, Olga, the author of the opera's libretto, and they even took into account some of my suggestions and changed the text in some places. That is, they worked absolutely everything. In my opinion, it could turn out well. It's a pity. I have high hopes that it will be installed.

— Now let's talk a little about the most important thing - about your voice. The part of Dodon in The Golden Cockerel, which you are currently working on, was written for bass. In concerts, you often perform arias written for bass-baritone, but what is it like for you to endure a whole performance not in your tessitura?

- There are no particularly low notes in it. I will say that the tessitura of, say, Mazepa's part, which was written for baritone, is much lower than the tessitura of Dodon's part, which was written for bass. You just have to change the nature of the performance a little. When the bass is forced to take the high notes in this part, they sound somehow strained, with a whiny intonation. A baritone will sound the same notes confidently. Here, for example, is a phrase from the beginning of the opera: “How hard it is for the mighty Dodon to wear a crown” - the bass will sound pitiful, almost like crying. (Sings.) And in a baritone, it will sound confident, firm, regal. (Singing.)

When I was preparing for the performance, I listened to one recording of this opera performed by a baritone colleague on youtube and realized that there would be no problems for my voice there. You know, in Russia it is customary that, for example, Bartolo always sings bass in The Barber of Seville. But in Europe, I have never heard of this. Usually here Bartolo sings either a characteristic bass-baritone or baritones who started their career with Figaro, and then, with age, smoothly switched to the part of Bartolo.

— By the way, in the same place, on youtube, I found a video clip from 1991 in which you perform Figaro's cavatina at a festival in Kazan, still in Russian. Your voice there is so bright, light, sonorous. You still have it, of course, full of energy and youth, but still we see that you are already singing the bass part. As a singer, do you feel with all the intensity the changes that inexorable time brings with it?

- Of course, with age, changes occur, the voice becomes heavier. And it happens to a lot of singers. But for change to happen slowly, you need only one thing - to constantly practice. When I came as an intern at the Bolshoi Theater, I ran to listen to all the soloists. True, I was mainly interested in Yuri Mazurok, because he was at my current age, and he sang in such a fresh, young voice that I was constantly trying to unravel his secret. And I remember he told me Nice words: "A lot of money will be received not by the one who sings a lot, but by the one who sings for a long time." I don’t need to repeat myself twice, I immediately understood then that I had to do it in such a way that I could sing for a long time.

- So after all, everyone wants to sing for a long time, but not everyone succeeds.

- It does not work for those who sing a lot.

- Do you sing a little?

- Of course, I was lucky in this. When I left for Germany, I was perceived as a Verdi baritone, and I mostly sang in Verdi's operas. Only occasionally did I perform as Scarpia in Tosca or Gerard in André Chénier, but Verdi was the main one. And this, of course, helped me to keep my voice, because I didn't have to jump from style to style, from tessitura to tessitura. From the German repertoire, I sang only Wolfram in Tannhäuser and Amfortas in Parsifal, and that's it. I understood that this was the repertoire for a strong baritone. And now I already sing the whole spectrum - from lyric to bass-baritone. True, they do not offer me the parts of a lyric baritone, because I am in demand as a dramatic baritone. Now I will go to Jerusalem to sing Rigoletto, then to Taiwan to sing Iago in Othello. And in 2017, in the same place, in Taiwan, I have Gianni Schicchi.

- Once you said in an interview with regret that you would like to sing more in Russian operas. But you can often hear that just in order to preserve their voices, singers avoid participation in Russian operas.

- It all depends on the type of voice. I know singers who sing Wagner all their lives, and everything is fine with them. If the voice corresponds to the part, and the psychophysics of the performer corresponds to the role, then there will be no problems. The problem arises when you need to break yourself. When the voice does not match the role, then you have to use other muscles, change your attitude to music, and then the wrong thing happens.

- Although you call yourself a Verdi singer, you give the impression of an omnivorous person.

— Yes, now I can sing everything. There are baritones who sing Onegin, Figaro or Count Almaviva all their lives, but they cannot sing Rigoletto or Scarpia. Here in the theater of Düsseldorf it is clearly divided. There are nine baritones here, and some of them sing Mozart, some Rossini, but I sing my own repertoire. And this is very correct, because it helps singers to sing for a long time, it saves them.

“Wait, I caught a contradiction here. On the one hand, you say that you want to sing for a long time. To do this, you need to sing only certain parts. But then we found out that you are just the kind of singer who can perform the most diverse repertoire.

- Right! After all, it was with age and experience that I learned to sing a diverse repertoire.

- So what's the matter: in the skill or in the physical capabilities of the singer and the correspondence of his voice to a certain role?

- Do you remember Gaft's epigram: "There are much fewer Armenians on earth than films where Dzhigarkhanyan played"? Dzhigarkhanyan's psychophysics allowed him to play everything. This is a rare exception.

- And you just treat these exceptions, as I understand it?

- In a way, yes. My psychophysics - acting, voice and technological-vocal - allows me to sing from lyrical to bass-baritone parts. It's just that depending on the specific party, the role pattern has to be changed. I would love to continue to sing Figaro now, but there are young people who also do it very well.

- At the famous anniversary concert at the Novaya Opera in 2014, you sang arias of the entire spectrum, which clearly demonstrated the possibilities of your voice.

- Yes, I specially prepared for this concert and thought out the program in such a way as to show everything that I can, and without loss go to the second part, where we played the second act of Tosca. It was not easy, much more difficult than to sing the whole part in any opera, but, of course, I am not the only one capable of this, there are singers besides me who can do it.

- Of course, you feel a passionate desire to sing and play.

Yes, I love to sing. It's probably strange to hear from a singer that he loves to sing. It's just that if I don't sing, then I don't know what to do at all. I often say that singing is not a job, it's a disease. The worst time for me is vacation. I don't know what to do, I get bored. Vacation for me is like a knife in the heart, and I always strive to finish it as soon as possible. During the holidays, I try to accept some offers to participate in festivals or some other summer activities. For 15 years I have traveled to Tuscany, where the Il Serchio delle Muse festival is held near the city of Lucca, organized by my friend Luigi Roni, a famous and wonderful bass. And so I spent my holidays there: once every three days I went on stage in some kind of concert, and rested the rest of the time. At the same time, I learned Italian well there. Why else would you need a vacation? Lie down and sunbathe, or what?

- As a student of Pokrovsky, in addition to vocals, you also use your purely acting skills to create an image. How did you study acting - watching the great theater and film actors? By books?

- Of course, I read a huge number of books on acting. But I did not perceive film actors as my “teachers”, because I immediately began to understand that cinema exists according to completely different laws that are not applicable in the theater. When I was studying in Moscow, I used my student card to go to the drama theaters and reviewed, it seems, everything he could. Loved Mayakovka. I was wondering how people from the stage speak so convincingly, portray feelings so sincerely. I was a provincial person and didn’t understand much about art at that time, but I just felt in my gut which of the actors could be trusted and which not, almost according to Stanislavsky. In any case, I always understood that this actor lives and does not play, but this one is the opposite.

- And what is more correct, in your opinion, on the stage - to live or to play?

- Better to live.

- But then it will be life, not the art of acting.

— For your game to be convincing, you need to believe in what you are doing. Then the public will also believe. It's like singing in a foreign language: if I understand what I'm singing about, then the audience will understand. And if I don't understand, then the public won't understand either.

- You said that you participated 264 times in La Traviata and about 200 times in Rigoletto. How do you have enough inspiration, interest, feelings to play these performances so many times? Is there really any inner reserve left to sing them without losing their freshness? What inspires you?

- I already said: you need to believe in what you are doing.

- But it's getting boring!

“There are things that never get boring.

What a wonderful answer! Once a musician said to me: ask me how to go out and play the same concerto for the 300th time, as if you were playing it for the first time. And how, I ask. And he answered: no way, you go out and play on autopilot.

— I always say that everyone has what he wants. This is my motto for life. If a musician wants to play on autopilot, then he will play that way. And I don't want to! If I can't sing, then I'd rather take sick leave, but I won't play on autopilot. Because I have to believe in what I do - in my every smile and every gesture. Yes, this happens to many people, but this will not happen to me.

- In the roles of the "fathers" - Rigoletto, Germont, Miller, Stankar - do you remember your own father's experience? Does it help you imagine your characters' feelings and fears?

No, my own experience this case inapplicable, because I first sang "La Traviata" at the age of 24. What was my experience...

- Well, did your attitude and understanding of this role change with age?

- Of course, it has changed. Over time, for this part, I got my own developments. My Germont became more sophisticated, cunning. Sometimes I suddenly made some discoveries in the very music of this part, although it seemed that I had performed it so many times before. Suddenly I could hear that at the end of the duet with Violetta, when he utters the words: “Your sacrifice will be rewarded,” he speaks as if with sympathy, with pity, but at the same time he sounds cancan in his music! And it turns out that he utters the words alone, and the music at the same time shows that he rejoices inside, dances! You see, this opens up another line of fulfillment of this role.

Sometimes you understand something about your role only at the level of intuition. And although I already told you about my father's experience that it was not useful to me, all the same, some acting discoveries were, of course, connected with life experience. As I said, with the same Renata, I knew exactly how to behave on stage, because I came across such female type in life. But the main acting luggage was still accumulated thanks to books - I have always read and read a lot, it is interesting to me.

Lately, I've noticed a surprising metamorphosis in my attitude to cinema: if I watch some films, then, as a rule, I'm almost not interested in the plot. All my attention is riveted on how a person tries to express an idea as accurately as possible using his personal acting techniques. And, of course, the films of the Soviet period in this respect are much more instructive than modern ones. In modern cinema, there is very little acting as such, the viewer's attention is held with the help of an exciting plot, and then in modern films the frames are short, they do not linger for a long time on some scene, while in the old cinema you can see scenes for five minutes or more. And then you can learn something from film actors.

But the best acting school is life itself. For free! Please! Try to play with any person. Set yourself some task - and play. He believed you - so you know how, bravo! If you don't believe me, keep learning.

- You said that the image of Renata is familiar to you from life. And Scarpia? After all, everyone unconditionally recognizes this role as your great achievement, they note your “negative charm”, which pushes the usual boundaries of this image. Do you also have someone in front of your eyes that looks like your Scarpia, or is it perhaps for you a collective image of a person endowed with power?

- Indeed, this is my favorite role. For me, this is not so much a collective image of a person in power as a collective image of a selfish person. This man loves himself. And if you pronounce the text of the libretto with love for yourself, then you don’t need to do anything further. Everything will already be done.

But he is still a cruel, treacherous deceiver.

“Wait, well, what kind of guy hasn’t deceived someone sometime.” He wanted to possess a woman and did what he needed. So what? As if we didn't read it in the novels of that time! Why condemn a man who wanted to get a woman in such a way? And as a servant of the state, he had to imprison and shoot the rebels, and he just did his job. Well, as it sometimes happens, the performance of the work coincided with his desire to get a beautiful woman. For me, this image is absolutely clear. There is zero conflict for me.

- In the same interview, Dmitry Bertman claims: “Our life has become very theatrical, people take theatrical experience and transfer to life, therefore, theatrical passions boil in life. This idea, of course, is not new, we know that "the whole world is a theater ...", as Shakespeare said, and that pretense is real reality as Julia Lambert thought. What do you think about it? Are you bored in ordinary life after those passions that you play out on stage?

- I think that a person who is not satisfied with his everyday life deserves it. Who is obliged to arrange his own life? Is he waiting for someone to come and entertain him?

- But opera passions inflated at the expense of unhappy love, intrigue, villainy. This is not so much in the ordinary life of an ordinary person.

- Ah ah ah! Tell me how many people go to opera houses? Yes, in my village, where I was born, they learned about the existence of the opera only thanks to me, and before that they had not heard anything about the opera at all. However, the passions there boil the same as in the opera. Here, people who work in the theater have no other choice but to transfer those strong feelings that they experience on stage. And those people who do not go to the theater, out of boredom, come up with all the passions for themselves.

- But, you see, we draw parallels with the theater (or even with the circus) quite often when we observe ... well, I don’t know ... meetings of our government bodies or just someone else’s life, relationships.

Yes, but I think it has always been like this, not just now. Both in ancient Greece and ancient rome democratic forums also, it is possible, resembled a performance, a circus. You often hear: oh, it was better, but it got worse. And that's what every generation says. If you follow this logic, then it was best under the primitive communal system, when people ran with stones and sticks. In my opinion, people always feel bad because they are forced to work, but they would like to do nothing and get a lot. What comes first - theater or life? After all, theater arose from life, and not vice versa.

— I think that Bertman spoke mainly about the colossal influence of art on life.

- I agree, although at all times treachery and intrigue accompanied all sorts of dark deeds, and passions boiled under any king or tsar. There was such an abundance of all this in the life of any generation that any theater would envy. It's just that Bertman, as a theatrical person, notices the same passions in life as on the stage.

- You are also a person of the theater and should also notice them.

— I notice. But only in life I try to avoid them.

- Do you have enough adrenaline that you get on stage?

- Most often - yes, but sometimes there is not enough on stage. After all, a lot depends on partners and on some other factors. Sometimes, you know, the slightest noise during a performance in the hall - and all the magic disappears. While singing, you need to be able to conjure - with the audience, the atmosphere. Not just mumble something there, but conjure! Himself, intonation. Of course, this can also be done in life, but they will consider you a fool.

“Indeed, why waste a divine gift on all sorts of nonsense.

- You see, spending still occurs, because in ordinary life I train. On the subway or somewhere else...

- So, you are a shaman, so we will write it down.

- I'm an artist.

- And what, you can not put an equal sign between shamanism and acting? Any actor tries to hypnotize his audience. But I see that you are not intuitively, but quite consciously approaching this issue.

“At first, I approached intuitively. When I started with Pokrovsky, I still didn’t know anything like that, but I tried to do something gropingly, on a whim. And suddenly he said: this is right! And then everything quickly connected in my head ... I once watched an interesting film about Smoktunovsky. When he first appeared on the set, he did not succeed, the director yelled at him. And suddenly the last frame was a success for him, and then he realized that you don’t need to play in front of the camera, but you need to live and believe in what you are doing. And it's the same in opera. After all, it happens that an artist believes that he is handsome and sings well, and the public also begins to believe in it.

- But you set a wider task than to conquer the audience with the beauty of your voice or appearance.

- Undoubtedly. During rehearsals, I can change color and phrasing many times in order to test, try different variants execution. You don't experiment much in Belkant's operas. There you just need to conjure with your voice, timbre, that's why it is bel canto. And in "Boris Godunov" nothing can be done without a word and without a conscious attitude to the content.

Some roles are easier for me than others. For example, I sang Don Carlos in Ernani, and this role was not given to me, because the character was not written in it. Prince Yeletsky has always been difficult for me, but Tomsky is easier. When they say "character party" in Europe, they do not mean a characteristic voice. They mean the variety of manifestations of the same character, the versatility of his personality. That's just what I'm interested in. And I have few roles in which you just need to sing beautifully, and they quickly leave my repertoire. Lately I've been playing no more than twenty parts, although I have over eighty of them. That is, I sing those that are most suitable for my psychophysics.

— And how quickly, if necessary, can you restore a part from your repertoire?

- When it is necessary - then I will restore it.

— I remember the famous episode from your biography, when you learned your part at Stiffelio in a week to replace a colleague who fell ill. Probably, such cases are turning points in the singer's career?

— Yes, it was exactly like that. After all, then there was a broadcast throughout Europe, they also released a CD, and everyone recognized me. People say: behold, he was lucky. But for me to be so “lucky”, I had to know how much to go through! I created this case for myself and used it.

- How did the shaman bring damage to the actor in order to perform instead of him?

- (Laughs.) I created the case not by the damage that I sent to the actor, but by the fact that I regularly trained my memory from the time of the school to quickly learn the musical and vocabulary text. I developed this quality in myself on purpose. And I trained to such an extent that now I can learn any game in a week. When I arrived in Chelyabinsk, my teacher at the school, Gavrilov German Konstantinovich, as I remember now, let me learn Abt's vocalization No. 17. There was only one page, 24 bars. I learned the music, but I couldn't find the names of the notes and got confused all the time. And I realized that my memory is completely untrained. Especially for memorizing phonetic rubbish, which we then imagined texts in foreign languages. After all, we sang them then, not understanding what we were singing about. And I decided that in order not to be ashamed in front of the teacher, you need to train your memory. I began to learn something by heart every day so that the texts bounce off my teeth, even if you wake me up at night.

When I arrived at the Moscow Conservatory, Hugo Ionatanovich Tietz gave me two romances by Tchaikovsky. And the next day I sang them to him by heart. He says: “You sang this before” - and gives me an aria. I sang it by heart the next day. He again says: "You sang it." And he gives me an aria in Georgian. After I sang this aria by heart the next day, he believed that I was a fast learner, and immediately sent me to the opera studio, where they did not have the count in Le nozze di Figaro. I learned the whole game in a month and for a long time I was the only count there. It's just that I was always ashamed - in front of teachers, in front of pianists, who had to poke a melody with one finger so that I could learn it. I was embarrassed, embarrassed. Therefore, I poked with one finger myself, and I came to them with a memorized text in order to work further. Even Igor Kotlyarevsky, a wonderful pianist, with whom I was preparing the part of the count at the conservatory and with whom I am still friends, said: “For the first time I see such a vocalist who teaches the part himself at home.” I have always been ashamed to show my failure, I have always been like that. When at school I almost got a triple mark for the only time, I came home, crawled under the table and did not get out of there for several hours, because I was ashamed in front of my parents. And after that I never had threes. No one ever forced me to study, no one forced me to read, I took books and read.

— Tell us now about Hugo Ionatanovich. What are the features of his school, which regularly produced great artists? Maybe you remember some of his advice, some individual lessons?

— He was a highly intelligent teacher who knew a lot and had a lot of experience. I immediately recall one of his main features - extraordinary tact. I have never heard unpleasant words from him either in my or in other people's classes, which I also attended. He told everyone about the same thing, but, of course, not everyone learned his lessons the same way, for some it worked out quickly, while others did not. After all, much depends on the talent of the student, and not on the teacher. If you do not have the ability, then the teacher is unlikely to do something out of you.

Hugo Ionatanovich was wonderful person I remember all his lessons. In the first year, we were very active, but I was carried away by the opera studio and spent a lot of time there. What is a first year program? There for half a year you need to sing two vocalizations and two romances, but for me it was the work of one evening. Although many have been doing just that for six months. I came to Hugo Ionatanovich for advice about what I was doing in the opera studio. I had five Suzannes there, and with all five I sang and sang at the top of my voice all day long. And I asked him: can I sing every day? He answered: if you do not get tired, then you can.

- That is, you studied with him according to an individual program, and not according to the program of the conservatory?

- In my first year, I already sang Yeletsky's aria with him. He taught me phrasing, a more conscious attitude to the text. He never showed the slightest violence, but led me to some conclusions as if I had come to them myself. After all, the main thing for Hugo Ionatanovich was not to train you, but to put you in such a situation that you yourself mastered the technique. His genius as a teacher lay in the fact that his students sometimes said: Yes, I learned everything myself. He was able to teach us in such a way that almost every student sometimes thought so. Although it is clear that you did not learn it yourself, but you were led to think so. And then, I wanted to learn everything - and I learned.

When I was a second-year student, he got a spinal injury and was at home, and we went to study with him. But in the third year he died, and I already began to study with Pyotr Ilyich Skusnichenko, his student.

— The school, of course, was the same?

— Absolutely. The same terminology, the same principles were used. Pyotr Ilyich had an amazing intuition, he always felt what exactly needed to be corrected and improved in the student's singing. It was captivating that he treated each of his students like his own child, worried whether he had eaten, how he was dressed, whether he had shaved. He treated us like a good dad. He loved his students very much. He was still a young teacher at that time, he probably could not express much in words, but intuitively he heard everything that needed to be changed. Already in the second year I could sing anything, and there were no problems with me. My singing only needed to be cultivated, which was what my teachers, Petr Ilyich Skusnichenko and accompanist Natalya Vladimirovna Bogelava, did with me. Thanks to them, I was then able to prepare for the Maria Callas Competition and the Tchaikovsky Competition, where I received prizes.

- And what are your memories of the first stage appearance at the Pokrovsky Chamber Theater, since we are talking about your student years? Did you feel uninhibited?

- I could not feel relaxed for many reasons. After all, looseness on stage comes only with experience. I remember how in the conservatory in the first year we rehearsed in tailcoats, and it was necessary to discard the tailcoat coattail, and I had a glass in my hand. So I threw it away with the glass. The newcomer's tightness was evident. And when I came to the theater to Pokrovsky, I was very worried at first. But I have never been afraid to do something wrong. Correct, what's the matter! And then they took me for the role of Don Juan, and who is this? A young man - that is, this role was quite consistent with my age, especially since they sang in Russian. Of course, then I was not so flexible as to immediately perceive all the ideas of Boris Alexandrovich. I had to overcome a lot in myself. But I was surrounded by professionals, I learned from them. I learned a lot - behavior on stage, creating not even an image, but an atmosphere in which the image should exist. What it is? I'll give you a simple example. This is when your photo is shown to any person, and he must determine by your face alone whether you are at a disco or in a church. That is, your posture, facial expression, and whole appearance must correspond to the circumstances of this scene, this is what I call creating an atmosphere. I was amazed how Pokrovsky got what he needed from the actors. To do this, he demanded that you make the task set by him yours. Because when you have made this task yours, then you don’t even need to act - your gestures become natural, the intonation necessary for the director arises.

When I moved to the Bolshoi Theater, I realized that another gesture was needed there, because the stage is huge. And even later, when I was already working on stages all over the world, I again came to the conclusion that even small things in the game need to be reproduced carefully, then the big ones will be more large. All these were the stages of my formation.

So the Chamber Theater was big school. Especially Don Juan. I remember Boris Alexandrovich said: "In my performance, Don Juan must play the mandolin himself." And I bought a mandolin for twelve rubles and on the sly, without saying anything to anyone, learned to play it. And when I went to rehearsals and sang, playing the mandolin for myself, Pokrovsky, of course, appreciated this. He only hinted - and I took it and did it.

- In what of his innovative productions did you participate?

- I did not play in many performances there, because I studied at the conservatory. But, of course, I watched everything. A shock for me, as for many, was the play "The Nose" by Shostakovich. I participated in the great play "Rostov Action". This is an amazing work, it is performed without instrumental accompaniment. I was also busy with Handel's opera Hymen, it was immediately commissioned for performance abroad, and we originally sang it in Italian. Now I understand that stylistically I sang Handel as best I could, and not as it should be. In a word, I remember Boris Alexandrovich with a feeling of admiration and gratitude, because after him it was already easy for me to work with others.

- When you moved to the Bolshoi Theater, did you find yourself busy in performances along with the then luminaries: Arkhipova, Obraztsova, Nesterenko, Sinyavskaya?

- The whole galaxy of singers of that time was of the highest level, and not just those you listed. At the Bolshoi, there was someone to learn from, because in those days the transfer of experience took place directly in the theater. I treated each of these great artists with great respect, I specially went to see how and what they were doing. I had a chance to perform with Nesterenko in The Barber of Seville and in Faust. But most of all, of course, I was interested in the parts of my voice. Therefore, I attended almost all performances with Yuri Mazurok, because then I had the same bright lyrical baritone. He always believed in his rightness, believed that it should be this way and nothing else, and this is a brilliant quality of a person, I think. When you work alongside singers of such a high level, you learn from them not only how to sing, but how to behave - on stage and in life, to communicate, to speak. For example, I learned how to give interviews from Nesterenko. When I first gave an interview on the radio, and then listened to it, I almost fainted from how disgusting my voice sounds. And then I didn’t even listen to Nesterenko’s interview, but how he gave it, and the next time I did everything right.

Not of my own free will, I had to leave the Bolshoi Theater, so I did not work there for so long. These were the years of the most terrible collapse in the country. In Moscow, I had neither an apartment nor a residence permit. I rented an apartment. I once went to the police. Some officer is sitting there, I tell him: here, they say, I am an artist of the Bolshoi Theater, I need a residence permit. He asks: where are you from? I say: from the village, but our house burned down there along with the documents, and the parents had already died. He says: well, go to your village, there is nothing for you to do here. That was the attitude. How could he care that I was a winner of all sorts of competitions - Maria Callas, Glinka, Tchaikovsky? He didn't even hear those names! And in Germany, in Chemnitz, we were preparing the operas Iolanta and Francesca da Rimini for the Dresden festival, and I was offered to sing there in the opera Carmen at German. Well, after six performances, they signed a permanent contract with me. That's how I settled in Germany. If I had not had such problems then I would not have left. But I don't regret anything. Moving to Germany and working all over the world forced me to learn four foreign languages ​​and understand more deeply the style of performance in these languages.

- In December, you had a chamber concert at the Pavel Slobodkin Center with Dmitry Sibirtsev, in which you performed Italian and Spanish songs. And how often do you manage to perform Russian romances?

Nobody in the West wants this. For chamber music there you need a untwisted name. Well, if I go out now in Moscow with the Schubert cycle, do you think the audience will gather? Or imagine: an unknown German will come to Russia, to the Pavel Slobodkin Center, with the cycle "Winter Way". Nobody will come!

Likewise in the West. Some time ago, with the wonderful pianist Boris Bloch, we made a program of romances by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov and gave one concert in Düsseldorf, and one in Duisburg. It was not in the theater itself, but in the foyer - there is an opportunity to put about two hundred seats. And then the theater management was surprised that they had to put up not two hundred seats, but much more, and even all the standing places were occupied. And the same thing happened in Duisburg - the management was amazed there too. We advertised, but what is most interesting - only the Russian-speaking audience came, many of our people live there. Boris and I were very happy. Then they even gave a third concert, at the conservatory. But this was my only experience of holding chamber concerts. Per person without media promotion Big hall do not collect. For chamber programs, you need a face that flickers on TV. In addition, in order to go out and sing a concert of twenty pieces in a small hall just for the sake of pleasure, it takes a lot of effort not only by the singer, but also by the accompanist, and you need to spend a lot of time. But I don't have that much free time. I thought that how opera artist achieve more success opera stage I feel more at ease both as a singer and as an actor.

- What kind of work do you have in this and next season?

- This season I will have a series of ten performances of The Golden Cockerel, which we have already talked about. In May, at the Novaya Opera, I sing Iokanaan in Salome, then in early June I also have Nabucco there. In the middle of June I sing Rigoletto in Jerusalem, at the same time in "Aida" in Düsseldorf and in early July Iago in Taiwan. I also have almost the entire next season scheduled: Tosca, Aida, Gianni Schicchi, Othello. There are five more proposals, but I can't voice them. I could find more time for performances at the Novaya Opera, but in Russian theaters they can't plan well in advance. The same in Italy. I get a lot of offers from Italy, but usually I'm already busy when they come, unfortunately. In this sense, our Düsseldorf theater is good because already at the beginning current season I know everything about my plans for the future. Everything is well planned there, and the rest of the time I can go wherever I want.

http://www.belcanto.ru/16040701.html

Ending to be

Our conversation with Boris Statsenko, a famous operatic baritone, soloist of the Novaya Opera, as well as a guest soloist of the Bolshoi Theater and the German Opera on the Rhine, took place via Skype, since the artist, whom we met in Moscow the day before, was already in the promised land: performances were held in Israel with his participation.

Boris Statsenko graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1989 as a student of Pyotr Skusnichenko, from whom he also completed his postgraduate studies in 1991. In 1987-1990. was a soloist of the Chamber Musical Theater under the direction of Boris Pokrovsky, where, in particular, he performed the title role in the opera Don Giovanni by V.A. Mozart. In 1990 he was a trainee of the opera troupe, in 1991-95. - Soloist of the Bolshoi Theatre. He sang, including the following roles: Silvio (The Pagliacci by R. Leoncavallo), Yeletsky (The Queen of Spades by P. Tchaikovsky), Germont (La Traviata by G. Verdi), Figaro (The Barber of Seville by G. Rossini), Valentin ("Faust" by Ch. Gounod), Robert ("Iolanta" by P. Tchaikovsky).

Now he is a guest soloist of the Bolshoi Theatre. In this capacity, he performed the part of Carlos in the opera The Force of Destiny by G. Verdi. In 2006, at the premiere of S. Prokofiev's opera War and Peace (second version), he performed the part of Napoleon. He also performed the parts of Ruprecht (The Fiery Angel by S. Prokofiev), Tomsky (The Queen of Spades by P. Tchaikovsky), Nabucco (Nabucco by G. Verdi), Macbeth (Macbeth by G. Verdi).

Since 1999 he has been a permanent member of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein (Düsseldorf-Duisburg). Has performed in theaters in Berlin, Essen, Cologne, Frankfurt am Main, Helsinki, Oslo, Amsterdam, Brussels, Liege (Belgium), Paris, Toulouse, Strasbourg, Bordeaux, Marseille, Montpellier, Toulon, Copenhagen, Palermo, Trieste, Turin, Venice, Padua, Lucca, Rimini, Tokyo and other cities. On the stage of the Paris Opera Bastille performed the role of Rigoletto. Since 2007 he has been teaching at the Düsseldorf Conservatory.

- Boris, what do you think opera gives people?

This question is in the wrong place - you need to ask people. I am an artist.

- But you are also human, and in this sense, nothing human is alien to you.

I can answer that she gives me personally everything that I need. In principle, I do not work, but I do what I love. Singing is my hobby. Therefore, I have everything combined - both a hobby and a job.

How easy is your work or hobby for you? After all, learning parts, your employment in many performances, constant tours require a lot of time and effort?

You lead a healthy lifestyle, pay great attention to physical activity. How do you manage to travel?

I carry an expander with a load of 50 kg, and the rest is squats, push-ups can be done everywhere. If possible, sometimes I go to a fitness studio. I work out for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening.

Visiting performances with your participation, I have repeatedly communicated with your fans, who love you dearly as an artist. Are their feelings mutual?

I really feel the love of my fans, their energy that comes from the audience. She definitely energizes me. And this process is mutual. If an artist gives his energy, he will get it back. And if it is closed and does not spend anything, then it does not receive. When you give, a void is formed, which is naturally filled with the emotions of the audience, warm, pleasant words of my friends, and this helps to work further.

- Why do you love your profession?

I am interested in doing my favorite thing: learning new parts, working with new conductors, new partners, colleagues, finding myself in a new environment every time - everything that makes up the work of a professional opera singer. Unlike popular music singers, who often sing along to a backing track, which I don't understand or applaud, I always sing different parts, not the same repertoire. In each performance, I discover something new in my part: I don’t have memorized movements for certain phrases. Different directors, directors of the performance interpret the work in their own way and reveal in it interesting details. In general, I think that it is disrespectful to the public - to sing to the phonogram. And there can be no love for the profession when another “jump” runs onto the stage with his hand raised and shouts to the audience: “HOW I love you!”. This is done by all our "stars", including Philip Kirkorov, Nikolai Baskov, Boris Moiseev - this, in my opinion, is terribly wrong. Living art and creativity they exchanged for deceit.

- Do you have a favorite character or character that you play as an actor?

I don't have a favorite character or character. Playing a negative character is much more attractive, because it is easier to find colors for such a character. But, for example, I don't know how to play the hero-lover.

Playing an emotion is not a problem, I will immediately orient myself and play. Opera is more difficult. For example, Yeletsky never worked well for me as a character who was not particularly close to me, although I successfully coped with his solo aria. But Tomsky, Figaro, Robert, Scarpia, Nabucco, Rigoletto, on the contrary, succeeded more easily. Once I realized that everything can not be played, and I concentrated on a certain character of my characters and on finding my own approach to their stage embodiment. By the way, the baritone almost always performs villains and murderers. Even Onegin is that negative character.

- Do you try to find something positive even in negative characters?

Eat negative characters written out in the libretto, but this does not mean that their character is completely negative. All the characters that I play - Scarpia, Rigoletto - are positive for me, I love them very much and as a performer I do not see and never show negative features in them.

- What do you do then?

I play a person. For example, Scarpia is the chief of police, and a Sicilian baron. What is it negative traits? That he molested a woman? My God, it happened everywhere and at all times. A police chief who fights revolutionaries is also the norm. What is his fault? That he lured Tosca and Cavaradossi into the net? So he has such a job and no deceit! Scarpia is a normal person, a man with power. So what?

- Tell me, please, how do you work on roles?

There are many different professional techniques that can be found in master classes. But in own work on roles, I use proven methods - my secrets of mastery, acquired over many years. In my time, Stanislavsky's acting system was considered popular. I also read books by Mikhail Chekhov. Now there is a lot of literature on how to work on roles, there is a huge amount educational literature. But theoretical knowledge alone does not give real mastery: there are a lot of practical questions, the answers to which can only be obtained in classes with a teacher. I learned a lot for myself as a student at the Moscow Conservatory. In my third year, Boris Alexandrovich Pokrovsky invited me to his theater for the role of Don Juan. Watching the work of other actors with him, their reaction to his tasks, I quickly learned the principles of acting and further improved the acquired skills. I have worked with many theater directors. It has always been difficult to cooperate with dictator conductors who demand unquestioning obedience to their idea, which does not always coincide with the author's intention, for which one has to relearn the text. But there are other directors who give the artist his role. And when the actor creates his part, and the director corrects his performance, the process of collaboration becomes intense and exciting, and the results are successful.

- Do you have any difficulties in working with other artists?

I always treat my partners with respect. It is only annoying if an artist comes to a rehearsal with an unlearned part and unprepared, which happens very often. There was a case in my practice when I stopped a rehearsal and said that I would come when my colleagues learned their parts.

- What kind of resonance did it cause?

Three days later, all the games were learned.

What qualities should an artist have?

I am convinced that talent is only 5 percent, the remaining 95 is efficiency. From my student years, I trained myself to come to class with pieces memorized. Now most of the students study the program in the classroom together with the accompanists. It is also important to master acting, which can be learned from good film actors. I love watching old films from the 50s and 60s with naive acting, like Come Tomorrow, which has theater actors. My favorite film actors are Innokenty Smoktunovsky and Jack Nicholson, from whom I learned a lot. I also studied with Basilashvili, Leonov, Mironov and our entire artistic galaxy. Unfortunately, nothing can be learned from modern television series, not because all the actors are mediocre, but because the camera does not linger for a long time on the face of the actor and for a short time it is impossible to feel his game.

- What do you like most about opera?

Actor play. In my opinion, in opera one should not only sing well, but also play a role. However, there are some singers who only want to sing beautifully. Such artists are also successful, and this is wonderful. Of course, it also depends on the repertoire. For example, in Bellini's belcanto opera arias, in which there is very little text, the artist has to express the emotions coming from the music itself, and first of all, he is required to chic singing and a completely different acting behavior. Although everywhere you need to sing well.

- Do you like to listen to the singing of other artists?

There are a lot of singers - both baritones, and tenors, and basses, whom I listen to and admire.

- Did you have any idols?

I took lessons in Italy from Piero Cappuccili, one of the best baritones of the second half of the 20th century, and for me he has always been an example of vocal mastery. In my youth, I even tried to sing the way he sings.

- How do you feel about criticism?

I believe that it is always subjective and depends on various factors. On the same premiere performance, critics write completely opposite reviews.

- Do you consider the opinion of the public to be objective?

She is also subjective in her assessments, and this is her right.

- Can an artist evaluate himself objectively?

No, no artist can give himself an objective assessment. A lot of people can do things that I can't. But I also know that many do not know how to do what I can do. This is quite natural. And you can learn a lot from other performers. It is probably good for life and self-affirmation to have high self-esteem. For me, the main thing has always been what happens on stage, where the best is actually determined.

Maral YAKSHIEVA