INTERVIEW: Opera star Bartoli says anxiety needed for performing

By Carola Frentzen Sep 21, 2010, 15:23 GMT

Vienna - Although acclaimed mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli has achieved almost everything there is to achieve in the world of classical music, she says she is still anxious ahead of every performance.

In an interview with the German Press Agency dpa this week, the 44-year-old Italian opera star said a certain dose of stage fright is important to her career.

She also talked about her forthcoming recording of arias and her future role as director of the Salzburg Whitsun Festival.

'No, stage fright never stops. One cannot and must not be calm before a performance,' she said. 'It helps if you are musically confident and accomplished in terms of technique. But there is always anxiety.'

But Bartoli seemed confident in taking on the challenge of succeeding conductor Riccardo Muti as artistic director of the Whitsun Festival, an annual offshoot of the prestigious Salzburg Festival.

'The festival's five days should simply be beautiful, full of music and interesting themes,' she said.

In her first year as director in 2012, Bartoli plans to feature Handel's opera Giulio Cesare, as well as the Italian chamber orchestra Giardino Armonico and conductor Giovanni Antonini. She also plans to perform in Salzburg.

But her fans won't have to wait for two years to hear her sing again. Her latest recording, titled Sospiri (Sighs), is to be released in early October.

'The album contains Haendel, Vivaldi, Mozart and Bellini, among others, and they are mainly slow, melancholy arias. That's how the title came about,' she explained.

Despite her reputation as a serious artist who is interested in historically accurate performance styles, Bartoli said she has no problem with the recent trend towards open-air concerts that offer popular classics hits.

'Today most children do not experience music education in their schools,' she said. 'If the outcome of such a mass event is that 30 per cent of the audience later goes to a concert hall, then this is a good thing.'