Interview by Krzysztof Bonczyk about the debut at the Salzburg Festival with the parts of Figaro

polish bass Krzysztof Bonczyk, debuted at the Salzburg Festival with the part of Figaro, told Vladimir Dudin about the bright days of Salzburg rehearsals and the dark sides of the new version of Mozart’s masterpiece.

— You have come a long way to debut at the Salzburg Festival: from the Priest in Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District through the characters in the baroque operas of Cavalli and Handel to Masetto in Mozart’s Don Giovanni.

– Yes, in my thirteen seasons I have gone through a lot, but I also sang the part of Figaro more than once in different productions. Besides Baroque, there was also Verdi – in 2017, when I made my debut in Verdi’s Don Carlos at the Opera Bastille in a five-act French version directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski. It was a very serious debut for me – in the big theater, in a powerful star cast, which included Ekaterina Gubanova, Elina Garancha, Jonas Kaufman, Khibla Gerzmava, and Ildar Abdrazakov. From that moment on, I started working with Paris, where I have already performed in nine different productions, I will return there in 2025 to Puccini’s La bohème.

– That is, the baroque is over? Decided not to get stuck on it?

– Everything worked out well with the baroque, I sang a lot in France in compositions with Philippe Jaroussky, worked with Mark Minkowski. And I had enough. Now I am closer to romanticism, Italian bel canto, in which I feel very good, as well as in Russian music. Among other things, baroque pays worse – I’m not kidding.

– How tempting is it for the singer to work with director Varlikovsky?

– He is very interesting, I am interested in his interpretations, he has his own non-trivial approach to all productions. Here, in Salzburg, I was at his rehearsals of Macbeth with Hasmik Grigoryan and Vladislav Sulimsky. I first met Krzysztof at a production of Don Carlos in Paris, where he got booed, but I really liked the performance. He is a real artist with his own vision, absolutely dedicated to this work, he has a wonderful team of his own.

— The geography of your performances is impressive: from New York and Chicago to Moscow, where you made your debut at the Bolshoi Theater in Mozart’s Don Giovanni.

– Yes, you have no idea how glad I am that four months before February last year I managed to make my debut at the Bolshoi Theater as Leporello in Don Juan directed by Semyon Spivak.

– And how did you get to the “Marriage of Figaro” in Salzburg? Through auditions?

– No, the agent just called me and said that I was invited to Figaro in Salzburg, which, of course, I was very happy about. There is no more prestigious, better opera festival in the world than in Salzburg. At first, however, I felt depressed after this news – to sing Figaro, the main, “exemplary” Mozart role in Mozart’s homeland. But I love the stage: that’s probably why I quickly came to my senses. In addition, before learning this news from the agent, I took part in a kind of preparatory sessions with the conductor Raphael Pichon at the Vienna Musikverein, where I managed to work on the arias nicely. The Vienna Philharmonic, as they say, gave a light, it even seemed to me that they didn’t really listen to the conductor. And Pichon gave me a lot of valuable advice in my work on the Figaro game.

How were the rehearsals? I heard that everything is very well debugged.

– Yes, the whole process is perfectly debugged, there are no delays, the organization is brilliant. Everything started punctually, not like in Italy, where they appoint at ten, but until they come, get together, drink coffee, smoke a cigarette, tune in … In Salzburg, care for artists is very strong, it is incredible. Rehearsals weren’t stressful, like at the Metropolitan, where you feel like you’re on an exam.

— How was it working with Martin Kushey?

“I worked with him for the first time. He is a very interesting person, a powerful personality. It was interesting to watch how he changed from the first rehearsal to the general rehearsal, where it was like a completely different person in front of us: he started out as strong and full of energy, and seemed to be weakening day by day. But overall, I liked him a lot. Martin was always nice to the artists, but the technical staff often got it from him. Kushey is first and foremost a dramatic director, hence his attachment and utmost attention to the text, to every word that the singers had to express 100%. Often we heard: “Well, do something, offer something.” It was not always good, but somehow we managed to put together a performance, we, the singers, fulfilled our task exactly: we sang. And let Kushey answer for directing. In fact, there was a lot of improvisation, we, the soloists, offered a lot of ideas, and he only said whether he liked it or not.

– Especially since the young pros in this line-up probably had something to offer.

– Oh, yes, in our “Marriage of Figaro” dream composition, everything is so easy with him. André Chouin is an excellent Comte, Sabine Deveuille made her debut as Suzanne, Léa Desandre (Cherubino) is a genius. Raphael Pichon makes a lot of directorial accents, delicately builds the dynamics of the orchestral sound, making it quieter, “lengthening” it, knows how to interact more subtly and accurately with the continuo part in recitatives. I am very grateful to him for all his remarks, which expanded my understanding of Mozart’s style. He has, in addition to super energy, a very deep knowledge and understanding of music.

– Improvisation is improvisation, but it still had to be prepared in the slightest degree? Did the director give directions to your thoughts?

– He sat with the text all the time, understood the words, watched what emotions we filled them with. At least he knew exactly what this masterpiece of Mozart was about, not every director knows about it today, unfortunately.

– Where does the story take place?

– To be honest, I didn’t fully figure it out, our job is to sing well. Looks like a hotel? Well, yes, there is the apartment of the Count and Countess. At the end of the opera, there are some bushes, reeds – the libretto is about a garden. If you think about the costumes, then probably somewhere in Miami, because there are mafia showdowns related to drugs. It would be necessary, of course, to understand more carefully what is said in this direction, to read the criticism. After all, Kushey sent us a long letter before the start of rehearsals, in which he explained his requirements in detail, recommended watching Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut, Godard’s Mad Pierrot, Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty. And a week before my arrival in Salzburg, I received the news that the text of the libretto had been changed in several places. For example, Marcellina and Bartolo here are not Figaro’s parents. The audience was so shocked at the first two screenings, they booed the director.

– How much is Le nozze di Figaro a comic opera, in your opinion?

“Of course, if you believe the clavier, this is an opera buffa, but Figaro is not such a mockingbird as it seems at first glance, he seems to want to end this mess as soon as possible, to avoid a “crazy day”. In Kushey’s direction, this opera is definitely much less “buff”, as it seemed to me. Times aren’t very fun these days, I guess.