Interview with Fiorenza Cedolins

Opera in Cinema was fortunate enough to talk to Fiorenza Cedolins, star of the upcoming Gran Teatre del Liceu production of Il Trovatore, which will be broadcast live into select cinemas. The Italian soprano has captivated both audiences and critics around the world in roles ranging from Norma to Tosca. In this exclusive interview, Cedolins shared her goals, her passions, and even the roles she wishes she could play but never will—because they’re written for tenors!

OiC: What type of soprano are you? How would you describe your voice?

FC: I’m a “full lyric soprano,” which in France they call a “grand lyrique,” with an inclination towards the dramatic coloratura repertoire. But the roles I sing most often are the ones with long vocal lines and open vowels, such as Norma, Madama Butterfly, Tosca, Aida and Il Trovatore.

OiC: What is the history of the roles in your career, and which roles will you sing in the future (but haven’t done yet)?

FC: I have mostly focused on repertoire from the beginning of the 18^th century (like Norma, Maria Stuarda, Anna Bolena, Lucrezia Borgia) and then I began doing more Verismo repertoire—I recently debuted the role of Nedda in Pagliacci at the Zurich Opera—and then moved to the Romantic repertoire, like Verdi and Puccini. My career only took off twelve years ago, but I’ve already done something like 30 soprano roles, of which many were title roles. In the future, I will debut Maddalena in Andrea Chénier, La Traviata (which I’ve only sung once, when I was really young, at the Split Festival when I was still a nobody) and Anna Bolena. I’m also working on a project with a contemporary composer. This is very important to me because it’s crucial to never stop searching for new frontiers, and confronting new challenges.

OiC: What role would you like sing, but will never sing because it’s a role for a man?

FC: A funny and interesting question! I believe that, if I were a man, I would very gladly sing…Otello by Verdi or Calàf from Turandot by Puccini! I would choose them because if I had to be a man, I might as well be a very manly man!

OiC: What do you do when not singing and offstage during a performance?

FC: I’m in the dressing room; I always stay concentrated until the end of the opera, continuing to maintain a warm voice for when I make my next entrance on stage. But these moments don’t last very long because the roles I interpret are generally very packed, and literally, I’m often in every scene.

OiC: What do you love and what do you find challenging about being a singer?

FC: For me the music is everything, and it always has been, all my life. I started to sing when I was a little girl; I performed on “Zecchino d’oro,” a TV show from the time that was very famous, which featured kids singing. I can summarize my love of music in a single phrase, which I’d like to be my epitaph: “Music is the caress of Life.” The most difficult thing is…having a normal life! The music and the career take a lot and you won’t succeed in opera if you also want to do all the little things that other people do. It’s very difficult to have a family, to have kids. These are painful, necessary choices.

OiC: Have you already sung at Liceu?

FC: The Liceu is my second home. I debuted not too many years ago with Madam Butterfly and the public has since received me as a favorite, to the point that, at the second opera I sang there, Norma, there was such a warm reception that, after the last bows, the loggionisti (who are people that are hand-picked for their fantastic ears for music) launched thousands of little tickets into the air on which were printed my picture and stamped with the phrase, “To Barcelona a great love is born! Fiorenza returns soon!”

OiC: When you aren’t away singing, where do you live? What are your hobbies?

FC: I live, together with fiancé, in a villa between Milan and Pavia nel Parco del Ticino, a very tranquil place where I can completely relax. My great passions, other than my dedication to my fiancé, are my three cats and the small dog we adopted recently. I adore gardening, reading, I love to draw and paint. I also enjoy “women’s work”: knitting, embroidery, designing clothes and jewelry. I’m enthusiastic about every aspect of creative expression. I’ve also just accepted a big responsibility: I was nominated to be the Artistic Director of the Teatro della Fortuna di Fano, and this new job takes up all of my free time! But I consider it a great way to better myself professionally and culturally, beyond just artistically. I hope to help the city and the Teatro di Fano in encouraging a musical tradition that’s already very present.

Interview by Sonia de Beaufort, Opera in Cinema
For more information about Fiorenza Cedolins, visit her website http://www.fiorenzacedolins.it/