“If you signed up, accept the challenge”

One of the sensations of the recent Salzburg Festival was the debut of 27-year-old Aigul Akhmetshina from Bashkiria as Romeo in a concert performance of Bellini’s Capuleti et Montecchi conducted by Marco Armigliato. Very soon, the singer will appear as Carmen in Bizet’s opera of the same name at the Bavarian State Opera, and in December she will perform in the same role at the Metropolitan Opera. About what the Salzburg ovation means for the singer and about the openness of “Carmen” for different interpretations Aigul Akhmetshina told Vladimir Dudin.

– You performed for the first time in Salzburg and immediately made your debut in the role – in the trouser part of Romeo. Were you satisfied?

– Yes, it was my long-awaited debut, but, to be honest, I’m not very pleased with myself, because I know that I could do better, perform everything more confidently and calmly. It is insanely difficult to sing bel canto, because you are standing naked in front of a huge hall – the orchestra does not cover you.

– But the reviews on the network for your performance are full of enthusiasm. Are you perhaps too self-critical?

— The fact is that I had to learn the part of Romeo in a somewhat stressful situation, in a short time, there was not enough time for preparation, besides, at the end of the season, fatigue accumulates, but I want to do everything with less stress. I was even on the verge of giving up, thinking that I could not sing everything well. There were big doubts, but I decided, once I promised, I forced myself.

– The audience didn’t book you?

– No, on the contrary, but I did not expect that after the very first aria they would shout “encore”. People are screaming, I look at the conductor Marco Armigliato, asking with my eyes: “Are we repeating” ?!” I inserted a third octave “D” into this aria as a variation, thinking that as long as I can sing high notes, as long as my voice is elastic, why not. Of course, I am extremely happy that I performed in Salzburg, that I was received so warmly. At the final bows, the audience stomped, clapped, squealed, shouted, whistled – I have never seen anything like this anywhere. After all, we have all heard about how demanding the public is in Salzburg.

– In your official biography there is already a huge list of performed parties. What other debuts have come this season?

– I have already completed my seventh season, in which I had three more very difficult debuts in the role. In the spring she made her debut as Elizabeth in Donizetti’s Mary Stuart in Amsterdam. Mary Stuart was sung by my beloved friend Kristina Mkhitaryan. The production was very good, it is a pity that it was not broadcast and recorded. It was one of the biggest Belkante games I’ve ever had. Charlotte made her second debut in Massenet’s Werther at Covent Garden, a part she had long dreamed of singing. My partners in it were five tenors, among them Juan Diego Flores and Jonas Kaufman, with whom I was very comfortable, he strongly supported me, as well as Antonio Pappano, who conducted the performances.

– You seem to be very lucky with the agent.

Yes, we have outlined very interesting plans for the next five years, but the upcoming season turned out to be the Carmen season in six different productions, I open and close the season with this opera. I would just like not to get tired of this party, to find something different and new. Of course, I am very comfortable singing the French repertoire. With Verdi, I’m holding my horses for the time being, it is undoubtedly possible to sing it now, but as long as the voice allows, one must stick to the high bel canto. Carmen is an actor’s opera, so you can play with it a lot, but you want to keep your voice in good shape. I feel my voice is changing, getting heavier. You need to be able to balance, somewhere to find lightness, and somewhere something more fundamentally mezzo.

— You started your great international career early. After which game did you feel real artistic freedom?

– I’m still afraid, but Carmen was just such a party when I sang a live broadcast in Covent Garden at the age of 21. No one then thought that I would have to urgently fly into the performance. But since I’ve been in this show from the very beginning, when this production was just released, and Mercedes sang, I was very familiar with the concept of director Barry Kosky, I had the opportunity to observe different singers.

Is that the scandalous Carmen with the monkey?

Yes, with a gorilla. There was a big risk in connection with the live broadcast, which was given without the usual protection tape in case of interference. I had only two days to prepare, there were no rehearsals with the orchestra. There was a rehearsal in a small room without scenery and even without partners, then everyone was insanely tired. And this setting is complicated, you need to clearly know your points in it, and the stairs there are dangerous. My input went like this – the assistant director said: “Imagine that this is a staircase, imagine that you are now running down, being at point three in position five, looking there.” And I met my Don Jose, who was sung by Brian Hymel, directly on stage.

“And how was the purpose of the gorilla explained to you?”

“And I took it easy. If people knew what the director really wanted to say, they probably would have reacted more loyally to such a decision, although it is still very provocative. He made it clear that Carmen played with everyone the way she wanted, as with dolls that she manipulated. Have you come to see the traditional Carmen, the passion-drama? Ah, no, no, no, I’ll only show you what I want. Barry Kosky said at rehearsals that he was inspired by the film “Blond Venus” with Marlene Dietrich, where there is a gorilla appearance and half-male-half-female costumes. Carmen is one of those operas in which interpretation is possible in different versions, with different ideas, from different sides, because it is multifaceted, and this will not spoil the brilliant music. For me, “Carmen” is still a little bit of a cabaret, and it was originally composed for the small theater “Opera Comic” with a small orchestra.

– On such a “Carmen” you received an inoculation of good modern directing, after which nothing is scary anymore?

– How to say, the question is ambiguous. I am very old-fashioned in my views on directing. To attract young people to the opera house, you should not stoop to dirt and depravity on stage. I would like the opera house to enlighten. But we are hostages of contracts, and if you have signed up, accept the challenge. That is my principle.

– Your appearance for Carmen is really very advantageous.

– Yes, yes, here they often wonder who I am and where I come from. There are many options. Some people think that I have a Japanese, Asian mix, others that I am Latino or Indian. Most often called a Kazakh. And I am a Bashkir. They still know something about the Tatars in Europe, but not about the Bashkirs, and I feel it my duty to enlighten the Europeans that there are a lot of different nationalities in Russia, I tell them about Bashkiria.