
Q & A: Pianist Angel Rodriguez on Performing with Anna Netrebko for Palm Beach Opera
By Francisco SalazarOn Feb. 3, 2024, Anna Netrebko will make her return to the United States in a recital at the Palm Beach Opera. The highly anticipated concert will showcase the soprano in a variety of repertoire that she has performed to great acclaim.
At her side will be Angel Rodriguez, an acclaimed Cuban-Mexican pianist and composer based in Mexico. He has performed with notable singers such as Ramón Vargas, Rolando Villazón, and Javier Camarena, among others. He has also performed in Europe, Asia, and America.
In anticipation of the evening, OperaWire spoke to Rodriguez about his collaboration with the soprano and his experience as an accompanist in opera.
OperaWire: How long have you been working with Anna Netrebko?
Angel Rodriguez: My first encounter with Anna was in 2005, when she was singing the main role in the opera “Roméo et Juliette” by Gounod, at the Palacio de Bellas Artes, and I was one of the pianists in that production. Then, in 2015, they asked me to perform the piano rehearsal for a concert that she would offer with an orchestra in the same venue.
In 2022, Anna selected me to accompany her in our first recital, together with the tenor Yusif Eyvazov, at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. And, on this occasion. to participate in her return to the United States stage on February 3, 2025.
OW: What is it like to work with her? What is the difference between her and other artists?
AR: Sharing the stage with the great prima donna of the 21st century brings me close to my childhood since most of the music teachers in my native Cuba were great artists from the former Soviet Union, and I always related to folklore and the musical style linked to more than 200 ethnic groups, which has marked the opulence and melting pot of its vocal music.
Anna has that special musicality that makes everything flow without the need for a higher understanding. She approaches her musical times and breaks with such confidence, that it is as if she were accompanying herself. Most of the established artists I work with have it, but with Anna, there is a gift not only vocally, but also through her gaze and movements that lead you to flourish the best of the composer, and the best of your interpretive abilities.
OW: What will be performed on this recital in Palm Beach?
AR: It is going to be a beautiful recital, with lyrical music by composers that I love so much, such as Rimsky-Kórsakov and Tchaikovsky, and exquisite arias by Cilea, and Leoncavallo, among many more.
OW: Is this your first time playing in Palm Beach or have you done been there before? How do you feel playing with this company?
AR: In 1999, when Anton Guadagno was the musical and artistic director of the Palm Beach Opera, I had my first encounter with the company through my teacher Kamal Khan, to participate as a pianist in some opera productions, which ultimately did not work out; I was very young and had just settled in Mexico in 1995, but at least there were already intentions to collaborate with this famous opera house at some point.
OW: As an accompanist, what is the most complex thing? Musically, how can you develop your ideas of the music you are playing without intervening in the soloist’s performance?
AR: The opera accompanist pianist must have the instinctive ability to sound like you are singing, to sing what you are playing and to build the perfect atmosphere so that the soloist feels great companionship with his/her interpretation. The most complex thing about this profession is adapting your abilities to the expectations you have about how a composer should sound, and you are never satisfied; It is a chain tied to perfection that is rarely achieved. But there is something that saves you, if you achieve communication and magic.
Today it is much easier for artists to find a reference for how a piece should sound or how it sounded with different performers; This is how your creative work begins, of adding without hindering or removing without being lacking. In the end, we are analysts of a concept that comes from the lonely soul of an author, and we have to investigate from our lived experience, how to make them feel what they felt. Each role has its part, the singer takes the helm, and one is the ship that endures the storm, gives strength to the outpost, and protects and supports the guidance of its captain.
OW: From the program will do in Palm Beach, what piece or pieces do you like to play the most and why?
AR: The melodies of Russian composers, which from my perspective, draw the melancholy of an artist, the rise and decline of your humanity, the sadness of someone who emigrates in search of achieving a dream, the disdain of betrayal, the pain of love, and the hope of knowing that today is your life and your moment. Led by Netrebko, an artist who sings with great honesty and devotion to her songs, which I admire and respect with deep affection, it becomes an unrepeatable experience. It’s a real honor.