Today begins a significant edition of the Schubertíada de Vilabertran as it celebrates its thirty years of existence, and it does so with an evening in the form of a recital by the German soprano Marlis Petersen (Canònica de Santa Maria, 8.30 p.m.).
The also extraordinary opera singer will be accompanied by the pianist Stephan Matthias Lademann, with whom she will bring to life the program Innnenwelten (Inner Worlds), based on songs by Strauss, Brahms, Fauré or Mahler, with which she invites the viewer to travel to its interior.
This lieder recital will be the first evening of a total of 22 musical events, which will end on August 28, and in which there will be no shortage of names faithful to the event such as the Quartet Casals, Christoph Prégardien or Matthias Gorne. This one will do it twice, participating in an evening-tribute to Jordi Roch, soul and factotum of the festival since its inception.
What do these Innerworlds that you will sing today in its premiere at the festival consist of?
If you look back at my work you will see that I have created three lieder programs. The first was called World, which mentions the human being and his relationship with nature. The second was called The other world, which refers to the creatures and spirits on the other side. And finally we have this Innerworld, which deals with our interiority, the movement of our soul, what we feel. Because not only do we have beautiful feelings, but we also have problems such as anguish or fear. It is like a journey through the human soul.
The trip has been divided into four parts on stage, right?
Yes, we perform the four or five themes of each of the parts, we leave the stage for half a minute, so that things settle in the spirit of the audience and then we return with new energy.
When did you put together this recital?
In 2020, just before covid, it was absolutely my initiative, I did all the research and the search for all these treasures of well-known and unknown composers.
And it premiered in…
I think in the spring of last year. And I always do it together with the pianist Lademann.
Why with him?
Because he is a musician with whom you can understand each other without the need for words. He can immediately read my breathing, my body language, and we also share the musical ideal right at the moment of creating it… and this is a wonderful thing between the pianist and the singer.
When you perform a work like this, a series of thought-provoking lieder and only with piano, what kind of reaction do you usually see among the audience?
It depends a lot on the country where you sing. There are extremely involved people who burst into tears after hearing the songs. The experience I have had in Spain, in Madrid last November, in this respect I would say is quite unique. Normally I speak a little before singing each one of the chapters or after a song, in a metaphysical and spiritual way, and in Spain it has been the only place where the public applauded right after. I was surprised but I also saw that they had understood the intention of my words, about the moment of crisis that we are going through as humanity and that music helps us a lot when dealing with these things.
In this sense, in which countries have you seen a more lively reaction with these recitals?
I answer the other way around: in Belgium I have not seen the slightest reaction to anything, but in the end there were people who told me that they liked it. In Germany, for its part, the public captures and values ??things much more with the brain, but in Greece, on the other hand, people start crying immediately. You learn a lot about characters and countries.
As an artist, where do you feel most comfortable? In these lied recitals or as one of the protagonists of an opera?
Both are fantastic moments, I can’t choose. The most personal and creative work is obviously to sing lieder and build a work on them, but in opera you have to enter the psychology of a woman and bring her to life on stage, and there is something very fascinating about that too.
When you bring a lied to life on stage, what comes first?
Let’s see… a program like the Schubertíada has a specific message and that and all the beauty of music make it my obligation to transmit it as best I can and in the most authentic way. I’m not looking for perfection in music and text, but truth and authenticity. And I also hope that in the end the public feels happy and has had a good time.
Changing the subject, how does it come to the ego to be considered one of the most talented artists in opera today?
My ego is completely melted into the acting role. My voice only exists for the psychology of the character of this or that particular opera. My ego completely disappears.
Next projects?
After participating last February in The Makropulos Case, by Janécek, at the Berlin Opera, this year I am going to do something very interesting, and that is that I am going to interpret my first roles in Wagner’s operas: I will do Lohengrin’s Elsa in Munich by the end of the year, and also Tanhäuser’s Elisabeth in Salzburg next fall.
Is one of your goals in your career to bring joy?
This is one of the parts. The other is that I want to bring awareness, that people are aware of themselves. When the public hears some of the songs, of the texts, I sing that they understand them. We all live in our particular crises, and that is why I look for people to be sincere, direct and honest with who they are.
