Liliya Namisnyk
After coaching at AVA, American soprano Corinne Winters made waves in Peter Konwitschny’s Traviata in London in 2013. Since then, she’s develop into identified for her distinctive timbre and compelling stage presence, recurrently working with administrators together with Krzysztof Warlikowski, Calixto Bieito, and Mariusz Trelinski. Significantly celebrated for her Janácek roles, she scored an enormous success in Barrie Kosky’s Kát’a Kabanová in Salzburg in 2022. This previous summer season, she starred in Dmitri Tcherniakov’s Iphigénie en Aulide and Iphigénie en Tauride in Aix-en-Provence, singing each title roles in a single night. She returns to the Met subsequent week in a revival of Zeffirelli’s Bohème, and I sat down to debate her profession, fach, and taking up vocal marathons.
Kevin Ng: You made your Met debut again in 2011 as Countess Ceprano in Rigoletto, however you’re again singing your first principal position right here as Mimì in La Bohème.
Corinne Winters: It’s fascinating that I’m right here doing Bohème, as a result of I haven’t sung it onstage in 10 years apart from just a few jump-in performances. It was one of many first roles I realized as a soprano, and it was the primary skilled position I did once I was round 24. I at all times thought that was my fach: lyric Puccini, Traviata – all the normal lyric soprano roles.
KN: You began your coaching as a mezzo, and your roles throughout your coaching at AVA ranged from Norina in Don Pasquale to Arabella. How did you navigate repertoire once you began your skilled profession?
CW: My approach took a very long time to develop, so for the longest time individuals couldn’t hear what my sound was. I believe individuals had been confused as a result of I at all times had a richer color to the voice however I didn’t have an enormous instrument. So, I began with Despina and Norina once I was at AVA, and over time I discovered my sound and my approach.
Arabella was a little bit of a wild card – I used to be initially meant to sing Zdenka, however once we began rehearsing the opposite soprano and I spotted that we had been a greater match for one another’s position! I additionally did Suor Angelica, so it was apparent that my voice was altering.
Tristram Kenton/ENO
KN: Your ENO Traviata actually put you on the map, and also you’re returning to the position this season in Rome.
CW: Verdi is rather more clear orchestrally than Puccini, so for a lyric soprano with stamina and excessive extension it’s not an excessive amount of of a stretch. I did many Violettas early in my profession as a result of it was an apparent vocal and dramatic match for me, however I began doing fewer and fewer as a result of I believe tastes have modified and other people now choose a lyric coloratura within the position.
In my early years I at all times sang the E-flat, however I used to be mainly screaming it out and my voice could be lifted for the remainder of the position. Simply because one has the notice doesn’t imply one ought to sing it! I don’t suppose {that a} lyric versus a lyric-coloratura Violetta is healthier or worse, it’s only a style. However all through the course of my fifteen years as knowledgeable singer, I’ve seen a common development the place lighter voices at the moment are doing heavier repertoire.
KN: Has that allowed you to tackle the heavier lyric repertoire?
CW: A giant issue is that my approach has gotten higher, particularly for prime notes. That’s what permits me to sing issues like Butterfly and the Janácek roles. I’m not the heaviest voice that sings these roles, however I don’t suppose that’s needed – it simply must work for the home and the acoustic.
KN: You’ve additionally accomplished some decrease roles, moving into the Zwischenfach repertoire: Blanche, Mélisande, Rachel in La Juive, Iphigénie.
CW: I really understudied Blanche right here over a decade in the past, when Isabel Leonard did it! Individuals have at all times heard me in that type of repertoire and I find it irresistible. I’ve at all times beloved coloring and shading my center voice and I’ve at all times had that in my sound, which is why individuals thought I used to be a mezzo at first. Iphigénie I took on largely for the dramatic facet – I used to be so intrigued by the concept of taking part in a single character all through the course of their life. It was solely later that I spotted the vocal similarities: Aulide with Mélisande, and Tauride with Rachel and Blanche. I really like this repertoire though it’s not accomplished fairly often within the US, and I like combining these with the usual lyric repertoire as an mental and vocal problem.
KN: Does the dimensions of the home think about as nicely, significantly in Europe versus the US?
CW: I’ll use Salome for example. Homes are greater right here, so it’s sometimes solid with a dramatic voice. In Europe, it might probably work with extra of a full lyric voice though it nonetheless has to have a dramatic high quality to it. Strauss himself wrote a diminished orchestration, so he clearly needed the choice for a extra lyric voice. I gained’t sort out Salome till 2029, however I’ll be nicely into my forties and I’m doing it with a conductor I belief.
KN: You’ve additionally talked about the lyric Strauss roles like Arabella, Capriccio, and Marschallin prior to now.
CW: Strauss took some time for me, primarily as a result of individuals don’t essentially see me dramatically in these roles. There’s a aspect to me, although, that intellectually actually loves that — just like the considered sitting round philosophizing about phrases and music. I’ve these sorts of conversations with my associates on a regular basis over a bottle of wine! It’s possibly not how I’m identified onstage, however vocally and intellectually in addition to to check myself as an actress I’d like to sort out these roles.
I don’t suppose I’ll do Marschallin fairly but. Not as a result of she’s presupposed to be previous, and never as a result of there’s something vocally in it that worries me, however primarily as a result of I wish to play energetic younger ladies so long as I can. I believe that doing all these Butterflies and Jenufas retains me energetic and younger, and I’d prefer to proceed that whereas I can.
KN: Speak to me a little bit bit about Mozart. It’s so typically cited as one thing all singers need to do and also you had successes as Fiordiligi and Donna Anna, however you’ve stated that they by no means felt totally comfy for you.
CW: Anna was fairly early in my profession, and I’m glad I did it as a result of it taught me rather a lot – largely within the sense of “oh, I’ll by no means sing this once more!” Possibly I’m generalizing, however for the singers I do know that sing the position rather a lot it’s a task that comes naturally to them, which it definitely wasn’t for me.
With Fiordiligi I believed it could match higher, however I struggled partially as a result of I used to be at some extent technically the place I used to be in transition. I didn’t actually know learn how to deal with switching between the low-lying arias after which having to take a seat on this excessive tessitura for the ensembles. I don’t suppose I did a horrible job by any means, however I don’t suppose it was my greatest work.
It taught me rather a lot about repertoire decisions, and I say to younger singers on a regular basis that there’s a time and a spot to take a threat. In the case of doing one thing in a high-profile scenario, like doing Fiordiligi at Covent Backyard in a brand new manufacturing in my early thirties, that was possibly not the time and place to do the position for the primary time!
KN: You had an enormous success as Kát’a Kabanová in Salzbburg, which was once you determined to study Czech.
CW: I’ve at all times been drawn to the Slavic repertoire – my grandparents had been Ukrainian – and it matches my vocal coloration completely. After I began singing Janácek I didn’t communicate the language, and I used to be overdoing the consonants. All Czech diction coaches will let you know to do the consonants correctly however to maneuver by means of them shortly, as a result of overdoing the consonants will get you caught on the jaw, and that limits projection. Consonants in Czech may be actually expressive, and since they’re so percussive in addition they assist with projection.
Czech is likely one of the solely languages I’ve sung in (aside from Mandarin) the place it has a sung rhythm. For Janácek specifically, it’s like a sung play and to sound idiomatic, the rhythms must be adjusted to suit the phrases. I didn’t actually study that till my time in Salzburg. I used to be with such wonderful Czech specialists who knew learn how to clarify it in a approach that was digestible, and I simply fell in love with the language much more and determined to decide to studying it.
KN: Have you ever needed to combat for roles that others thought had been outdoors your fach?
CW: It’s such a superb query. I really feel very strongly about this, and my opinion has modified through the years. I had a part the place I used to be doing quite a lot of Janácek, and I used to be so involved about moving into the large homes that I needed to be seen within the extra normal repertoire – not essentially out of my fach, however rep that I used to be struggling to be thought of for by sure homes. But after Salzburg, though it was in Janácek, many homes ended up casting me in Butterfly or different normal rep roles. This Bohème is an effective instance of that.
What’s humorous is that subsequent season I’m doing mainly all normal Italian repertoire! So what I’ve been solid in has modified rather a lot since just a few seasons in the past, and I didn’t need to push for that. As of late, I belief the natural movement of issues, and to a sure extent the enterprise decides for you. It’s a enterprise on the finish of the day, not only a playground for creative expression, as a lot as I want it had been!
KN: You’re doing all of your first Trittico subsequent season. How do you method singing three roles in the identical night? How does that evaluate to singing each Iphigénies in the identical evening?
CW: Iphigénie was a bit completely different as a result of I used to be primarily going mind lifeless with all the specificity of the regie. Tcherniakov, as a lot as I am keen on him, is at all times like that: every thing is extremely detailed and particular. He involves the primary day of rehearsal with each a literal and poetic translation of the rating, fully annotated with the subtext he desires to carry out. It’s so particular that any little flip of the top or motion is significant, and that took quite a lot of brainpower to memorize. There have been additionally simply hours and hours of French recit to recollect!
One thing like Trittico is rather more of a vocal marathon. I did Tabarro and Suor Angelica collectively just a few seasons in the past, and what was fascinating is that Angelica felt simpler after having accomplished Giorgetta. I simply did Angelica by itself in Rome and I at all times felt like a fish out of water within the first couple of traces, which I didn’t really feel once I did Tabarro first.
Giorgetta doesn’t need to be an enormous dramatic voice however it must be a voice that may sit low. Low notes usually are not an issue for me as a result of I take advantage of quite a lot of chest voice and I take advantage of it excessive, however there are a few notes that sit on the chest-to-head voice transition for me. But when there are just a few notes that aren’t as highly effective as I would love them to be, I’m okay with that as a result of the aria sits nicely for me.
Lauretta doesn’t have all that a lot music, and I needed to take it on whereas I’m nonetheless younger sufficient to tug it off! There really aren’t that many sopranos who’ve accomplished all three heroines within the US – Scotto, Teresa Stratas, and Patricia Racette most lately. Asmik Grigorian, after all, does it fantastically!
Caitlin Oldham/Washington Live performance Opera
KN: Do you’ve got any dream roles inside and outdoors of your fach?
CW: I’ve a few these roles arising – I’ll do Liza in The Queen of Spades quickly, and Salome is a task I by no means thought I might do, however the extra I hear the extra I find it irresistible. I’m not doing the complete position till 2029, however I’ll do the ultimate scene in live performance subsequent season. I did Manon Lescaut earlier this season in live performance, and it was an excellent match for my character and voice. I’d like to do a stage manufacturing of that, however it doesn’t come round that always.
In fact, each soprano’s dream position is Tosca! I haven’t accomplished it but on objective, and to return to what we had been discussing earlier about how one is perceived in sure roles, I believe it could be a combat to get individuals to see me as a Tosca. Vocally, I don’t suppose Butterly is any lighter than Tosca other than the D-flat within the entrance, however after all everybody has such sturdy emotions about what Tosca ought to look and sound like. However after Manon Lescaut, I felt like I used to be prepared to begin interested by the position down the highway.
I’ve additionally by no means accomplished any bel canto, and naturally there are individuals who focus on that repertoire and I don’t wish to butcher it! That being stated, if I might ever have sufficient time to totally put together it, I’d like to do Anna Bolena. All by means of the pandemic I used to be singing by means of the position, simply as a vocalise, and it’s my dream bel canto position. I don’t know whether or not that may ever occur although!
And fully outdoors my fach, I’d like to do the large Italian baritone roles – the stuff that Ludovic Tézier and Tito Gobbi do. Who wouldn’t wish to carry out Iago or Scarpia?
