Daniela Dessi Interview with Bruce Duffie . . . . . . . . . .

Soprano Daniela Dessì

A Conversation with Bruce Duffie

Daniela Dessì (May 14, 1957 - August 20, 2016) is considered one of the world’s leading sopranos and a reference point for the Verdi, Puccini and Verismo repertoire. Thanks to the beauty of her voice, a strong technique and an intense dramatic talent, she has been able to sing from Monteverdi to Prokofiev, performing in more than seventy different operas. This versatility has significantly been underlined when, in 2011, she was awarded with the Prize Belcanto “Celletti”, recognized as an “absolute soprano”.

Born in Genoa, she graduated in singing and in piano from the Conservatory “Arrigo Boito” in Parma, later specializing in chamber singing at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena. Since her debut in La Serva Padrona by Pergolesi in Genoa, her career started taking wing. Requested in the world major opera houses and festivals, she has collaborated with great conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Chailly, Daniele Gatti, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Carlo Maria Giulini, Carlos Kleiber, James Levine, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, and Giuseppe Sinopoli. She has worked with the most famous directors, including Roberto De Simone, Pier Luigi Pizzi, Luca Ronconi, Ettore Scola, Giorgio Strehler, Franco Zeffirelli.

It is worth highlighting the breadth of Daniela Dessì’s repertoire. It ranges from Baroque and Eighteenth-Century music (with the great interpretations of Don Giovanni, Le Nozze di Figaro, Così fan tutte and La Clemenza di Tito by Mozart with Riccardo Muti conducting) to the works of the early Twentieth Century, mainly focusing on the glorious Nineteenth Century Italian operatic composers (Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi). Complying with her vocal evolution, Daniela Dessì has quickly succeeded in establishing herself as one of the leading interpreters for Verdi, Puccini and Verismo. As a matter of fact, she has been the first Italian singer to perform in her country the three roles of Puccini’s Trittico (Giorgetta, Suor Angelica and Lauretta) in the same evening; she has also been the first and only Western soprano to perform Madama Butterfly in Nagasaki, in Japan, on occasion of a tour arranged by the Festival Pucciniano, Torre del Lago.

== From the website of the Georg Solti Academia (where she was on the faculty in 2013) [with addition of her birth/death dates]
== Names which are links in this box and below refer to my interviews elsewhere on my website. BD

Daniela Dessì performed with Lyric Opera of Chicago in two seasons. First, in 1998-99, she was Margherita in Mefistofele by Boito. Samuel Ramey was the Devil, and Richard Margison was Faust. György Györiványi Rath conducted. Dessì returned in 2001 for the title role in Tosca, with Marcello Giordani (plus one performance with Fabio Armiliato) as Mario Cavaradossi, and Ruggero Raimondi as Baron Scarpia. Bruno Bartoletti conducted and John Copley directed.

We got together on a frigid day between performances in mid-January of 1999 . . . . .

Bruce Duffie:   You have come to Chicago when it is very cold. Is it very dangerous for a singer to go from warm to cold, and from humid to dry?

Daniela Dessì:   I welcome it. I really love the cold weather because it is so different from where I live. It’s a new experience for me.

BD:   You can have a little bit and then get warm again?

Dessì:   Yes! I will take the very cold with me back home! [Laughs] It will not be very, very warm there either, but not as cold as here.

BD:   Do you sing better in the cold?

Dessì:   No, I don’t sing better. If it’s a very dry cold, it’s not easy to sing. You need some humidity from a humidifier or something like that.

BD:   Does it then get too warm and muggy in the summer for your throat?

Dessì:   In the summer it is not easy to sing sometimes in certain places, like the Arena of Verona, where it is very humid at night.

BD:   Is there ever a place where it’s just right?

Dessì:   [Laughs] Usually in the theater there are not so many problems, because the temperature is controlled. It’s when you go out that it’s more difficult. For singers, it must not be too humid, it must not be hot, and it must not be too cold. It’s difficult, far too difficult! [Much laughter]

BD:   I assume though that it’s all worth it in the end?

Dessì:   Oh certainly!

BD:   Good. Let’s talk a little bit about the music that you make. I assume that music is your favorite subject?

Dessì:   After my son, it’s my preferred topic.

BD:   There are certain roles that you can sing. How do you decide which of those you will select, and which ones you will decline?

Dessì:   First of all, I try to see if a role is right for the color of my voice, and for my possibility as a singer. Of course, one has to choose roles from a certain type of repertory that one builds up during the career. Then, within this range of roles, I choose the ones that most fit my passions, or my love of the role, where I like the attitude of the character.

BD:   So, it’s more than just the voice? It’s also the mind-set?

Dessì:   I do believe that in order to be a certain kind of singer, one has to have an attitude, because a voice by itself is not enough.

BD:   [Gently pressing the point] A singer of a certain kind, or a singer of any kind?

Dessì:   I believe all of them. [Much laughter] If one doesn’t have all of this, then they will have to have help, or must ask for help from somebody.

BD:   Are most singers smart enough to ask for the help?

Dessì:   No, not always, but let’s hope, yes! [Much laughter]

* * * * *

BD:   Your voice dictates what roles you will consider. Do you like the characters that are imposed by those roles?

Dessì:   They are not always such that one necessarily would like to interpret, whether it’s a historical character or a fictional character. However, one has to trust the music that has been written for the character in order to guide one’s interpretation. You need to see how the character is written in the music, and then to follow that. Usually, I try not to do characters that I do not like, even though the characters are dependent on the way one interprets them from the beginning to the middle of one’s career. When I have to do a role where, as I get into it I am not feeling a particular empathy with the character, if I am doing it because I like the music that has been written for the character, I end up really liking the character all the same, because I begin to like the music.

BD:   So, the composer has tricked you into liking this dislikeable character?

Dessì:   [Laughs] Many times the characters become very important because of the music that the composer has written for them.

BD:   Is it part of your job to make sure that the audience then likes or dislikes the character because of the way you do it, and because of the way the music cloaks it?

Dessì:   It’s hard not to like or to love a character. The audience can even love a negative character. [Citing the work by Boito she was doing at the time] For instance, Mefistofele is a negative one, but the audience loves him because the music is so well-written for him.

BD:   How should we feel about Margherita? Do we feel sorry for her? Should we feel empathy for her?

Dessì:   [Thinks a moment] It’s a very dramatic character, and one does feel pity for her. But she’s also a very reactive character, because she can get out of this huge tragedy. She can escape from it, and save herself. She is also strong, tragic, and sad, but she is capable of rescuing herself.

BD:   Have you also sung Marguerite in Gounod’s Faust?
dessi

Dessì:   Yes.

BD:   Are they different sides of the same woman?

Dessì:   She is the same character, but in Mefistofele she has less time to develop. We have just a few minutes to go out and show the identity of the character, while in Faust you have the whole opera to develop the character. In Mefistofele the change comes rather suddenly, and you have to do it this way.

BD:   Do you enjoy having to do this quickly, or would you rather have more time?

Dessì:   I would like to do it in a larger span of time, because then the character can become a bit more complete.

BD:   When you walk out on the stage, are you portraying the character, or do you actually become that character?

Dessì:   Sometimes I’m interpreting, while other times I’m the character! It happens sometimes, and this is a bit sad, or perhaps dramatic, but I do think of myself as the character that I’m interpreting on the stage.

BD:   [With mock horror] You don’t become suicidal, or violent, or murderous, do you???

Dessì:   [Laughs] No, no, no, but my mood changes according to the character. If I’m singing Mimì, I cannot be a happy person. I become sad. Then if it’s a heroic character, I become very noble and heroic.

BD:   How long does it take you to throw that feeling off when the opera is over?

Dessì:   It depends on the drama, and the force of the character that I’m interpreting. Generally, in a couple of hours, I get out of it, but it depends on how dramatic, and how strong she is that I’m interpreting. However, sometimes that lasts for the whole run of a production. I have also felt a certain attraction for a colleague that was involved with the opera, that I wouldn’t ordinarily have felt for him... I mean, someone that I really wouldn’t like in real life.

BD:   Because of the character?

Dessì:   Because of the character.

BD:   Do you find yourself changing your own interpretation of a role from one performance to another, or from one production to another because of who is singing another character?

Dessì:   No. I do change according to my own deepening and interpreting of the character. Every time one discovers something more of the character, and one matures in a role or a character every time one interprets it. This is the right way to do it.

BD:   Is there any role that you play that is perhaps too close to the real you?

Dessì:   Tosca is the type of woman that I feel closest to in terms of character, and feeling, and passions. Of course, she is also a singer, so there are many resemblances. Both Tosca and I have a very reactive type of personality, and in relationships with men I feel the same way as Tosca would feel. Also, I felt very close to Mimì in La Bohème. Beyond the fact that I am a lyric singer, and I go around the world, I’m a very simple kind of person, and her love for little things, including her simplicity. Her way of life is very close to me. There are, perhaps, some other characters, not in their totality but in some parts or aspects of their character, to whom I feel very close. That makes it much easier to interpret such roles if I feel such an affinity for them in total or in part.

BD:   Do you find that you’re bringing a lot, or perhaps even too much, of yourself into some of these characters?

Dessì:   I really couldn’t say, because I tend to throw myself into a role, and into a character, and into an interpretation. Maybe I don’t put all of myself, the real Daniela, into her. Maybe it is the part that I do feel is myself that I do put into these characters, but it’s the acting part of myself that fills it out. Sometimes I even tend to make my voice sound less beautiful in order to accompany the feelings that are portrayed.

BD:   Do the stage directors know this, and utilize this extra bit of characterization?

Dessì:   If the stage directors are good and perceptive, then they will use that, and generally speaking, they have! I’ve never had much difficulty in working with any kind of stage director. I like to discuss things with them. If I cannot find a way of entering a character that satisfies me, I’m very ready to ask for the help of the stage director in trying to approach her.

BD:   Do the stage directors generally know where they’re going with these characters?

Dessì:   It’s very hard to know where it goes, because character is something that is always brought out in facts and in development, and it depends on the interpretation. But one does try to get close to it, and that is the work of a director and of the artist. I also have worked with a stage director whose idea of the character was totally opposite to mine, and then in this case, one needs to really talk a lot to see where the truth lies, and how can one put together these two opposing views. Sometimes it has happened that two opposite views have created a very true and real character, because it came from two extremes.
dessi

BD:   I take it you relish the idea of using new and different ideas?

Dessì:   Certainly! If I’m really not happy with my views on something, I like to debate and discuss. I do like to understand if there are other possibilities. Maybe sometimes I’m not capable of doing all that I’m asked, but I try! I’m always readily available. The only condition that I ask from a stage director is that he listens and understands, and does things that are in sympathy with the music, because if he requires me to do things that are anti-musical, I will not go for that.

BD:   [Musing on the old phrase] Prima la musica! [The full phrase is Prima la musica e poi le parole, meaning first the music and then the words. It is also the title of an opera (or divertimento teatreale) by Salieri, commissioned by Emperor Joseph II.]

Dessì:   Prima la musica!

* * * * *

BD:   Do you adjust your vocal technique for the size of the house... if you’re in a very small house, or a big one, or outdoors?

Dessì:   Usually, I try to adjust my voice according to the vocal requirements of the character. More than changing my vocal style, I change the stresses, the way I accent things. In the smaller theater, I can certainly allow myself to do some phrasing in a different way than I would in a bigger place. There are, of course, singers who think that in a very big place — like the Arena of Verona, where you have 25,000 capability for audience — that by shouting you do things better. Truly, through the experience of hearing those who were shouting in these large places that I have understood it’s not important to sing louder in places that are very big. What you need to do is stress certain things, or accent certain things over others.

BD:   Do you prefer to sing in a large space or a small space?

Dessì:   I prefer the large ones. [Laughs] I feel that in a larger space, maybe a small imperfection can be less observed or less noticeable. I feel freer, and to sing for a larger crowd gives me a bigger emotion. My type of voice is more suited for a larger place. In a small place it reflects right back to me, whereas in a larger place it just goes more freely, and it has a better sound. I can give it more different colors, and different views. This is what I believe, and I hope it is so! [Much laughter]

BD:   Do you sing mostly opera, or do you also give song recitals?

Dessì:   I do recitals, I do concerts, and I do a lot of oratorio — Verdi Requiem, and Rossini Stabat Mater. I have been trained as a chamber singer, and some time ago I’ve done a lot of that. In general I prefer opera, but I have also some concerts in my future engagements book.

BD:   I’ve asked about singing differently for big houses and small houses. Do you sing differently for the microphone?

Dessì:   Generally speaking, the microphone helps the smaller voices a lot more, and not so much the bigger voices. The secret for the microphone in a recording studio is to sing softer, because there is as lot more distortion with a loud sound in any microphone. A voice has to have a lot of technical care in the recording, so I have to be more careful to sing in front of the microphone than the theater.

BD:   Are you able to rein in your voice?

Dessì:   I believe I have! [Much laughter]

BD:   Do you still sing Mozart?

Dessì:   Yes! I just sang the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, and I have done Don Giovanni.

BD:   Is there a secret for singing Mozart?

Dessì:   It is something instinctual and natural to sing Mozart. I always say that both Mozart and Rossini are a great school for singers. The secret for singing Mozart well, and the good thing about singing Mozart, is that it cleanses you of all the vices that you have acquired in doing a different type of repertoire. It is very difficult to sing and to do it well. In my opinion, it is a lot easier to do verismo, where you can really let yourself go and not worry about the finer points. So, I’m trying to continue to sing Mozart because I want to keep my vocal attention sharply focused.

BD:   But most of the time you like to ‘let it all hang out’ as they say?

Dessì:   Yes. [More laughter] It is a different kind of singing that is really, really satisfying. I also am very passionate, and I like to sing that way.

BD:   Do you sing any modern music?

Dessì:   No, because I feel that the color of my voice, a lyric soprano, is not really suited to what is required. The voice does lose something in beauty in contemporary music, with the kind of intervals and other things that are required. You use your voice in a different way which is less beautiful. Then, of course, one needs to talk about what it means when you speak about ‘contemporary’ music.

BD:   Have we lost the tradition of writing beautifully for the voice?

Dessì:   Ah, yes! I believe so. I don’t want to say something that is unkind, but I do think that composers have lost the tradition of writing music in general, not only for the voice. The writing of music for the voice is not really very good at this point in time.

BD:   [With mock horror] Are we condemned to perform nineteenth century opera from now until the end of time???
dessi

Dessì:   Maybe if one wants to sing rock, and musicals which have taken the place of opera, then of course we can do those. Once-upon-a-time, one wrote an aria or a romanza, and now we write rock songs. Everything has been written in music, so if you want to go forward, you can go back and write operas as they were written in the 1900s. What you get now is a sort of experiment in a new kind of music, but it is not the opera in the same way as we have intended it, and as we perform it on the stage now. When you go to the opera now, it’s like looking at a very good painting, and seeing something that is from the past which is still living.

BD:   It’s artists like you that keep it alive!

Dessì:   Thank you very much. Of course, I try to keep it alive.

* * * * *

BD:   Do you have any advice for the next generation of singers?

Dessì:   I don’t have advice for others because I still need advice for myself! [Much laughter] One has to be patient, and to be calm if advice is to be given.   Many young singers like to do everything NOW! Our work is done on a very delicate organ, which is the voice, and the best results are obtained by doing things carefully, step-by-step with the voice. One needs to study, and one has to really get advice and recommendations about studying. This idea is for the young artists, and really for all of us. This means not only technical studies, but to study the orchestral score, the full score of the music, to obtain and always deepen one’s musical preparation. [Pauses a moment] However, young singers seem to be very well-prepared musically these days. As in preparation for any job, both music and voice technique, and whatever else is in the background of the opera itself, is always to be recommended. That gives a different fullness and dimension to the artist’s interpretation. Another bit of advice is that one should not consider one’s work, however important, as the focal point of one’s life. It is necessary not to consider this work, or this art, or whatever you wish to call it, as the only focus in one’s life. If you do that, you cannot breathe, or understand the rest of what’s going on in the world. When that happens, one becomes so closed in with what one is doing that you cannot progress in it when you need to. You think that the only important thing is your career, and you tend to do everything too fast and too ‘now’, and be only in the present moment. When you try to grasp at everything, you lose sight of everything else. If you’re calm, and if you can look around, and if you can choose, you become a better singer.

BD:   A well-centered singer?

Dessì:   A well-centered singer. That is a very good way to put it!

BD:   That seems to be a very rare commodity.

Dessì:   Yes, this may be rare, but you have to go for it. Otherwise you risk being without anything. It would be very poor just to have a career, and not to have anything else. In my case I cannot say that my career is the most important thing. I can say perhaps say that music is the most important thing in my life, and if you keep an eye on that, making music — as opposed to just a career — is a good goal to have. My son is the most important thing for me.

BD:   Are you now at the point in your career that you want to be?

Dessì:   I’m very happy where I am. There is no doubt about that. We have to make the difference between the career and artistic completeness. As far as my career goes, there is always the goal of how high toward the top you can reach. My father always says that I have to be number one in the world, and I feel I’m going for that! I don’t think you can be the greatest, but you can be one of the greats, and I’m still going towards that as far as my career is concerned. In terms of my fulfillment as an artist and as an interpreter, I’m content with what I’m capable of giving and doing right now. I cannot be totally happy, because if there’s one evening in which I do one note that is not what I wanted to do, or if I’m not capable of communicating an emotion in the way I wanted to, that upsets me, and I go back to the drawing board. But I’m reasonably happy, and I feel like I am at a very good vocal point in my career.

BD:   I hope there are many more happy nights than upsetting nights.

Dessì:   [Sighs] Oh, I hope so, certainly! Of course, we hope for that!

BD:   One last question. Is singing fun?

Dessì:   Very much so! I like it very much. It helps me to live it. It fulfills me. It gives me a place to look, and something to think about, and to reason about, and to worry about. Music also helps a lot in many situations of life. But in order to have fun, you have to have achieved a huge technically-safe place, otherwise you don’t enjoy yourself while singing. If you’re not technically secure, you don’t enjoy yourself. I have the great fortune to do a job that I really love, and have work that I really love. You cannot help but have fun. You cannot help but be happy. To sing a beautiful musical phrase, it has to be joyous. It cannot be terror or fear. This helps you to sing better, and to go onstage with that sense of spirit, of wanting it to be joyous.

[We then spoke very briefly about her return to Chicago, and gleefully said “Thank You” many times to Marina Vecci of Lyric Opera for translating.]

See my interviews with Lella Cuberli, and Rockwell Blake

This conversation was recorded in Chicago on January 15, 1999. Portions were broadcast on WNIB four days later. This transcription was made in 2024, and posted on this website at that time. My thanks to Marina Vecci of Lyric Opera for providing the translation duirng our interview. Also, my thanks to British soprano Una Barry for her help in preparing this website presentation.

To see a full list (with links) of interviews which have been transcribed and posted on this website, click here. To read my thoughts on editing these interviews for print, as well as a few other interesting observations, click here.

* * * * *

Award - winning broadcaster Bruce Duffie was with WNIB, Classical 97 in Chicago from 1975 until its final moment as a classical station in February of 2001. His interviews have also appeared in various magazines and journals since 1980, and he now continues his broadcast series on WNUR-FM, as well as on Contemporary Classical Internet Radio.

You are invited to visit his website for more information about his work, including selected transcripts of other interviews, plus a full list of his guests. He would also like to call your attention to the photos and information about his grandfather, who was a pioneer in the automotive field more than a century ago. You may also send him E-Mail with comments, questions and suggestions.