Read on to find out the Concert Heaven and Concert Hell performances of soprano Sabine Devieilhe...
Concert Heaven
R Strauss Der Rosenkavalier
Sabine Devieilhe (soprano) et al; Teatro alla Scala Orchestra/Kirill Petrenko
La Scala, Milan (October 2024)
This is a performance I did just a while ago at La Scala in Milan; I was singing Sophie in Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier. For this performance I had the best team I could ever dream of. My Octavian was Kate Lindsey, a beautiful person and artist – we became really close during the rehearsals and performances. My Marschallin was Krassimira Stoyanova, who I have known for quite a long time – she’s a monumental soprano, so I have the biggest admiration for her – and the maestro was Kirill Petrenko.
We did seven shows with quite a lot of rehearsal, so we had time to work. The orchestra was all about connecting with the maestro, which was very special. To have a group trusting a conductor is not always the case, especially with big orchestras – we sometimes feel the tensions and the difference of direction that an orchestra and conductor would like to take. But it all flowed together.
Something magical was happening...
I was happy with my role and with my colleagues and I was in Milan with my kids. Everything was fluid and I was content; I was not missing anything – I was living the life of a working mum.
For anyone who knows Rosenkavalier, the Terzet at the very end of the piece is where everything comes together and Marschallin gives Octavian her freedom. It’s very lyrical and ethereal music, and Kirill Petrenko was so involved in the music that something magical was happening. Time seemed to stop and go at the same time, with the audience so connected. And when Marschallin starts to sing, I wasn’t facing the audience; I was looking to the corner and so could close my eyes, because I was not singing. I stood there thinking, ‘I am so lucky,’ and enjoying every little portamento Krassimira was doing; it was quite something.
Sabine Devieilhe... Concert Hell
R Strauss Der Rosenkavalier
Sabine Devieilhe (soprano) et al; Zurich Philharmonia/Fabio Luisi
Zurich Opera (Zurich 2019)
Der Rosenkavalier is a very hard piece to learn as a soprano, especially the role of Sophie. I’m not a fluid German speaker, so it’s a big stretch because Sophie is very chatty! My first Sophie was in Zurich. I was properly into the rehearsal process, which was way quicker than in Milan, and I got the flu.
It wasn’t a little cold; it was a 40-degree fever. I had two days off between the dress rehearsal and the opening night, and in these two days I was on my own thinking, ‘When do I have to decide if I will not be able to sing?’ My voice was okay but I couldn’t get out of bed. I made the decision to call the opera house, which was a very tricky moment for me. They decided to call someone to step in, but because the opening night was the next day they told me they’d still need me to do the staging while someone sings in the pit. It happens a lot when they don’t have a proper cover that knows the staging, but it was the first time for me.
'I was sweating, the make-up was running'
On the day I was still in bed, but I had to get to the make-up call; I took paracetamol and left the house covered in scarves and a mask. I arrived and everyone was so supportive, which makes it difficult to call it ‘hell’. I met my singing Sophie, who was my friend Siobhan Stagg, a beautiful Australian soprano. There was frustration, of course, but I also felt like I was failing. I had learned the part in a very short time, was so organised and then my body decided, ‘No, it’s not happening’. To step on stage but have no voice was so strange. I was sweating, the make-up was running and in between every stage appearance I had to lay on a bed that my dresser had set up in my dressing room.
Sabine Devieilhe appears on a new recording of Stravinsky’s ‘Le Rossignol’ out on 14 Feb on Warner Classics