Javier Camarena, one of the greatest tenors in the world, still sings at the Colón

“I remember the meat empanadas, the chimichurri”, laughs Javier Camarena. one of the great stars of the opera sceneespecially bel canto, on his first visit to Argentina in 2017.

On that occasion, the Mexican made his debut on the stage of the Teatro Colón, a concert that “was, and continues to be, one of the best concerts I have given in my career. And what a pressure, to come back with that idea! ”, Assured the tenor Javier Camarena, with affable and flat manners, from Switzerland, where he spends with his family the days before his recital, on July 30, also at the Colón.

In a conversation via zoom, he talked about his expectations for the next presentation: “I expect a lot from myself for this concert. What happened on my debut at the Colón was very emotional. The audience has been the most welcoming, the warmest and the most grateful from the start. It was an almost magical and divine feeling to be at that concert. My wife accompanied me and it was very nice to share that moment with her ”.

The magic of Columbus

-Many singers refer to the magic that occurs with the particular acoustics of the Colón Theater. Could you try to describe what that magic is? I guess it has to do with the way the voice is projected, but I suspect there is more to it.

-Acoustics are wonderful. The one to start. All time good acoustics help the singer feel comfortable and safe. Because you listen to the projection of the voice and, above all, the most important thing, the ear also has a lot to do with it.

At the Teatro Colón one is on stage and you can really hear the voice moving in that spaceI feel that the voice travels and that the person in the back row up there will also listen to me.

Also, it’s not just that the sound gets there, but you hear the return. The presence of the voice can be felt throughout that space. That’s what happens at the Colón Theater and what makes it so special.

-He recently had COVID. How was your recovery? Was she afraid?

-Yes, I had COVID in this latest wave of latecomers (laughs). I let it be what it was meant to be. Yes, it weighed me down a bit having to cancel two functions from The magic Flute because it was a new role, and these functions are knowing it, developing it and improving it. And that process that was affected.

Eventually I deleted two functions and managed to do the last one. It wasn’t the best, I still feel some congestion, but the cough is already very light. I lost my smell and taste. The whole thing lasted two or three days. It’s ready. I have three doses of vaccines and now that I have passed the disease, there are a few more antibodies.

singers and athletes

-He made a very bold statement through his Instagram account when he referred to the injury he had had shortly before the pandemic and forced him to quit. It is a taboo subject among singers to talk about it, and the relationship she has established between high performance athletes and opera singers is very interesting. Why is it still stigmatizing to talk about injury?

– I had a minor injury. It was an inflammation of one of the capillaries in my right medulla. The point is that the opera singer is believed to be a titan, an entity that cannot be influenced by any circumstances, but which is not reality. All singers, to a greater or lesser extent, may face this type of problem one or more times.

That’s why I make that analogy with athletes. Why can a tennis player suffer an injury to the ankles or wrist, back or other? Because they are subjected to that extraordinary work of their body and we make extraordinary use of the voice. A tennis player is not an improvised athlete, he has worked hard to get the performance he has, as well as capacity, strength and endurance.

-And how did you solve your injury?

-Rest and rehabilitation. There it depends on the singer and his self-awareness that a minor injury, as happened to me, does not become a much larger injury.

And back to the analogy with athletes: if Usain Bolt had sprained his ankle, he would not have raced in the Olympics. What he will do is recover and rehabilitate, and then return to his profession. The same goes for a singer. You have to be smart enough to decide to quit..

– Do you think it happened with singers of other generations and was hidden? Or does the biggest question singers face today bring these problems?

-It always happened. But she doesn’t talk about it because she wanted to keep that image that the opera singer is destined to be a superhuman being. This is what prompted me to talk about these things, I think of the younger generations of singers who come with that idea, who have that obligation to sing every day, the obligation to sing of a state of health that does not favor them. .

-The pressure of being infallible …

-Of course. Federer also canceled the tournaments; or Nadal. We must be very aware and not forget that we are human beings. We also have the right to be people with a certain delicacy.

-And his experience has made it clear that you can stop, recover and continue.

-Yes, my injury dates back to two years ago. After that I did a lot of other things: Lucia Lamermour at the MET, The magic Flute… And the race continues.

Goodbye engineering, hello music

-Your family didn’t listen to classical music, how did opera come into your life?

– He said it was like a stroke of luck. I think it was something predestined, because I had been doing engineering for two years when I decided to pursue a musical career. Although before I had also wanted to study music and I started with the transverse flute, but I decided to devote myself to high school.

I was 19 when I finally decided I wanted to play piano or guitar, but age didn’t matter to me. So, I was given the chance to sing, because he was more flexible with age. He was in tune, sang in the church choir and also in rock bands.

Little by little I discovered the work. I have to say that classical music was something I brought from the factory. It was always something that fascinated me. I have been lucky enough to give many educational concerts in Xalapa, my hometown, with the Xalapa Symphony Orchestra.

– Did the orchestra go to your elementary school?

Yes. One of the first things I remember, I was 5, was Peter and the wolf by Prokofiev, with the Xalapa Symphony, e the narrator was Professor Jirafales, the character of Chavo del Ocho (Editor’s note: the actor Rubén Aguirre).

I also remember the concert that was done with the music of the films. Listen to a live orchestra play the march of the Empire of Star Wars or the theme of Indiana Jones it was very impressive. Really, it wasn’t much work to start with the opera or digest it. I was fascinated as soon as I got in touch with her.

The repertoire for Columbus

-How did the assembly think of the concert?

– Italian repertoire in the first part and French in the second, even if we close with Puccini and Bohemia. The idea was to find part of a related repertoire that could do both arias and duets. I think a fairly comprehensive program has been put togetherwith many very exciting parts that we will all enjoy.

It begins with Bellini and continues with Donizetti and Verdi. Part of the repertoire has to do with my upcoming debut in Monte Carlo, in March next year, with The Traviata by Verdi. It moves me a lot because it is an opera that I have wanted to sing for a long time, just like RigolettoI prepared it for a long time before singing it for the first time.

-Why did you choose Alyson Rosales and the pianist Ángel Rodríguez to accompany you in the concert?

-The prize I give when I am part of the jury of the competitions is that they sing with me in a concert. And the Chilean soprano Alyson Rosales won in one of the competitions. She is a very good soprano. Young singers accompanied me on several occasions, on different stages. I have always had a lot of enthusiasm in supporting young singers.

Y Ángel Rodríguez is my principal pianist, accompanies me everywhere in the world. We have been working together for eleven years.

-In which recording of yours can you say: “Here I am from head to toe”?

-This question is very complicated! (laughs). It is difficult because andIn all the recordings there are pieces of me, as well as in each of the presentations. One is leaving pieces of himself and his voice every night he appears. It’s very complicated, but … I can’t just say one: the song Goodbyeby María Grever, from my album Considering. That would be one.

The other, any version that you hear, of the thousand and one that there are on YouTube, of the air a month friends of the work La Fille du Regiment (The daughter of the regiment) by Donizetti. And also the recording of Edgardo’s last scene in Lucia of LammermoorI think it’s also on YouTube, at the Teatro Real in Madrid. Or even the last one I did at the MET.

And the album that is about to be released, I think in the autumn, with music by Donizetti. It is an album completely dedicated to his music, to his works. The vast majority little known. There I believe that in each of the works there is an important part of me, especially in Roberto Devereux.

Camarena explains what belcanto is

“If I had to explain to someone who does not know what belcanto is, I would say that it is not all opera, but only a period in the history of the genre in which – above any other period, style – he focused on make the voice the most important and predominant instrument in the workand the one who would always have the most beautiful melodies to show off the voice itself, “explains Camarena.

“I would go on to say that within this style, and many others, there is such a variety of themes and genres: there is comedy, tragedy – as well as films -, and that it would be worth it if I didn’t know the belcanto style, to listen to The Barber of Seville by Rossini; as an initiation elixir of love by Donizetti (I will do the show in August at the Teatro Colón); and listen the sleepwalker by Bellini “.

“Wanted the three main exponents to start with this style. And Verdi, above all, had a great influence on composers such as Rossini, Donizetti or Bellini. It is a chronological continuation of this operatic tradition of the Italian Belcanist composers “, concludes the tenor.

Information

The “Great Interpreters” cycle will be interpreted by Javier Camarena, with Alyson Rosales as guest soprano and with Ángel Rodríguez, at the piano. It will be at the Teatro Colón, Saturday 30 July, at 8pm.

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