Artist in Depth: Natalie Dessay

[Amfortas]

On a similar note, I think the percentage thing may be a little misleading anyway. Ideally, your acting furthers your singing, and your singing furthers your acting (though of course we've all seen instances where that wasn't the case). It may help Dessay to approach her roles with a particular emphasis in mind, but that doesn't necessarily mean there's such a sharp division in practice.

[Schigolch]

I fully agree with your opinion about the first incident, the nodule. If you force your instrument to sing outside its comfort zone ("on your capital"), and you do it often (of course nothing should happen if you just sung the odd evening something not appropriate), likely there are problems waiting for you in the near, or not-so-near, future.

But Ms. Dessay was not reallly happy with the repertoire of a light lyric coloratura voice, and she tried heavier roles, even if she was fantastic on her natural grounds.

This happen all the time, to many singers. Now, and in the past. It's just the nature of the beast.

[CountessAdele]

I wonder where rgz has been, I really miss his in depth posts!

[Almaviva]

I wonder where rgz has been, I really miss his in depth posts!

rgz has completely disappeared for a month. We may never know what happened to him, if he doesn't come back. It's very sad. We all miss him dearly. A big loss to Opera Lively. Fingers crossed that whatever is going on gets solved and he returns.

[rsmithor]

http://www.operatoday.com/content/20...roduction_.php

Opera Today
21 Feb 2012

Natalie Dessay

French soprano star Natalie Dessay has announced that she is taking a sabbatical from opera during 2015. She is unhappy with her current work at the Paris Opera, a production of Massenet’s opera “Manon,” and had conflicts with the stage director, French filmmaker Coline Serreau.

Natalie Dessay to go on sabbatical
By Frank Cadenhead

The production was roundly trashed by the critics.

On her 2015 agenda, she says in an interview in the newspaper Le Figaro, will be to learn Russian, study yoga and maybe study the art of clowns. She will sing a scheduled “I Puritani” where she will work with her friend, the director Laurent Pelly. At the age of 46, she finds nothing to interest her now in the opera repertory but expressed her continuing passion for musical theater. The opera world might get a pass after her year off.

“Objectively, it’s not opera which bothers me, but certain behavior which I can no longer stand: the lack of artistic integrity, the singers who don’t come to rehearsals and the directors in the hall who tolerate that” she complains.

Her recording of the early songs of Debussy is soon to be released and she is looking forward to finally doing Laurent Pelly’s staging of Donizetti’s “Daughter of the Regiment” in Paris as well as the scheduled “Tales of Hoffman” in Barcelona and San Francisco. There will also be Handel’s “Julius Caesar” in a production by David McVicar at the Metropolitan Opera.

Complete interview (in French)

Frank Cadenhead

[Almaviva]

Welcome to Opera Lively, rsmithor.
Yes, we've been talking about it. Natalie Dessay has granted us a face-to-face interview, scheduled to happen in the second week of April. We'll try to get more clarification from her on this issue.
@Countess Adele: rgz is back and will be resuming his Natalie Dessay series shortly. He'll be interviewing Ms. Dessay with me in April (we'll both travel to New York City to meet her there).

[Almaviva]

Yay! We have a complete Natalie Dessay In-Depth series. In the next few hours I'll be merging stuff and publishing this spectacular effort as one of Opera Lively's In-Depths, and when we meet Ms. Dessay in two and a half weeks, we'll make sure to let her and her people know that Opera Lively has this fabulous article on her career. Thank you rgz, this was simply excellent!