Interview/article by Cathy
Breslaw
www.cathybreslaw.com
vanguardculture.com
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Teodor Ilincai, Opera Singer
Teodor Ilincai is a
well-known tenor opera singer who makes his United States debut at San Diego
Opera’supcoming performance of
Madame Butterfly, opening Saturday April 16th. Currently working in Marseille, France made it difficult to schedule
a conversation, so I emailed Teodor questions about his life and work.
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Rather than re-invent his
words, I chose to present his answers the way he expressed them:
1)
Where are you
from?
I was born
in northern Romania in a small and charming town called Falticeni in Suceava
county,
a few miles
from Malini, the village where my mom is from and where I grew up and had an
amazing childhood.
2)
Tell me about
your family – Did you grow up in a family of professional performers?
I grew up in
a very large musical family. To be precise, I have 9 brothers and 3
sisters. Being the last child, makes me
the “13th”, my lucky number! They all sing for fun and play
instruments, too, in fact I took my first harmonica, guitar, and mandolin
lessons from some of my older brothers.
Later, I learned piano, some traditional flute, and saxophone. We used to sing in our Orthodox Church, so
step by step I got used to Byzantine music common among Greek Orthodox people -
but my family also had a choral tradition. One of my brothers is a cantor in
the church in my native village, and three other brothers studied Theology, two
of them being priests. I am the only
professional musician.
3)
How did you
get into singing opera? Who were your most important influences?
It was more
like an accident, in fact two accidents….The first came when I participated as
a contestant in a television show during my studies in Bucharest Conservatory
where I learned to dance, act and sing. Back then I liked to sing American
golden songs by Elvis Presley, Nat King Cole, Luther Vandross, Frank Sinatra,
Roy Orbison,
and Paul Anka. My favorite of all is Elvis Presley! A musical producer, Calin Marian,(may he rest
in peace), felt that I had ‘something special’ in my voice and asked me to try
some Neopolitan traditional songs. One song, “Time To Say Goodbye”,
familiarized by Andrea Bocelli, brought me first prize when I sang it, and
brought me a trip – surprise! – to Hollywood in 2003. The second “accident” was in my last year of
musical studies, when I needed money like other students – so I got a job in
the Bucharest Opera Choir. I felt I could sing better than some of the soloists
and here I am!
4)
What is your
educational background?
Between high
school and four years of studying oboe and music theory in Suceava Music
College, I studied
Philology (which deals with the structure, historical development,
and relationships of a language). Thisenriched my knowledge about the
world and improved my life as a human being.
Next I went to the
Conservatory in Bucharest where
I studied Musical Pedagogy and Byzantine music.
Let’s not forget my private voice lessons with my
beloved Maestro Corneliu Fanateanu, who unfortunately passed away last year.
I will try and share with the world everything he taught me about singing and
living.
5)
Since this is your
debut in the United States, where else have you performed and what kinds of
roles have you done thus far in your career?
I have performed at
the most important opera houses in Europe – in Vienna, London, Paris, Monte
Carlo,
Madrid, Barcelona,
Seville, Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Dresden, Lausanne, Marseille, Toulouse and
others.
At the beginning of
my career, I was a full lyric tenor, which allowed me to perform Alfredo in La
Traviata
by Verdi, Romeo from
Romeo and Juliet – Gounod, Faust in Faust by Gounod, roles which I don’t sing
anymore because my voice has changed significantly. The only role, that of Rodolfo from La Boheme
by Pucini, is one I will try and keep
in my repertoire as long as possible as it is one of my favorites. I recently debuted
as Mario Cavaradossi from Puccini’s Tosca and Turiddu from Cavalleria Rusticana
by Mascagni, roles in which I feel very comfortable and brought me great
satisfaction. The role of Pinkerton in Madame Butterfuly is one I enjoy as
well. In the next few years I will have
debuts as Verdi’s Don Carlo and Manrico from Il Trovatore. Another role close
to my heart is Lensky from Evgeni Onegin by Tchaikovsky, which is, in my
opinion, a role suitable for smooth-spinto voices(and not for a lyric tenor,
like most of the opera casting directors are used to choosing) because of the
intensity and drama of this unique character. I hope to have the chance to sing
it again sometime soon.
6) Are you involved in
any other kinds of performance other than opera? Acting? Musical groups?
I’ve
been singing religious Orthodox music all my life, but also jazz, soul, blues,
rock, pop-rock nad rock n’ roll. I was a
member of different choirs, whose approaches were from the Renaissance and
Romantic periods. I have also sung Negro Spirituals, Romanian traditional and
modern music. All those styles helped me to understand all kinds of music. Now
I sing all this for fun, for myself and for anyone who comes to visit my
apartment in Bucharest. Sometimes I go
to church and sing with pleasure the Byzantine music I grew up with and trained
for. As far as acting, I improve my
acting directly on the stage, having played many different characters and I
continue to learn so many things from the great directors I’ve worked with and
continue to work with.
7)
Tell me about your
singing training.
You
will discover my singing while attending my performances in Madame Butterfly. I
consider that I simply continue both Romanian and Italian singing traditions,
ancient, but very effective – singing that I personally think is the ingredient
that could save each and every opera singer in the world. I add some refinement, respect for the score,
personal feeling and a piece of Romanian ‘deep soul’ and here you have the
recipe!
8)
What are the most
difficult part of being an opera singer? What is the best part of performing
opera?Well,
let’s call it challenging, as my agent Alan Green likes to say: “Say its
challenging – not difficult, but if you say difficult you may block your brain.
“ The idea is to be balanced, to be conscious that we’re like athletes who need
to train and have a well-ordered life: eat healthy, sleep enough, but managing
to stay relaxed at the same time is challenging. Being away from home, travelling for long
periods of time, can be painful since I love my country, but it’s a sacrifice
all artists make. Also to make audiences happy is challenging – art is
subjective. The best part is that I am
doing what I love the most, and I receive appreciation.
9)
How have you been
training for Pinkerton? How long will you be rehearsing for this role?
I
started studying this role on my own while in Barcelona playing in La Boheme in
2013. It was challenging because Puccini wrote the music for orchestra in such
a powerful and dramatic way – you really need to be focused on giving your
best, both vocally and interpretative. Then, the role is passing through all
the registers of the voice – so its mandatory to have a strong technique and a
Puccinian voice to achieve all the subtleties he wanted. Another challenge is that you have to keep your
voice “alive”, warmed up until the third act, taking into account that
Pinkerton doesn’t sing in the second act. I think I manage to solve all these
challenges as I’ve played this role several times. I will rehearse in San Diego
for about 2 weeks – I believe this is plenty of time to make everyone happy!
10) How long will you be
in the U.S.? Will this production of Madame Butterfly be travelling to other
cities/countries?
I’ll be in the USA until the end of
April – I am happy to make my U.S. debut in San Diego, in such a great
city! I will be singing Pinkerton again
next season in two different productions, at Staatsoper Berlin and the Royal
Opera House in London.
11) Is there anything else you want your audiences to know about
you or this specific version ofMadame Butterfly?
I’m 100% sure this production will be a
success as I am a big fan of America and its accomplishments in acting,
directing, music, entertainment, and visual art and opera is part of all that.
As far as myself is concerned, I have come to learn that it is not healthy to
underrate yourself so I say to all readers that they don’t know what they will be
missing if they don’t come and hear me sing!
