5 hours Ago By Operawire Staff
Having recently reviewed a marvelous production of “ The Cunning Little Vixen ” by the Slovak National Theatre Opera in Bratislava, OperaWire decided to take the opportunity to interview the vixen, played by soprano Adriana Kučerová . One of the stars of the Slovak National Theatre Opera, Kučerová has an established international reputation and has performed widely in leading opera houses across the globe, including Buenos Aries, Milan’s La Scala, Paris, Vienna and the Salzburg Festival. Owing to family commitments, however, her appearances outside Slovakia are not as frequent as they once were, and she is now a regular at the country’s leading opera house.
Although it was a fascinating interview, in which she discussed her career and her role as the vixen, it rapidly moved into political matters and the turmoil that is affecting the Slovak National Theatre Opera, which, with the artists threatening strike action, almost led to the cancellation of the performance. OperaWire: What was your pathway into becoming an opera singer? Adriana Kučerová: I didn’t come from a musical background. I grew up in a small town in Slovakia in which there was no concert hall, not even a theatre, so I started very late.
After finishing high school, I went to university, where I qualified as a primary school teacher. So, I was 22 years old and had had hardly anything to do with music. I did like to sing.
but not classical music, and I had no training. I saw my first opera when I was 22 years old. I can’t remember if it was “La Traviata” or “Eugene Onegin,” but I was fascinated.
However, this still did not make me think about a professional career in singing. One day, I was walking through the town, and I saw a music school for children, and I thought, well, if I don’t try now, I never will. I knocked on the door and asked if I could have some singing lessons even though I was too old for the school.
The teacher asked me to sing for her, and she told me that I had talent and potential and agreed to work with me. Fortunately, it did have a department for teaching adults! She was really enthusiastic and gave me the courage to continue. One year later, I won a singing competition, and this led me to enrolling at the conservatory in Bratislava at the third level.
I had no formal musical background; I couldn’t even recognize the opening of Beethoven’s fifth Symphony at this point. I then spent two years studying at the conservatory and a further five years at the university. Everything went very well; after all, I was an adult; I was older than the other students.
I knew I had to be the best because I was behind the other students, and I had to catch up and work hard. I was very self-critical, I wasn’t young; I wasn’t there for fun. I did a few roles at the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava, such as Morgana in Handel’s “Alcina” in my last year at the university.
On the day I graduated, I was actually in Vienna for the Belvedere competition, in which I won five prizes, including first prize. It was a big surprise to me. This was my first ever competition, apart from the one I won at the beginning of my studies.
Winning catapulted me into the limelight, and I missed the many steps that most singers have to go through in order to establish themselves. My first role was as Serpetta in “La Finta Giardiniera” at the Salzburg festival, conducted by Ivor Bolton, in which Véronique Gens was also singing. It was a strange experience; I was so innocent at the time, and I didn’t know anybody at all.
My career then developed rapidly, and I found myself singing at the top opera houses across the world, such as Milan and Vienna. Then I realized I wanted to have a family, and everything changed. With the first child, I tried to combine both an international career and child-rearing.
It was tough, so when the second child came along, I restricted my performances mainly to Bratislava, with only occasional performances elsewhere. OW: How would you describe your voice? AK: At the beginning, I was a typical lyric soprano with the possibility of coloratura, playing roles like Adina, Norina, Susanna, and some baroque parts. After having children, my voice didn’t change too much; it sounds a little more mature, more rounded, and a little less girlish, which has allowed me to think a bit more about dramatic roles.
However, I do not consider myself to be a dramatic soprano. OW: Do you have a favorite role? AK: I know it sounds funny, but it’s always the role I’m singing. At the moment, I am singing the role of the vixen in Janáček’s “The Cunning Little Vixen,” so this is my favorite role.
I always find that I fall in love with the role I am working on! However, I must say that the role of Gilda in “Rigoletto” is a particular favorite. OW: What are your future plans? AK: I want to return to an international career once my children are a bit older. I have a very special connection with Czech and slavic music and would therefore like to expand my repertoire in this area.
OW: I believe this is the third time you have performed the vixen. How does this presentation compare to previous productions? AK: This is absolutely different from other productions. This is a production for adults.
It is very dark. It is certainly not a fairy tale! OW: What are your impressions of the vixen? AK: For me, the vixen is fighting for her liberty. She loves her freedom.
She is also a vixen searching for love, which she finds with Gold Stripe, who in this production is female, although I don’t know why. The love scene between them, whether it is two females, or a male and female doesn’t matter; it is very sensual. It is pure love.
The vixen is also quite frightened because this is the first time she has experienced love; she has had many bad experiences before and therefore doesn’t trust anyone else. It is a representation of life. OW: To what extent are the characters human in this production? AK: It’s not important whether we’re looking at animals or humans; it is about character.
Certainly, we’re not supposed to look at these animals as if they are from a zoo. It is not about the animal world. I don’t see a strict differentiation between the animal and the human.
At times I move around the stage like an animal, then at other times like a human being. It’s all about character. OW: How did you find the vocal challenges of singing the role? AK: It is not like singing Mozart, Puccini or Verdi.
There are very few long phrases. It is more about language and diction, and it is very important to get the pronunciation correct, and this can be challenging. In this production, it was particularly challenging because I had to move around a lot.
Even before I started singing, I was jumping and running around the stage, which is quite tiring. OW: What are your thoughts about the production’s director, Sláva Daubnerová? AK: She is one of Slovakia’s most respected directors but works mainly abroad. In fact, this is her first production for the Slovak National Theatre Opera.
She is a fantastic director. She is so precise in what she does; she looks at every detail. Everything is planned thoroughly.
And her ability in dealing with the children was excellent. She gives them so much time and works very closely with them. She was very nice with them, but she treated them like adults, and the results were amazing.
They looked so natural. It was a very good experience working with her. OW: How do you rate last evening’s performance? AK: I had been working very hard and looking forward to the production, but before the performance we decided to make a number of speeches, addressed to the audience, about the situation facing the arts, including the opera, in Slovakia, because of our government’s policies and attitudes.
This made me very nervous as it was very personal; my partner, Matej Drlicka, who was the General Director, had invested so much energy, love and positivity into this theatre, but a few weeks ago was unfairly replaced. Having to speak about such personal things in front of the audience was very emotional, also because of what I can see happening to the theatre. Everything was going so well; the opera was successful and growing.
Now, I am very worried. Because of this, I found it difficult to stabilize myself for the first 10 to 15 minutes of the performance. But it went very well.
The atmosphere was beautiful. We were actually thinking about cancelling the performance in a show of solidarity, but we went ahead with it. It was a good decision because the opera is about liberty and resistance.
We said more by performing the opera than we could have by remaining silent. OW: Is this a very serious problem affecting the opera? AK: Yes, it is! The minister of culture has been in her position for about nine months now and is destroying all the good work that has been done. It has been a disaster.
Funding is being reduced and jobs are being cut. She is replacing senior people with others who are not as experienced or knowledgable. It is, of course, affecting the opera.
Foreign singers have cancelled performances here in Slovakia as they want to demonstrate that they don’t want to cooperate with this type of administration. I think there will be problems ahead. Actors tend to be very vocal and say what they feel about political events.
I feel as if we’re going backwards. It makes me feel very sad. We don’t seem to recognize what we have and that the Slovak National Theatre is something we need to take care of.
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