Q & A: Maria José Siri on Singing 200 Performances of ‘Aida’
By Francisco SalazarWhen Maria José Siri sings her performance of “Aida” on Sept. 10, the soprano will have completed 200 performances of the famed Verdi opera.
Since 2003, the role has been in Siri’s repertoire. She first sang it in Argentina and would go on to perform it at such major theaters as the Teatro alla Scala, Teatro Massimo, Arena di Verona, Staatsoper Stuttgart, Israeli Opera, the Palau de Les Arts in Valencia, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, the Semperoper Dresden, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, the Ópera de Las Palmas, and the Teatro Verdi in Salerno, among many others.
She has also worked on the opera with such conductors as Riccardo Muti, Daniel Oren, Zubin Mehta, Marco Armiliato, Daniel Barenboim, Andrea Battistoni, Gustavo Dudamel, Michele Mariotti, Christian Thielemann, and Omer Meir Wellber.
OperaWire had a chance to speak with Siri in anticipation of this milestone and experiences singing “Aida.”
OperaWire: What does Aida mean to you after so many years. How do you feel it has developed in your voice and how has the character developed for you?
Maria José Siri: Well, I debuted as Aida far too early. It was my third opera. I prepared it entirely on my own, and we had three performances with one day of rest in between. I even did the high E-flats because I thought they sounded good, without even knowing that Maria Callas did it in Mexico. I mean, it was really at the very beginning of my career, and it went very well. I have that video, and when I listen to the voice, on the one hand, I hear that the interpretation has evolved a great deal and that it is more refined in terms of the musicality, the colors, the dynamics, and everything that Verdi requires. But the heart of the voice—the pulp of the voice, the flesh of the voice, as we say—is the same. And that makes me very happy, because it means that my voice, after more than 20 years since I first sang it, has evolved but is still my true voice. I never wanted to be someone else. I never wanted to sing Aida as someone else would. Of course, I have my influences—my greatest reference for Aida is María Chiara—but I never wanted to imitate her or anyone else.
OW: The role of Aida is a very complex and difficult one that uses all of the soprano’s range and is extremely long and complicated. For you, what is the most challenging aspect of this role, and how have you managed it over the years? What has become easier to sing and what is something that, even now, you still feel you have to plan how you’re going to sing it or how you’re going to prepare for it mentally?
MJS: What I’ve learned over the years is that Aida is a long role. It’s a role that begins with a very aggressive, combative, powerful soprano aria, “Ritorna vincitor,” which people tend to take for granted, as if it were easy to sing.
OW: What does it feel like to celebrate the 200th performance of “Aida” in the town where you live and in Franco Zeffirelli’s legendary production?
MJS: Well, for me, Zeffirelli was, at a certain point, when I met him, a very important moment in my career. Because I actually met him through “Aida.” My first “Aida” in Italy was at La Scala with Zeffirelli and Lila De Nobili. It was a production from 1964 that they wanted to stage one last time at La Scala. It was also Daniel Barenboim’s debut; he had just taken over as musical director.
So, in that production, I didn’t actually see Zeffirelli because he was feuding with Barenboim. In an interview with the newspaper La Stampa, Barenboim said, “I’m going to debut at La Scala with old furniture.” Of course, Barenboim had wanted a new production.
So Zeffirelli didn’t show up. Later, I did work with him in Palermo, where I performed that same “Aida” production. And from there, a collaboration with him began on many operas.
He always had words of wisdom for me and gave me advice that I will carry with me for the rest of my life—from a visionary, from someone who made his mark in both film and opera. And with his beauty, his style—whether you like it or not, because we can all criticize and we can all have our opinions—I feel particularly fortunate that this happened to fall into place this way.
I had been doing the calculations for years, and this year it finally happened, in September. And I thought, “It’s happening with Zeffirelli.” Because it could have happened with Poda; I could have ended up doing it with Poda. And I thought, “This is like a gift.”
And to do it at the Arena, which is my favorite theater. I say that without hesitation. It’s where I love singing the most, even with all the difficulties, especially when the temperatures are high. Right now we’re dealing with 38–39 degrees Celsius, and tomorrow I have to sing “Nabucco,” wearing a coat that weighs 30 kilos. It’s not easy. But I love singing at the Arena, and for it to coincide with this was just incredible.
I kept thinking, “Let’s see when it falls,” because I was looking at my calendar, you know? And I thought, “It can’t be that it’s going to happen with Zeffirelli at the Arena.”
So, it’s a huge emotion, a major milestone. I’m still learning things, and I know I’ll continue learning things about the role, but by now, that role has a little bit of my own stamp on it.
It’s a role that is very much associated with me. Obviously, “Tosca” comes next, but it’s quite a long way behind in terms of the number of performances. Floria is coming along behind Aida—but Aida is running much faster.
OW: You are doing two different productions of “Aida” at the Arena di Verona, Zeffirelli’s and Poda’s. When you’re performing in two productions that are so extremely different, how do you adapt your interpretation of Aida? What do you change within yourself? How do you approach the role differently?
MJS: So, “Aida” in the Poda production is almost magical, more surreal, more lunar, and much more intimate. And the character of Aida in the Poda production is much more contained and restrained. The emotions are obviously expressed through the voice, but not through the body language. The emotions are conveyed by a group of young people who are always next to the soloists. They’re the ones who make the gestures and everything and we don’t move our arms or raise our hands to the sky. We’re almost like hybrids as characters. And it’s what happens around us that tells the story of the character, rather than the character itself. Vocally, nothing really changes and it doesn’t either in the orchestra. But obviously, when you change the body language, something changes in the voice too—the energy and even the intention. For example, there’s a part of the duet with Amneris where I have to make myself into a cross on the floor, and the stage is slanted, so everything is sliding down onto my neck and I’m thinking, “Oh my God, I have to turn around” It has its complications, but of course, it’s more peaceful.
OW: You have worked with so many amazing conductors in this work. Who are some of the memorable ones and what advice did they give you?
MJS: There are four who taught me the most, and I’m going to name them in chronological order, not in order of importance.
OW: You will sing one of your milestone Aidas with Jonas Kaufmann. What is it like singing with him?
MJS: Its an absolute pleasure. He’s a great musician and a very collaborative person on stage. It’s really wonderful to sing the duets with him because he truly sings piano, and it’s not easy to find tenors who actually sing piano. The final duet is a real pleasure because he does all the piano dynamics that are written in the score—and so do I. You don’t always have that good fortune, so I’m very happy to be able to sing with him again.
OW: What other role do you feel a strong connection besides Aida?
MJS: Well, I have to tell you that ever since I made my debut as Abigaille, it has been as close with me as Aida. They’re very different.
But it’s a role that is actually very well written, despite what people say. It’s difficult to sing but Aida is also difficult to sing well. Singing well is difficult. And by saying this, I’m not trying to boast about how well I sing.
My goal in life, ever since I started studying, has been to sing better and better. I study so that I can keep improving as a singer—not to be the best. I want to become better and better at being myself. And ever since I debuted the role in 2020, I realized that it was going to give me a tremendous number of tools for other roles. And that’s exactly what has happened, because it really is a role with a huge impact. It’s a villainous role, and I have so much fun being so evil. It requires me to have agility with the high notes and the low notes always fully present.
And then, once again, there’s this recitative, which is fantastic. She sings the high C, then there’s the low C, with the chest voice completely engaged, and then, ten seconds later, she goes on to sing the sweetest aria I could possibly imagine being written. Because “Anch’io dischiuso un giorno” is such a sweet aria—even sweeter than Odabella’s second aria, or the aria from “Ernani.”
It’s incredibly contrasting, and that’s what I do, because you can show another color, completely change your sound, and of course, it’s almost as if she’s crazy. She finishes singing this aria, and then the other character appears to tell her that we’re at war and that she has to take power, and then you get this cabaletta that—my God—is absolutely crazy.
So, when it came to singing Abigaille, I said no for many, many years. I didn’t accept the role. I waited until I had first sung Odabella and Norma before singing Abigaille. And I think I did it at exactly the right moment. Since then, I’ve been singing it quite a lot, and it’s a role that is truly giving me an enormous amount of satisfaction.
OW: The roles of Abigaille and Odabella are quite lyric in many places.
MJS: Of course, it’s just that things in opera are changing very quickly. I sing bel canto. The way I sing and the way I approach the music, and especially Verdi is bel canto. For me, Abigaille is pure bel canto. It’s written that way. So, the fact that in the tradition there have been sopranos who used to scream the role doesn’t help.
But what does help is that, back in the golden age, there were very few singers—not the number of singers we have today. So now there’s this whole range, this wide spectrum of singers, perhaps with voices that are lighter than what one might traditionally expect for roles like Norma, Abigaille, or Aida.
But since everything is evolving and growing, I think it has to be that way. It has to be open. The audience has to get used to experiencing different voices and different interpretations, rather than there being only one type of voice that can sing a particular role, and only in one particular way—whether by shouting or producing that kind of echoing sound.
That’s what I think. As an audience, we have so many more possibilities to hear different performers, and very different interpretations, in the same opera. And that makes opera richer.