(Photo: Noah Shaye)

OperaWire: What was the first opera you saw?

Raffaele Pe: Rossini’s “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” in Parma, when I was 11.

OW: What was the last opera you appeared in?

RP: Vivaldi’s “Giustino” in Drottningholm, Stockholm.

OW: What role are you currently performing?

RP: Apollo in Mozart’s “Apollo et Hyacinthus” in Venice

OW: In which opera are you next scheduled to appear?

RP: Handel’s “Ottone” in Karlsruhe.

OW: What role have you played most often?

RP: Giulio Cesare.

OW: What is your favorite role?

RP: Nerone from Monteverdi’s “L’incoronazione di Poppea.”

OW: Which character that you have played on stage is most like you?

RP: Nerone

OW: Which character that you have met on stage have you most disliked?

RP: Amanzio from Vivaldi’s “Giustino”

OW: If you could invite three guests to dinner, at least one of which must be an opera character, who would they be?

RP: Norma, one of the nuns from Poulenc’s “Dialogues des Carmélites,” and the real Julius Cesar

OW: Which character would you most like to sing?

RP: Rossini’s Tancredi

OW: Who is your favorite opera composer?

RP: Verdi

OW: Name the person, from any walk of life, who has most influenced your career?

RP: John Eliot Gardiner

OW: What book are you reading at the moment?

RP: “Lessons by Stravinsky” which is a transcription of his lectures taken from when he was in the USA.

OW: Who is your favorite painter?

RP: Raffael, of course

OW: What is your favorite piece of non-opera music?

RP: John Adams’ soundtrack for the movie “I Am Love”

OW: In which theatre would you like to sing, but have not yet done so?

RP: The New York Met.

OW: If you hadn’t been an opera singer, what job would you have done?

RP: Something to do with drawing, maybe a designer

OW: What do you like most about your voice?

RP: Its presence

OW: If you could have a composer, alive or dead, write an opera for you, who would it be?

RP: Händel

OW: What do you dislike most about being an opera singer?

RP: Waiting. You are always waiting for something: the next rehearsal, the premiere, your entrance onto the stage. I am very impatient.

OW: What do you like most about your native country, Italy?

RP: Its style.