NEWS published on 17 May 2022

3 questions to mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča

Elīna Garanča, mezzo-soprano

World famous mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča was the guest soloist at this year's Berlin Philharmonic European Concert, which took place on 1 May at Liepāja's Great Amber Concert Hall, under the baton of Kirill Petrenko. In a programme which included works by Vasks, Silvestrov, Janáček and Sibelius, the Latvian singer performed Berio's Folks Songs for mezzo-soprano and orchestra. We asked her three questions.

Q: The European concert was supposed to be held in Odessa, Ukraine, but was then moved to your home country, Latvia, specifically to Liepāja. Knowing that, what were your thoughts when you entered the stage?

A: The first thing I felt was pride! Pride that I’m able to freely step onto the stage, open my mouth, breathe and sing. Such simple actions, but at the same time, the very same is unthinkable just a few hundred kilometres away. Events like the invasion and occupation of your own country, people seldom forgive and never forget, and I felt so proud and full of faith because we’ve together fought the Devil once and it can be done again. And then it was the urgency. There was this pressure in my chest to convey the message that independence and freedom must not be seen as a privilege for which people have to pick up a gun and give their lives for. Not anymore, not now, and not in Europe. The values that are true and real you can’t erase, bomb or pretend they don’t exist… they will always grow like fresh grass through the ruins.

For you, what power can music have in the difficult political context Europe and the world is facing right now?

I wouldn’t say that music can have a direct political influence in this or any other context. However, music can have a direct effect on people – music can motivate, stimulate, call to dance, to fight; it can excite you or help to release the sorrow. You can’t really use music as a direct tool to achieve something, but with music, you are able to unify almost any group of people. And in particular, this year’s Europakonzert was a powerful example of how we’re able to celebrate and call for human closeness, which is so needed.

On 6 June, you will perform the role of Dalila in Saint-Saëns's Samson and Dalila at London's Royal Opera House. How do you prepare for and relate to this role and to opera in general?

At this very moment, we’re still working on the general so-to-speak “geography” of the work. Together we’re exploring the visions and possibilities of the set and costumes, adapting to this frame and digging deeper into individual characters, their thinking and the emotional reasons behind their actions. Dalila truly is an emotionally complicated character. There are moments when I believe she truly loves Samson and there are other moments when everything else seems to be more important. I guess we all can somewhat relate to this “push and pull” and, in the end, to the chaos which becomes normality. Right now, I feel rather relaxed as I’ve already sung this role in several productions before, which gives me a much-appreciated nerve bumper and space to examine and further refine my portrayal of Dalila.

Music exchange offer

The European Concert, offered by RBB, is available in MUS under reference SM/2021/07/18/12.
The opera Samson and Dalila, offered by the BBC, is available in MUS under reference EURO/2021-2022/OL/008.

Contact detail

Monica Schütz
Community Manager
+41 22 717 20 19
schuetz@ebu.ch