Sergey Kuzmin will play Alfredo Germont in Verdi's opera "La Traviata" on 5 May 2017. The young opera soloist is conquering successfully the most difficult tenor repertoire. He has already nailed the Ricardo part in "Un Ballo in Maschera" premiere and Beppo (Harlequin) in Leoncavallo's opera "Pagliacci", first time performed in April. Apart from that, Sergey is participating in opera performances at the Mikhailovsky theatre in St. - Petersburg. In his interview Sergey told about his professional skills and shared the stories of his private life.
- Sergey, how did end up an opera singer, when have you realized that it's your call?
- It happened that at the end of the ninth year of school I was suspended from classes and I had to finish my education somewhere else. At that time I played the guitar well, and was ready to enter the musical college. But they didn't take me, because I hadn't finished the musical school. I asked where could I go without finishing the musical school, they said the vocal department. Generally, I liked singing, but the singer is no musician. I decided to stay here for a year and then transfer to a different one. As you can see, I got stuck with that.
- Who is you opera tutor in your opinion?
- I'd like to mention Svetlana Nikolaevna Kravchenko, who was the first to believe in me, at the beginning of my artistic career. Later at the conservatory I was trained by Vladimir Nikolaevich Urbanovich and a concertmaster Elena Valerievna Ivaschenko, their influence make me stand out of the line. Later I was lucky enough to meet an Italian tutor Paolo de Napoli, who helped me develop my vocal technique and a taste for the opera sound. Also I should mention a famous American tenor Neil Shikoff, he helped me improve my voice.
- Who is your hero in the opera world?
- Every singer has one or more idols he's looking after. I found out that singers happen to hear a different voice in the head and they try to imitate it. To handle a part in an opera is to solve, to spell out the whole musical piece, to comprehend what the composer wanted to say, to sort out all the details. Some of these things can change under the scenic circumstances given by the director, and in addition to that, singing to the orchestra requires a different articulation. It's much easier to take after your idol. Like any other tenor I have my favorites: Nicolay Gedda, Benjamin Gigli, Tito Skipa. But I don't want to sing like they do, although I admire their work. You can only start developing your voice after you find out how it should sound, and then you can truly express your feelings.
- What is your inspiration in work and in personal life?
- In my professional life I find inspiration in all present things - my beloved wife and daughter, my family, friends, mountains, sauna, guitar, music, nice books, helping people - there's nothing better than to help somebody out.
My life inspires my singing, and my singing inspires my life. I get to know a lot of things about a person when I hear his singing. We bring to the stage everything what happens in our lives. The better you understood life, the more it affects your singing.
- The main asset of an opera singer is his voice. How difficult is it to match music and acting? Have you ever had an inner conflict while mastering the character?
- I get that a lot. I always want to put more in a character, give more emotions. But in opera you have to stick with a certain style, express everything through your voice. There are parts where you want to roll on the floor convulsing, and scream your lungs out, but you have to sing straight, keeping the sound nice.
I think a singer is a profession on the edge. You have to be a musician and an actor. But there are different cases. If a singer works exclusively in a cantata-oratorial style, then he is more a singer-musician. If it's operetta, musical comedy, or something similar, then he is a singer-actor. In an opera theatre you have to combine things. The time, where the singer and his voice were the main thing has passed. I'm not sure whether it's good or bad thing. But I don't like it when the modern stage direction tend to distract the audience from the singing. The directors find it boring, when a singer just sing. Sometimes you want to listen to the music only and to get the message exactly out of it.
As a good artist I always listen to what the director says. When I work, I keep my opinion to myself and just try to be a valuable asset. You must try to avoid conflicts, and do what the director tells you - this is the only way.
- How the performance is usually created? Who is the boss on the stage - a director, a conductor or a composer?
- Theatre is an organized chaos. The performance is created at many workshops, and all of them are very important. Each person must know his job and his task perfectly - this way you can put things together and make it in time. During the performance the audience watches the soloist, and he is the last responsible man for delivering the message through his singing and acting. People usually know the composer, but a certain opera can get really twisted nowadays. The conductor is responsible for the music, and he often decides how it should sound. The singer just follows. But there are conductors you like to follow. When I worked with Dmitry Yurovsky, I felt what it's like, when a conductor breathes with a singer. It's a pleasure to trust him and to follow him.
At this moment the main person is a director. You may argue, but it's the truth. I am an adventurous artist, I accept experiments, but a director must understand that a singer must sing apart from other things. Certain directors, It's hard to work with, but the performance comes out brilliant. And there's another type - very easy to work, but the result is boring and empty. The best thing is to combine work and pleasure and the director is a nice person and a professional. The recent premiere in NOVAT we made with Vyacheslav Starodubtsev. He is a singer himself and he understands where an artist is able to perform some action and where you should support him and let him sing. It's very nice to work with a director like this.
- What is your favorite opera part? What part do you want to perform?
- Russian theatres don't have much operas for a lyric voice these days. I haven't yet performed the parts I should have started with. Although recently I managed to sing Tamino in "The magic flute" and Almaviva in" Il barbiere di Siviglia". It would be nice to sing some Mozart opera, suitable for my voice. We miss French operas like "Faust", "Romeo and Juliet", "Werther", "Pearl Seekers".
Frankly speaking, I like singing opera much more than listening to it. Maybe it's because of perceiving it from within. It's hard to watch a performance as a part of an audience when you know how it all works including the vocal techniques, actor's and director's tasks, when you got used to experience a performance as a part of it. Each time, walking by a stage, I realize, that we do a real magic here. And it can be no other way. But it's hard to be a magician. To contemplate a miracle is much easier than to perform one.
- For you personally, singing is work or pleasure?
- Good question. I cannot say that singing is only fun. But it's not all about work also. It's a bit of both. There is a saying on the internet: "When you do something with no love and no skill - it's hackwork. When you do something with no love and some skill - it's job. When you do something with no skill and some love - it's hobby. When you do something with love and skill - it's art."
- How important is it for an opera soloist to obtain a worldwide recognition? Is it a symbol of his skill?
- I think it's worldwide recognition is important, but not because of fame - because of the level. The higher you get, the more interesting and more professional your work gets. There conductors, directors and singers that I dream to work with. And only being known worldwide I will be able to make it.
All Russian theatres work with their repertoire. Abroad, it's mostly the engagement scheme. It means that a theatre gathers all singers for one particular project and then they split. In this case each singer takes responsibility for his singing as for the goods, which may not be bought the next time in case of his failure. This pattern keeps an artist sharp. On the other hand, the repertoire theatres are good for young singers, it gives the opportunity to dig heels in the stage, if a performance is staged often enough. I have performed about thirty parts in five years that I've been working in Novosibirsk, most of the parts are the leading roles of the repertoire.
The question of professional skills always bothers the singer. There are world famous stars, whose talent is questionable, and at the same time there are hardly known performers, whose work I admire. Some artists have such a busy schedule, that they have to fly at night, sing during the day, and it goes on for weeks. These conditions are hardly bearable for this level. It may happen that a singer have to perform one and the same part for fifteen times a month, this also takes skill. I may ant it or not, but in a modern world, a singer hardly can say no. That will be his personal decision in this particular conditions. Before start judging, remember, these decisions are hard to make.
- You have a rich opera voice; do you sing popular songs and what is the difference of that sound?
- I sing the so-called Soviet pop. I love Martynov's, Obodzinsky's songs and especially Andrew Mironov's repertoire. Mironov inspires me in general. The problems mentioned in his repertoire bother me also.
Speaking of the differences of pop and opera sound - they are incomparable. You don't sing opera with a pop voice and vice versa. You have to choose wisely what you sing. Even in opera there are subgenres, that can have a bad effect on your voice. Switching genres is even worse. But there is a sense of taste; using that, you can perform a song with your voice, keeping it in style.
- As I know, your artistic life is quite busy. Where else do you perform?
- In Novosibirsk I work at Igor Zugov Novosibirsk State Wind Orchestra. There I get opportunities to step out of the opera box and just sing nice songs. At the concerts you are allowed to do whatever you sense, and I do it. I just love working in comedy; I'd love to have this possibility at the theatre.
Sometimes I sing at the Mariinsky theatre in St. - Petersburg. I became the first soloist of the Novosibirsk opera company to sing in Mariinsky, that's pleasing. I am very grateful to Vladimir Kekhman for this opportunity. I am very grateful to him in general. He loves his artists. A lot of things happened at the theatre after his nomination. This is an absolute sincere opinion of a man from within.
- What do you like to do in your private life - with your family, friends; what are your hobbies, interests?
- I love to spend time with my daughter, Polina; I like to stroll with her. I tell her - this is your time, we will go wherever you like. And we head into the snowbanks. She likes to direct things, to tell everyone where to stand, what to do, and what to say. If she starts a game, you have to follow her rules, otherwise things turn ugly. She loves to go for a walk and to talk to my wife. They never have enough chatting. She is also a singer. Some say, that it's too much to have two artists in the family; and I say, noone will understand an artist better than an another artist. What is more important than understanding each other?
It's a good question - does an artist have a life apart from his job? The schedule is really busy, and I want to learn how to divide personal life from work as much as possible.
Samurai is always ready to die. The path of death for a samurai means always remember of death, and live like you are already dead. I try to have the same attitude for the singing. I always remember that my voice in not everlasting and my career is temporal. But I have to accomplish as much as possible during this time.
Recorded by Olga Pavlenko, "Status" journal.