(Photo: Julian Hargreaves)

Over the last decade, Anna Pirozzi has established herself as the leading Italian dramatic soprano today, treading the most prestigious Italian and international stages.

Her many career highlights include: Maddalena di Coigny in “Andrea Chénier” at the San Francisco Opera and in Bilbao and Turin; the title role in “Turandot,” which she first performed in Israel under the baton of Zubin Mehta; Lucrezia Contarini in “I due Foscari” at Teatro alla Scala; Leonora in “Il Trovatore” at Royal Opera House and in Turin and Bologna; “La Gioconda” at Gran Teatre del Liceu; “Norma” at Teatro de Colon Buenos Aires and in Bilbao; “Aida” at Arena di Verona and Teatro Real Madrid; Santuzza “Cavalleria Rusticana” at Royal Opera House, Teatro San Carlo in Naples and Le Terme di Caracalla in Rome; “Luisa Miller” at Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa; Odabella “Atilla” at Teatro Real; “Manon Lescaut” in Liege; Queen Elizabeth in Donizetti’s “Roberto Devereux” at the Deutsche Oper Berlin; “Tosca” in Leipzig, Turin and Rome; Elvira in “Ernani” in Rome; Amelia in “Un ballo in maschera” in Parma and Turin; Leonora in “La forza del destino” in Piancenza and Modena; and Imogene “Il Pirata” at the Opera of Monte Carlo.

OperaWire: Buongiorno, Anna. Congratulations on your recent performance of Abigaille in “Nabucco,” for which you received favourable reviews. How was the production for you this time round?

Anna Pirozzi: Buongiorno and thank you! Physically, singing in the Arena is always very difficult, because of the huge scenery and staging – you always have the impression that the voice does not arrive to the public, so you risk to push it, but it is actually not necessary. You enter another state of mind when singing in Verona. Moreover, this was a challenging production as there were a lot of movements and choreographies to memorize. Then, I had to climb a large staircase and immediately  turn around and sing! Very tricky to produce a high phrase after running on the stairs. But I must say: it was worth it! It is a very impactful production.

OW: The role of Abigaille is a notoriously difficult role is it not?  And yet you effectively started your career with it. I believe it was your second ever performance. How how did you end up singing such a demanding role so early in your career?

AP: Well, yes – let’s say I was born with this role. Obviously, as the years go by, the voice changes, the body changes, and so now I have to face this role differently, but I know all the secrets, all the tricks to get to the end. I have sung this role more than 140 times in my career, I have discovered every escamotage, to come out of the difficult parts.

As regards the debut of this role, I believe that I was able to sing it so early on in my career because I had a maturity, that was physical and mental, which afforded me to really sing this role properly. And of course, also the technique and the fact that my voice was really adaptable to that kind of role. I also think that, maybe the fact of me not being so young, of course, was something that influenced a lot.

OW: I know you started singing professionally quite late, unusually so. Do you think that starting later has enabled you to maybe have greater longevity, that you may have a longer career than you might have had, had you started as a young girl?

AP: I’ve only had a career of 13 years so far. In my point of view, maybe starting later was a blessing. But I’m 50 years old now and it is at this age that the first problems for a woman can come. Physically and vocally things tend to change a bit; but I feel in great shape and I really find no problems in singing my repertoire: I want to go on whilst ever God gives me the voice and strength and health.

OW: Having spoken to a lot of sopranos and mezzo-sopranos, I’m learning that motherhood can also be sometimes problematic, that it can sometimes totally ruin the voice in some cases and in others actually enhance it. You were a mother before you started singing professionally, but did you notice any change or development in your voice after your children were born?

AP: It is such a paradox: motherhood is one of the most important things in life – even for singers – but after children the voice is the most important thing. So, to imagine losing it after having a child is a terrible fear for us singers.

In my case, both after the birth of my first daughter, my voice was wonderful, I felt really good. I started singing almost immediately. And even after the second child, after a month, I was already ready singing “Andrea Chenier:” I felt great. According to me, the important thing is that I sang until the seventh month, almost the eighth, so I kept exercising. This is very important: not to give up for too many months, because the muscles can relax immediately. If you don’t continue to train the voice, if you’re not on the stage and you relax the muscles too much, they get used to that and then you can hardly recover again. Maybe it’s also a bit of nature in my case, but I managed to get back into the chariot right away. My voice hasn’t changed, it’s matured, it’s darkened, I find that in the center now it has even more substance.

OW: I saw you two years ago in “Turandot” with maestro Pappano. I reviewed that occasion at the Royal Opera House, and it was the finest performance of “Turandot” I had heard. Maestro Pappano has a reputation for being a singer’s conductor. What are your recollections of that performance?

AP: For me, “Turandot,” with him…that production…it was fantastic, really beautiful! I can’t wait to do it again, in fact next year I will do it with maestro Daniel Oren. With maestro Pappano, it was a beautiful collaboration, I felt very grateful. We worked a lot on the colors; I’m very much into colors, and not doing the usual Turandot always ‘screaming’, but this is also with maestro Oren. He asks me for the sweetness in Turandot, but also to give vocal strength when you have to.

OW: What do you aspire to sing in the future?

AP: I think I have sung mostly everything that I can sing in the repertoire for my voice. But perhaps I would like to sing “Fedora,” a role I have never sung but I feel I could sing well.  I also would like to revisit some roles that I have already performed, like “Médée,” which I am in love with. Also “Norma,” “Adriana Lecouvreur” and “La Gioconda,” all the verismo that I feel good in at this moment. I have already debuted, of course, “La Fanciulla del West” but it’s something that I would like to sing again.

OW: I know you’re a big fan of Maria Callas. Who else played an important role in inspiring you in the early days?

AP:Oh…Renata Tebaldi, Aprile Milo. Ghena Dimitrova, Renata Scotto and Mirella Freni… But Callas, in particular…more than technique, the inspiration from Callas comes from her interpretations and her phrasing, which is unbelievably beautiful. Her musicality: she could do anything, even though technically she was really not as good as some – I believe she was not the best in vocal technique – but she had supreme talent! When you see this kind of phrasing, you don’t think about anything else. You just think about the musician.