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Roberto Alagna... Quote. Unquote.
From the BBC/Arena documentrary The Last Tenor, Alagna on Luciano Pavarotti and the singing competition where he won First Prize in 1988...
"I thought: I am not good. I am not good at all. And I remember when I heard a lot of the tenors there I thought: everybody are better than me. And at the end Luciano was very very very very gentle with me. Because I was very shy and I remember the last day he came and he embraced me. He talked about my voice and he gave me a lot of confidence in me."
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Alagna on acting, from a 1996 interview in NRC Handelsblad...
"I try to project myself into my characters as much as possible beforehand, but not too much. Don Carlos in the opera is far removed from the historical figure, or from Schiller's Don Carlos. It is therefore useless to engross myself in its historical background. What I find important is the psychology of the composer, what did he mean when he wrote the music. Following on from that I imagine what I would do were I in my character's shoes."
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Alagna on his singing style, from a 1996 interview in NRC Handelsblad...
"I look for simplicity, sincerity and try to give much. I sing what the composer wrote, without portamento and without adding extra notes or other effects to the music."
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Ivan A. Alexandre on Alagna as Le Jongleur de Notre-Dame at Opéra Montpellier in
Le Nouvel Observateur, 1 February 2007...
"Ce qu'y faut pas inventer pour faire parler de soi quand on chante à l'opéra! Une carrière en trombe, un mariage glamour, des lubies alla Caruso, la Star Ac, «Mexico», un mal mystérieux, des annulations en chaîne, une autobiographie de grand homme, l'abandon d'Aïda en pleine Scala le 10 décembre, l'esclandre, la riposte, un procès pour «non-assistance à personne en danger», quoi encore? Le Jongleur de Notre-Dame. Hé si! Le miracle en trois actes de Massenet, opéra gothique et sans femme du plus féminin des compositeurs. Roberto Alagna loin des tubes, loin du strass, au service d'une oeuvre douce et rare, dans sa langue qu'il chante comme personne. Star, bébé, victime, macho, hâbleur, grand coeur, déserteur, serviteur de l'Art: ce ténor sait tout être."
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This page was last updated on: February 8, 2007
