Interview with Eleni Voudouraki, Chorus Member of the Greek National Opera, Opera Mezzo-Soprano by Sofia Papaspiliopoulou

 

From the important stages of Europe and the Greek National Opera, mezzo-soprano, Ms. Eleni Voudouraki, with international studies and an acclaimed career in the world of opera, shares with us moments from her life and artistic journey that have shaped her personality.

If we were to travel into your past for a moment, could you think of a moment, possibly a decision or an encounter that defined you as a person?

What I could say has defined me as a person is not a moment, but my constant and in-depth involvement with music which never stops evolving and therefore redefining myself.

 

 

 

 

 

You have been involved with music and especially with singing since a very young age. Was there something that inspired or pushed you to this choice?

I started playing the piano at a very young age. I had a natural ability to transfer directly to a small piano that my grandmother had given me as a gift any melody I heard. So, by default, I developed a huge desire to cultivate this skill through conservatory training, so I persistently pursued it. My interest in singing came much later since we always sang as a family at home. Singing gave us a lot of joy and we expressed ourselves through it. So it was something that came naturally, not as a need for professional rehabilitation. I hadn’t even considered it as a possibility.

 

You have studied and attended refinement seminars abroad. At the same time in your artistic career you have had many important collaborations. Which ones are etched in your memory?

I always remember the collaborations with accomplished people whose common characteristics in all of them were their simplicity of greatness and dignity, their source but hard-working talent and their immense love for music. Deeply etched in my memory is my association with all the performers at Glyndebourne Opera House, the so-called ‘Covent Garden Summer’. Before I was well into my thirties I found myself in a well-tuned organisation almost in the middle of nowhere, in a medieval village (Lewes) outside Brighton, in the classic English countryside. In a veritable oasis we were living in absolute bliss, studying and setting the scene for G. Rossini’s opera Cinderella. There I found myself as the leading lady in a perfect combination of high quality human musical potential and environmental conditions that were in perfect harmony. I can safely say that I was “living the dream…”

 

The poet Yannis Ritsos has written: “We do not sing to stand out from the world, my brother. We sing to unite the world.” How do you experience this connection with the audience?

It’s a unique connection with the audience when it’s sincere, because what connects us is the common language of music. Music becomes our language of communication!

We are all simultaneously living a common experience which has to do with a deep feeling that “speaks” individually to each of us and unites us.

We can feel something different and this is what enchants us in music.

” This relationship with the audience is unique

when it is sincere,

because what connects us

is the common language of music.”

 

 

Your repertoire is characterized by a variety of musical genres. You have performed operas, operettas, oratorios, pieces of jazz and Greek art song and the list goes on… What human aspects do you think each genre covers?

I don’t think that different musical genres cover a different human side. What I definitely understand is that a simple song like what we call “pop”, so to speak, cannot “speak” to very deep parts of the soul. In addition to the emotional connection, music also creates an intellectual connection with people. It is a foreign language with many aspects that we must get to know either by learning it or by choosing to become familiar with its world. Music is not one. There is “good” and “bad” symphonic music, “good” and “bad” popular music, “good” and “bad” rebetika. It is generally not one kind of music either good or bad. The intellectual, therefore, the spiritual element plays a very large role in the arts in general. It is not enough just to have an emotional approach to music.

 

 

What are the demands of opera and which aspect of it fascinates you the most?

Works in opera are timeless because they are so important that no matter how many times you perform them you don’t have time to discover everything they really “say”. In this sense, opera for me will never “die”. As a genre it has the greatest and most difficult demands, as perfect technique, constant study and keeping in good physical condition are essential.

 

Therefore, a constant alertness both mentally and physically is needed for the technical and long demands of the role, whether it is a leading, secondary or choral role. The whole process of preparation is magical. It is not easy to stage an opera because each cast member does not work as a unit. It is a cog, a part of an organized production in which everyone puts their own soul and expertise. This makes us professionals who, in order to achieve a perfect result, need each other so that we can deliver what we have worked for hours, months or years on our own. It is undoubtedly a ‘team sport’.

 

 

Have you ever taken a trip that changed your life or possibly helped you clarify your identity?

I love to travel and it’s something I’ve carried probably unconsciously since I was a little girl. My father as a captain used to take us brilliantly to the different places he visited. Through his tales my sister and I travelled the world, learned about different cultures, and came to love travel as a way of discovering life or an alternative school that opens the horizons of the mind and pushes away any stereotypes. It was the most fun game that through exploring the cultures of each place helped us to grow and develop. It made us understand that all people in the world are the same, regardless of race, colour, nationality and religion: we experience joy, sadness, problems and difficulties in the same way. So I loved travelling and I appreciate every moment that this particular profession, which chose me, gave me so many moments of happiness in as many different places as it took me…