(Credit: Victor Santiago)

This past week, Francesco Meli made his role debut as “Otello” in Verdi’s masterpiece.

It marked his 18th Verdi role and a return to the Venice house where has sung many of those Verdi works. But in the run-up to the premiere of the opera, Meli’s comments in an interview with Il Giornale became the center of the story. In the interview, Meli spoke about his disagreement with director Fabio Ceresa in not emphasizing Otello’s race and did not agree with being a white Otello.

Following his comments in the interview, Meli spoke with OperaWire about his interpretation of Otello, his comments in Il Giornale, adapting to the audiences, and his concept of how to interpret Otello.

OperaWire: You recently made your debut as “Otello” in a new production at the Teatro LA Fenice. Why was it the right time to take on this role?

Francesco Meli: I chose to make my debut with “Otello” at La Fenice because it was the right moment: I am 44-years-old and after so many Verdi roles and so much experience in this repertoire, it seemed to me that it was the perfect time to do it, moreover, to sing in a theatre where I have many friends, where I can feel at ease, it was the ideal situation… Then there is an anecdote: when I debuted “Il Trovatore” 13 years ago, which was at the time a change of repertoire, I did it at La Fenice and so it seemed a good omen to choose La Fenice again for a new debut, so particular and crucial in my career.

OW: “Otello” is one of the most difficult parts of the repertoire. What are the most difficult aspects of this work and how does it compare to other Verdi works that you sing or sang in the past? Dramatically what do you find challenging?

FM: Otello is a demanding role and among the most difficult of Verdi’s production and perhaps of the entire production for a tenor singing this type of repertoire. From a dramatic and dramaturgical point of view, the commitment is to dig into the character, who is usually mainly characterized by jealousy, in fact, he is said to be jealous like Otello, and by that somewhat brutal and violent side that is attributed to him. In reality, Othello is a man of great balance, I know it may seem out of place now to say this, but he is a man of firm principles, he is an upright, loyal man, a man who has a very deep psyche and soul. It is precisely for this reason that Othello is so struck, and at a certain moment actually blinded, by what is happening to him, that is, by Desdemona and Cassio’s betrayal: It is as if his world collapses, it is not just a physical, bodily betrayal, but a betrayal of loyalty, for him a supreme good.  This is where the difficulty of interpreting Othello is mainly concentrated.

OW: You recently spoke with Il Giornale and said that for this production it would be a white Otello because that was what the director had chosen. However, you said you did not agree with that choice. What did you mean by that?

FM: The Othello I did in Venice was not a colored Othello but was white. Therefore I was not wearing make-up and my face was not dark. Yes, I made a statement in Il Giornale in which I said that I did not agree. I disagreed because I think that having drawn a black Othello is an absolutely modern way that Verdi and long before him Shakespeare used to give an anti-racist message. In fact, Otello, despite himself, as written in the libretto, experiences the prejudices of the world around him. This is profoundly important, and so to deny this possibility to the character of Otello seemed to me to deny the possibility to myself, Francesco Meli, to be in turn the bearer of an anti-racist message, in this precise historical moment for Europe.

OW: In the interview, you also spoke about opera losing the connotations of its identity and also alluding to “Swan Lake” and the suspension of disbelief. Do you think that when portraying a character, you need to look a specific way or can the audience just suspend their disbelief and believe what is going on on stage?

FM: I believe that when you go to the theatre you go to experience a situation that in the real world might not exist or a situation that in the real world is difficult to talk about. In fact, opera for centuries has experienced the harassment of the censors who did not consider it appropriate for the topics that were being dealt with. Today, perhaps the opera world has the possibility of not being afraid to show or hear uncomfortable situations on stage, without taboos and without fear of offending anyone, because the intention is absolutely not to offend, but rather, as in the case of Othello, to overcome prejudices.

OW: Over the past years there has been a lot of talk about “blackface” and most companies have now done away with it. “Otello” and “Aida” are at the center of this conversation and it is a practice that is offensive. In 2022 Arena di Verona had a public scandal that was criticized worldwide. Obviously, the race of these characters is vital to the plot of the story as you noted. What are ways you think that we can present these works in a modern context without offending and still doing justice to the story? Isn’t the music the most important thing in the end?

FM: Yes, there was a whole scandal at the Arena di Verona and I was in Verona when it happened. I understand and respect the reasons of those who resent it, but I also understand the reasons of those who have managed a theatre for a long time and know the sensitivity and needs of their audience. At the bottom of it all, I believe that a civil and peaceful confrontation on ethical issues is always useful. How to stage a work without offending anyone, and at the same time without betraying what is written in it, without betraying the message that the author wanted to bring is a very difficult job, especially in these times when there are different sensitivities from of the audience, even geographically diversified. Today the situation is much more diverse than it used to be, fortunately, so one person may feel more offended or called into question than another. I believe that respecting the relationships between the characters, not altering the story, and respecting the music is certainly an antidote to staging a performance that conveys what the author wanted to convey, and this even without having to color in black a white singer’s face, because if this is perceived as an insult, in certain geographical locations, then it is right that it should not be so.

OW: How does the new production by Fabio Ceresa speak to Otello’s outsider perspective and to Otello being an outsider?

FM: Fabio Ceresa’s direction is one that wanted to dwell on the human side of all the characters and therefore made Othello the man he is, beyond the color of his skin and his ethnicity. A steadfast man, a loyal man, a man with principles that go above all else, and for this reason when they are violated there are serious repercussions, so it is not by chance that Otello sticks to his supreme laws and wants to punish both Cassio and Desdemona in the same way. Then Cassio does not die just because Rodrigo does not kill him, but Desdemona will instead be punished in the way Otello considers the fairest. This is not to say that he is right, indeed violence is always a terrifying act and one to be condemned, but within this play, one should focus on what Otello believes has been violated and betrayed, not just on the effect Otello’s actions have had.

I think it is important to emphasize that for Otello loyalty is the highest good, and loyalty has been wounded and killed by two very important people in his life, and the world collapses upon him. This is a bit of the meaning of what this production wants to highlight: in the end, Otello is a man defeated by himself, because in the name of a loyalty that he believed to be wounded, he behaves disloyally and therefore there is a boomerang effect and his life, his world, no longer makes sense.

OW: What have you learned from working on this production and what will you take away from this experience?

FM: From this production, I learned, and this had never happened to me before, that there are dynamics, social and personal, that you have to pay attention to when staging a play and also when declaring the way you stage a play. It is a lesson I will keep very seriously within me, a valuable lesson, and I think it is the right one. An opera like “Otello,” even from this point of view, succeeds in teaching those in the audience but also those on stage how much delicacy and how much respect it takes when dealing with people’s feelings and sensibilities.

OW: Is Otello a role you will continue in the next years?

FM: Otello is a role I will continue to play because it is a role I deeply love and have been preparing for a long time, a role that has always been alive in my head, like a goal to be reached. So I hope to have the opportunity in the coming years to play it again, and I hope it will continue to teach me something, as it did this time.