With his onstage charisma and matinee-idol looks, it’s no surprise that the European press has dubbed Erwin Schrott “the Brando of opera.” Since winning Plácido Domingo’s Operalia competition in 1998, the 34-year-old Uruguayan bass has established himself as one of the premier interpreters of Mozart’s operas in roles ranging from Figaro to the Count, Don Alfonso to Don Giovanni. The Met’s Alexandra Day investigates what’s behind the wild success—and on the performance calendar—of opera’s sexy new star.
What do you bring to the role of Figaro?
What I am trying to connect here are the three books of Beaumarchais—Le Barbier de Séville, Le Mariage de Figaro, and La Mère Coupable. You have to be very clear about the link between them. I mean this Figaro, from Le Nozze, cannot be far away from the barber of Seville in my way of thinking. That is why I show a little bit more of a festive Figaro, all the time knowing he still has to be the factotum. The thing that I really want to express with Figaro, the thing that really touches me, is the fact that he’s a very sensitive human being. It’s so easy, by the way, it’s so easy! I cry every single evening, because the only thing I have to hear is this music just coming from heaven. I’m like, how lucky I am to be here.
How similar are you to the character, and how much of it is acting?
Sometimes some people say things like, “Oh, come on it is so easy for you, you are Figaro.” Well, maybe I’m taking that phrase the wrong way, but if they are trying to say I am Figaro in the street, at my house, at the bar, at the supermarket, then no way! But if they are trying to say that they believe that I am Figaro on the stage that is definitely a yes, because I don’t lose the character, I never get divorced from the first entrance until the last one.
Have you studied acting?
I am trained in acting, but not as much as I wish. I read a lot of major theater works. And working with my friends—most of them are actors. For example, for Figaro, I prepared with a couple of actors. We didn’t discuss Mozart, because that is my business. But I was preparing the piece with them—building the character, talking about it, getting to know who he is, how he behaves, why he behaves the way he does. The principle thing for me is to work on the character, and then to put it away and listen to what the director has to tell me. That is why I am doing a very limited repertoire—to get deeper into this fantastic universe of all these characters I am playing. And that, for example, is why I am going to be doing basically Mozart until 2011.
How do we keep contemporary audiences interested in opera?
I would say if we really want to capture the attention of a new generation of people coming to buy tickets to the opera, we need to popularize the art form with things like what Peter Gelb is doing on big screens. That is amazing. I am always trying to convince people of my age and under my age to come to the opera. “Come to the opera, I’ll get you tickets! Try it! Sometimes people say, “It’s just for rich people, you have to be dressed up, I don’t have a dress.” But I go in jeans to the opera.
You’re from Uruguay, Juan Diego Flórez is from Peru, Marcelo Álvarez is from Argentina—there seems to be an explosion of operatic talent from South America. Is this a new trend?
I would say that the talent was already there since I was born and before. We have always had beautiful singers, actors, sculptors, poets, writers, philosophers—we had it all. The problem is that we are so far away from the rest of the world. Sometimes it is not easy to be included in places like New York. You have to work hard to get here and have the will. I left everything in my country, and I said to my mother and my father at the time “I’m leaving. I’m stopping university. I’m going to sell the things that I have, make 300 bucks, and say bye. I’m going away.” It was hard. But you have to make the decision. You have to have the courage, and the will, if you’re meant to be here.
What are some of your favorite opera recordings?
I don’t listen to opera, actually. Jazz, blues, Brazilian music, flamenco, and I love tango. Every music has its own time and situation and atmosphere. If I’m at home, it depends a lot on what kind of food I’m going to cook. Also it depends on what kind of company I’m going to have and it depends on the kind of wine I’m going to open. For me, everything is about the music, because from the moment that I wake up until the evening, there is always music in my house. It’s not a fear of silence; I love silence. But for me music is a must. You have to have music in your soul always. Every single second. A couple days ago I was in the elevator, and I was humming, and there was this lady. She said, “You are very musical?” I said, “Yes, I am very musical. Do you like music? Do you listen to music usually?” She said no. I said, “But how you can live without it?” And she gave me this look, like, “Maybe you are right…”