Francesca Sassu, Italian soprano speaks for Brío Classic

Lyrical was surprised when I was fifteen and dreamed of studying medicine, to make it one of the most prominent sopranos of her generation. Born in Sardinia, Francesca Sassu surprised by its dramatic ability and vocal versatility. It is inspired and learn from the masters, inside and outside scene and now comes to the Baluarte of Pamplona to debut in Spain a norm which gives an intense dramatic depth.Brío Clásica: Singing debut in the Baluarte Rule Bellini, but this will not be your first rule, a role summit the "bel canto" who have sung mythical figures of the past Are you concerned about comparisons?

Yes, actually it is not my first rule; I played this role on two other occasions: in the wonderful production of Hugo de Ana in Verona, with the direction of Francesco Ivan Ciampa teacher, and in Oslo in a production staged by Antonino Fogliani ... Comparisons with singers of the past they always fear, but I try not to think about it, and I try to cope with this role like all the other roles I do… I try to listen as little as possible recordings and dedicate myself to read the libretto; reading sources and trying to converge, as far as possible, the characteristics of the character with my character ... to find common ground and always be authentic and credible as possible on stage ...

Francesca Sassu: How Standard Francesca Sassu?

Let's say my Norma Norma is a very human ... with the stage director Mario Pontiggia, we have tried to divert some of the Norma-Medea, evidence and especially the most intimate part ... As also can be seen in Violetta, There are two sides of this woman in stark contrast, that is to say, the public face and private face… Violetta happens exactly the same ... So, on the one hand, we have the public part of Priestess, with its intransigence and its strength, almost an icon, and therefore it approaches a little myth, But the Medea ..., on the other hand, his face is injured woman, butchered deeply inside, and in competition with a younger woman ... A woman destroyed between love children and love for this man, Polijo, he leaves her for another woman, which it is exactly his alter ego when he was young or younger, because in any case, Norma is still young ... So, definitely, there is a continuous contrast ... she is a woman who lives contrasts fuertísimos… and I tried, especially, in this production, highlight your most intimate part, deeper and more private, I find more interesting than the standard myth ...

B.C: By the way, Is your debut in Spain?

F.S: Yes, actually I say it's my big debut in Spain… although he had sung in The Marriage of Figaro Mahon (Menorca) at 2007, but then I never sang here, so maybe this is surely My real debut in Spain!… (laughs). And I'm very excited to be in Spain and debuting here in a brilliant moment of my career, and do especially with this role and a theater, where I feel so welcomed and pampered.

B.C: Violetta Valery revolutionary style "burlesque" with sequins and stilettos in the version of Andrea Cigni, It was received by the audience with loud applause and criticism conquered, It was a very hard work? He is prepared in a special way for this artistic challenge? Were you inspired someone to play the character?

F.S: La Traviata I did in Trapani with direction Andrea Cigni was a lesson very strong and very important to me ... I made months after debuting the role of Violetta in La Fenice in Venice with stage direction by Robert Carsen, so were two clutches in very intense and visceral scene, where almost everything is based on interpretive capabilities Violetta's character ... With Andrea Cigni, which it is a great director, and he knows exactly how to exploit the character with the singers in front of him, I completely put at his disposal and his staging "buslesque", inspired by the character of Dita von Teese to describe this Violetta ... I worked hard with him to get Violetta of time in which it was written La Traviata and make this timeless character ... Any time that environment, It's just an accompaniment because, actually, His story is a universal story that can be transported at any time ... we work hard, even physically, thanks to Isa Traversi, which is its choreographer ... It was very intense, especially, when working the evolution of the disease, that is to say, how to feel the pain in the body ... as I am a woman very strong and muscular (laughs), for me it is very difficult to feel the fragility of the disease ... of consumption ..., and work hard in this direction ... So it was a job that I really changed ... I dare say that not only in regard to the role of Violetta but also a little about all the roles ... it was truly a great teacher ...

B.C: In addition to vocal capacity, his performances stand out for their dramatic capacity what importance gives his work as an actress when playing a character?

F.S: I think being a singer without being interpreter, especially today, is useless ... I am a singer but I do theater, first of all… I mean, I have the need to express the most scenically, physically and, Of course, obviously vocally. Everything is one, that is to say, all it contributes to create a character of suggestions, which can be tímbricas, vowels, expression, gestural ... and I could not do otherwise, because I have a physical need to be an interpreter (laughs)

B.C: Another highly acclaimed Violetta has been his recent performance at La Fenice in Venice, It is one of your favorite roles?

F.S: Yes, definitely, Violetta is one of my roles preferred and is the role that has given me the greatest satisfaction in recent years ... is a role very complex vocally and very dramaturgically complex ... is a role in which my character has a great psychological evolution from the opera start to finish ... so, It is a role that clearly highlights the vocal and technical capabilities of the singer but also interpretive capabilities, theater, emotional ... The truth is that I get very excited when I Traviata, and almost always I cry during the second act (laughs), and I have to be careful not to mourn too (laughs)... It is a role that provides the ability to express all the characteristics of a singer and put into play on stage, even physically, the greatest human emotions: death, the fear, the remorse… and giving up the great love of your life for a greater good ... the more the singing, more I discover details that had not seen before ... and this obviously, also thanks to stage directors and conductors ... I was fortunate to work with great directors scene from whom I learned a lot, and I have become fully available as a sponge, to try and steal the maximum possible secrets ...

B.C: What other roles have favorites and what roles you would like to do in the future?

F.S: Because in the future I would like to add many roles bel canto… in May, for example, I will debut as Anna Bolenna in Vilnius, and this will be, Of course, a debut very important ... I would like to queens ... Lucrezia Borgia and Maria Stuarda ... also I would add a first Verdi as Luisa Miller, or re-sing Simon Y Otello… and of course, I love French music debut roles because I speak very good French and, Besides, I feel very akin to that repertoire Faust O Romeo and Juliet... And my dream would debut Herodias Massenet ...

B.C: He participated in the world premiere of the opera The unexpected marriage Paisiello, How was your experience with maestro Riccardo Muti? What did you learn from him?

F.S: For the truth it is that it was a very hard experience, with many trials with Maestro Muti ... I also attended the trials of the other cast, to that of other colleagues, and I wrote down in my score every thing he said, not only each of us, even, what he said to colleagues who did other roles ... From him I learned the attention to detail, al hand on the word what, actually, is a form of I had acquired over the years, to having studied with Barbara Frittoli and, probably, she had taken from the master Muti ... it is deep attention by the word ... not only in the recitative but also in the sung word, and the singing of vowels and consonants expressive use of me opened a whole world on the interpretation and, Besides, the study of that opera was very nice and it just became this time, He taught me how to deal with then Verdi, Puccini, Donizetti, Rossini ... because, Really, It is a form of, that is to say, a school of thought of the song ... reciting singing, of the sing the word, joint and how to use consonants to make sung expressive speech ... So it was, definitely, a lesson that will always be grateful ...

B.C: What did it mean for you to win the contest Bellini Spoleto?

F.S: For me, Spoleto win the contest with 21 years was something very exciting indeed ...; when I participated in the contest, no thought or minimally to win ... how nice to win this competition is to win a masters course in Spoleto with grandísimos, como Raina Kabaivanska, Renato Bruson ... pianistas ... speech therapists, phoniatricians ... a course to really complete ... at least in my time, do you transform frightened young singer ... It's a place you fit and where, Besides, many experiences living ... In the year I won, I made my debut three operas ... Cleopatra Cimarosa in his first world edition, Oberto, Conte di San Bonifacio, and Mimì in Bohemian, so it was a very lucky year, where I met extraordinary people ... and it was, definitely, an amazing experience from the point of view artistic and musical, but also from the human point of view ... in fact, traveling companions that are still being friends contest, such as Omar Montanari, who won beside me and Andrea Carè ... are very dear friends who are making big races ... and, Really, we feel united as if we were brothers ...

B.C: How do you remember your debut, with only 24 years, La Scala in Milan?

F.S: As I made my debut singing Il Trittico Puccini ... did the role of Sister Genoveva in Suor Angelica and Nella in Gianni Schicchi ... the truth is it was a very stressful period (laughs)... but were months of trials in which I learned a lot ... because I was lucky to have very great singers to me ... big names like Juan Pons, Walsh Marrocu, Barbara Frittoli, Leo Nucci ... So I had the opportunity to observe the great, and try to steal its secrets ... would all tests ... I was always stuck in the theater (laughs) … in fact, I tried to learn all of them, how you have to include one in the theater ... how they are managed, for example, difficult moments ... how does one relate to a large film director as Ronconi ... or with great directors like Chailly ... They were not without moments of difficulty or stress, but also very enlightening ...

B.C: Ever he thought to be a singer?

F.S: No, not for nothing ... I was born with the dream of being a singer lyric ... I wanted to be a doctor (laughs) and the truth is I got a little by chance, because my best friend sang in a polyphonic choir and convinced me that pointed me to her when we were fifteen ... Say the voice work ... had voice intuition ... so I signed up to the conservatory but without knowing anything at all about lyrical ... nothing nothing ... I wanted to study music and with fifteen years easiest thing to do was to study singing and so began ... it was a discovery every day ...

B.C: How were your beginnings? Who were your teachers?

F.S: I began to study singing at the Conservatory of Sassari, and since I won the contest Spoleto, My teachers have always been Barbara Frittoli and Natale de Carolis ... they are the ones I have formed from the point of view vocal and musical, and I will always be grateful to them not only for what they have taught me, but also for everything you have given me ... and for your generosity ... In short, Love is a priceless ...

B.C: Is it true that played volleyball?

F.S: Yes, It is very true! (laughs) I played for ten years and had grandísimos volleyball ... volleyball coaches has been a key element in my life, because I really forged the character ... I learned to never give up ... I learned to fight hard to reach the goal ... and every time I've fallen, I learned to get up again ... I learned what it means teamwork, because often they forget many colleagues in the theater to opera is a team effort ... And if I can help or cause it to taste my colleague, and therefore my colleague shine more ... automatically, I will shine by reflected light ... so, I do not believe in the war between colleagues ... and volleyball has taught me precisely this: "If all of us shine, the light will be much stronger and will therefore be a positive thing for everyone, "... and I strongly believe in this principle ... and I'll be a little crazy but for me, definitely, so ...

B.C: What it is the hardest thing to be an opera singer? Maybe, reconcile family and work with a profession like yours?

F.S: Good, the truth is that there are many difficult things when it is obviously opera singer ..., the first, is being away from home for many months ... and know how to manage his own solitude ... try to get along with everyone though there are times when you do not feel like ... well I manage my loneliness but, obviously, having two kids bothers me a long time to be away from home, though, Fortunately we have FaceTime, WhatsApp, and all those things (laughs) and we may be always present ... But it's not easy to organize everything and make everything work well… but with a little intelligence and obviously with the cooperation and support of all, Can be done…

B.C: What are your future engagements?

F.S: For my future commitments are the debut of Anna Bolenna in Vilnius, at the National Opera of Lithuania very special ... a debut that is for me, and I will make with the master Sesto Quatrini in the production of the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome Andrea Rosa, with whom I already worked in Salzburg The unexpected marriage with maestro Muti ... I will also Turandot in Bari with the teacher ... And Bisanti, Besides, I expect a much anticipated debut and important ... sing Donna Anna Don Giovanni Battistoni's teacher in Tokyo ...