Gustavo Porta returns to the Teatro Colón

17 years after his last performance at Colon Theater (when he stars The lobsters at the first crocodile of Verdi under the direction of Richard Bonynge), the Argentine tenor Gustavo Porta, based for 23 years in Italy, returned to that theater. A concert awaits you this Saturday entirely dedicated to arias and scenes from puccini where she will share the stage with Slovenian soprano Rebeka Lokar (present in Argentina for producing Nabucco), the Stable Orchestra and expert director Mario Perusso.

Born in Carrilobo, in the province of Córdoba (cradle of some of Argentina’s greatest tenors), Porta toured the most important stages in Italy and Europe, and after this period in his country he will travel to Auckland, where more the promise awaits him. labor. Today he lives in the town of Roverbella, between Mantua and Verona: according to his origin, he must be surrounded by nature.

A Pavarotti cassette

Porta had an unusual beginning with lyrical singing. When he was a teenager, the director of the Las Varillas library, who heard him sing national anthems at school events, suggested that he sing two or three Neapolitan canzonetta for the annual community party. For him to learn them, he gave her a cassette of Luciano Pavarotti which caused him to discover a new world.

“I was amazed that I could be a voice. I sang them, and the Rotary Club of that city gave me a scholarship to study first in Las Varillas and then at the Instituto Superior de Arte del Teatro Colón,” he said. “When they asked me what opera I liked I answered or just meI don’t know anything else. “

After working in the field and as a mechanical turner technician until the age of 22, Porta was encouraged (encouraged by his teacher Teresa Landin, by the great Cordovan tenor Luis Lima and later by his teachers from the Instituto del Colón) to start with a lyrical tour. At the age of 23, he made his Colón debut in the role of Monostatos in a memorable version for the boys of The magical Flute and later The excitement of love.

Just under 30 years old, Porta took a step away and was persuaded to try his luck in Europe. “I gave myself two or three years: if nothing happened I would come back. I was lucky to find an agent, and have the support of my current wife (the Argentine soprano Cecilia Lapponi), who is almost half me , because this career is very difficult. There I met many teachers: Giorgio Morandi, Daniel Oren, Zubin Mehta, Renato Palumbo, Gianni Raimondi, and I just received help, I was very lucky “, he said.

To say no

-How did you become dramatic tenor from light tenor?

-In my beginnings in Europe I said a lot that not the first three or four years, because this career was done more by saying no than yes to roles, but then unfortunately you have to eat. My first opera in Italy was Carmenand in Germany I debuted at and the Sicilian vesprilater Manon Lescaut, Bohemian, Butterfly. Since then I’ve picked a few things and others have taken me.

The voice has matured over the years. There was talk of dramatic repertoire, of spinto lyrical repertoire, but everyone had to sing as bel canto. Then, each has its own characteristic of the voice, but the most important thing is the word, we have to tell the story through the voice, which is another instrument.

-What is the key to the Puccinian style?

-The key is the word, the colors. Puccini left everything written: just read the score of a Puccini opera and the régie is done. No two sizes are the same in Puccini, and since every singer is different, you have to follow the feel. Verdi is more aristocratic. Puccini is pure heart, it is pure feeling, it is current. The interpretation here is always different, every day there is a new discovery.

My teacher Eduardo Ferracani told me: “Under a mark page there are ten meters to be discovered, and a life will not last you”. These composers were so great that in their simplicity they left something tremendous. Mehta told me: “When you need to look for something, don’t think too much: try to look, because it is already written”.

-Puccini’s orchestration is very thick at times and there is a danger that the orchestra will overwhelm the singer. How will you handle that challenge?

-As Alfredo Kraus used to say: “They are 70, we are one, with two vocal cords”. So always try to sing sul fiato. We were fortunate to sing in this wonderful room and that the voice which was well discharged and sul fiato, passed the orchestra, and we should not be tempted to give a little more, for we were immediately out of style.

-Since you came to Italy until recent years, many things have changed. Which changed for the better and which changed for the worse?

-Preparation times. Agents often check if our flight coincides between the end of the show and the start of another from another production, and that is not healthy, because our rest time is no longer respected, because now we are a number , we sing. , but when not, bye, there’s another coming.

Theaters are planning rehearsals with minimal time. I always like to arrive on the first day of rehearsal, I don’t like to be late, kasi hindi maganda yun, not only for my colleagues but also because if you don’t make a well-knit team, it is impossible to go on stage.

Social networks attack you with information about singers, but the theater is the only place that gives you the truth of what that artist is. Theater directors and orchestra directors have a great deal of weight in choosing singers. Many times we do the musical rehearsal in a room with the director and we put everything the composer says vocally.

When we accompany the performance, sometimes we have to sing while hanging from the tree or on the floor, and if someone already knows what is being said and has to do the opposite, it is no longer sincere, because what is seen is completely out of stage. Now everything is harder.

POS